Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 68.djvu/546

 542 Appeals for government aid have so far been fruitless; though recently one or two welcome private donations have been forthcoming.

It will, no doubt, be objected to this comparison that an important consideration has been omitted. Seismological questions are of urgent practical importance in Japan, but not in England. That is true, and we all hope that it may remain true; but our guarantee is not absolute. Whether the regions of danger are permanent or shifting is just one of the questions which the whole world is interested in answering, and which can be answered only by patient and laborious research. The British Isles are far from being in a specially safe region; in fact, they lie almost exactly on the smaller dangerous circle above-mentioned, through Tashkend, the Azores and the Indian region; and though earthquake activity seems to be at present limited to these three regions, and so far as it strays in our direction seems to find an outlet rather beyond us (in the region labeled J by Professor Milne, between Iceland and the North Cape, where three earthquakes were recorded in six years), we have no right to assume that this state of things is more than temporary.

During the last year or two, however, more has been done in Europe generally to follow the lead of Japan; international cooperation in seismological work has been organized in Germany; and though the adhesion of some important countries is not yet certain, owing to various difficulties which need not be noticed here, it is hoped that these may be smoothed away in time. If so we may look forward to a welcome strengthening of the corps of workers in seismology, though there is still more than enough work for them all to do.