WESTRALIAN RECORDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2719, 25 April 1906, Page 29

WESTRALIAN RECORDS.

PERTH, April 21. The Government Astronomer states that the seismograph registered two shocks in connection with the San earthquake. The -first shock was recorded at 9.38 on Wednesday- -evening, or, allowing ' for the;4lifference Jn -time, 20 minutes after - the- -shock reached the maximum at San i Francisco. Questioned -rjegaiding Mr .Milne's .theory', lie sai<i -that the theory I that jtlie earth * does swing a little off its I axis rajs not a new pronouncement, ["although it was only recently advanced. ! Speaking off hand, lie should say the ] theory was capable of being tested. For ' that reason it is rather fortunate that the i International Geologic Association, whose | headquarters are at Berlin, had established lan observatory in this State. Dr Essin, a leading German scientist, had been at work since Christmas endeavouring to find oufc the reasons for what is technically known as variations in latitude. At first j sight, perhaps, this has no connection with the earthquake. It has, however, because variation in latitude is caused by a dis- ! placement of the earth's axis, and the theory recently advanced was that the displacement was due to meteorological .causes, such as a great change in masses of ice and so on, which cause a kink or twist in the earth's axis, and might,, in turn, cause the earth a great strain and struggle to get back. It would therefore be extremely interesting to ascertain whether Dr Essin's observations showed any sudden change on the evening of April 18. The theory might be tested in that way. Dr Eesin, interviewed, stated that at 8 o'clock on Wednesday evening his telescope showed a variation of two seconds iv the arc. This caused him to conclude that some disturbance of an extraordinarycharacter had occurred somewhere. Dr Essin thinks that Professor Milne must have been misrepresented, as the theory stated is scientifically absurd. Variation of latitude cotild be caused by an earthquake such as that at San Francisco, but such an earthquake could not have been caused by variation of latitude or a v«mation of the earth's axis. Observations ] similar to that recorded by his telescopic level on Wednesday evening were recoided by the telescopic Jevel in the Berlin Observatory in 1889, when a big earthquake occurred in Japan. If there had been any , variation of the earth's axis- if would have been recorded on his instrument. «.