versity, and picked Milne out as the one best qualified to fill it; which meant that here was a young man, fresh from a country where there are no earthquakes, officially appointed to teach people who had lived among earthquakes all their lives what earthquakes are, and what measures should be taken against them—in short, the whole business of seismology.
Then began an interesting set of experiments, carried on for years by Professor Milne, with artificial earthquakes, which he could turn on at will by touching an electric button. Dynamite was used here, buried in the ground, and exploded when the seismographer was ready. Sometimes he would set off five or six of these little earthquakes at one time, and take the records with a like number of seismographs placed at different distances, and connected electrically, so as to show the rate of wave transmission. Once the Professor, in his eagerness to watch the seismograph at the very moment of shock, placed himself within twenty feet of a mine, his position being barricaded by earthworks, with an old door over the top to keep off falling stones.
When all was ready, he waved his hand to an assistant who stood at some distance ready to send the current. Bang! went the dynamite like a broadside of heavy cannon, and the Professor had scarcely fixed his eyes upon the moving smoked-glass disk with the little recording fingers on it, when about a ton of earth came smashing down upon the door, flattening out man and instrument, and bringing that experiment to an untimely end.
On another occasion, at the command of the emperor, a seismic exhibition was organized in the palace yard, where a number of miniature towns and villages had been laid out neatly for the purpose of being blown up and shaken down when his majesty should touch the button. Everything went off perfectly, and the courtiers were delighted. For twenty years Professor Milne carried on his experiments, and success seldom failed him. Then he returned to England.
Coming now to Professor Milne's instruments and their work at Shide, I will repeat what may have been already understood, that they are designed to record movements in the earth coming from distant, not near-by, centers of disturbance; they would be of no more service for an earthquake within a hundred miles of them
 | An image should appear at this position in the text. To use the entire page scan as a placeholder, edit this page and replace "{{missing image}}" with "{{raw image|McClure's Magazine volume 10.djvu/414}}". Otherwise, if you are able to provide the image then please do so. For guidance, see Wikisource:Image guidelines and Help:Adding images. |  |
DIAGRAM SHOWING VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL SECTIONS OF THE MORE SENSITIVE OP PROFESSOR MILNE'S TWO PENDULUMS, OR SEISMOGRAPHS.
| An image should appear at this position in the text. To use the entire page scan as a placeholder, edit this page and replace "{{missing image}}" with "{{raw image|McClure's Magazine volume 10.djvu/414}}". Otherwise, if you are able to provide the image then please do so. For guidance, see Wikisource:Image guidelines and Help:Adding images. | |
PROFESSOR MILNE'S SENSITIVE PENDULUM, OR SEISMOGRAPH, AS IT APPEARS ENCLOSED IN ITS PROTECTING BOX.
| An image should appear at this position in the text. To use the entire page scan as a placeholder, edit this page and replace "{{missing image}}" with "{{raw image|McClure's Magazine volume 10.djvu/414}}". Otherwise, if you are able to provide the image then please do so. For guidance, see Wikisource:Image guidelines and Help:Adding images. | |
THE SENSITIVE PENDULUM, OR SEISMOGRAPH, AS IT APPEARS WITH THE PROTECTING BOX REMOVED.
