Evening star., 1921-01-02

$Aht0 tclcPuOHt anu WlACiCSS AiOAA- -
sections of the world whenever an
earthquake termor is felt. The AS
sociated Press and all of the other
great news agencies of the world
know that they can always rely upon
the world-famed Father Tondorf
being in constant touch with the
seismograph Instruments at George
town University.
So far as working hours are con-
cerned. Father Tondorf is a combina-
tion of city policeman, fireman anc
newspaper reporter Early dawn,
midnight, MONDAY and twilight are
all the same to this priest and
scholar. He quietly laughs at any
suggestion of reasonable" hours or
vacations He loves his fascinating
work and. aside from a few hours
sleep now and then. is everlastingly
at it.
TT was the result of d gift from Pat
rick II. O'Donnell, graduate.
that made the Georgetown University
seismographjcal observatory posi-
he OTlSlHdl COh-
sisted of a horizontal and Vertical
seismograph after Weichert. each
carrying a stationary mass of eighty
kilos. These instruments were tenta-
lively placed in January. 1911, at the
base of the south tower of the Healy
building. 1t was soon ascertained
that the choice of this position was
unfortunate because of the rocking of
the tower. 212 feet in height. when
ever strong wind was blowing. The
difficulty was overcome by digging
a cave beneath the quadrangle twelve
feet in width, thirty feet in length
and eleven feet high. This is known
in university parlance as station A.
Great care was taken to make this
new home of the seismographs both
heat and damp proof. A new Vie
ebert horizontal seismograph, with a
stationary mass of 200 kilos. was pur-
chased to replace the smaller one.
The smaller instrument is now in
stalled in Guatemala City, Guatemala,
and is in charge of Senior Claudio Ur-
rutia, consulting engineer to the
Guatemalan government The cave
also houses vertical seismograph
after Wiechert, two Bosch-Omori
paadulums of twenty-five kilos each,
and two conical pendulums after
Aainka. of 1875 Kilograms mass. A
concrete building, situated on observ.
atory hill. at an altitude of 159 feet
above sea level, known as station b,
shelters Bosch Photographic instru-
ment with pendulums of 200 grams
each The time is automatically reg
istered on these instruments by FIVE
contact clocks noting minutes and
hours. f~ g.
With this elaborate equipment,
Father Tondorf experiences no diff
Guilty whatever in making the earth
quake tremors of the entire world re-
port to him, giving minute details as
TO magnitude and duration
In comparison with this up-to-now
scientific equipment. it Is interesting
to note that the earliest seismoscope
of which we ind any historical recorr
is one which owes it's origin to a Chi
nese inventor named Choke 1t was
invented in the year AID. 136. A de-.
scription is given in the Chinese his
tory called Gokanjo. and the transla-
tion of this description reads as fol-
lows. In the frst year of Yoka. A.
D., 136, a Chinese called Choke In
vented the seismomete4l which con-
sists Of a spherically formed copper
vessel, the diameter of which is eight
feet It is covered at its top and In
form resembles a wine bottle. Its
outer part is ornamented by the fg-
ures of different kinds of birds and
animals, and old peculiar looking
kinds Of letters, In the inner part of
this instrument a column is SO sus-
pended that it can move in eIght d.
rections. Also, in the inside of the
bottle, there is an arrangement by
which some record of an earthquake
is made, according to the movement
of the pillar. On the outside of the
hottie there are eight dragon heads.
each of which holds a ball in It's
mouth. Underneath these heads there
are eight frogs SO placed that tney
appear to watch the dragons race, SO
that they are ready to receive the
ball il it should be dropped All OF
the ARRANGEMENTS which cause the
pillar to knock the ball out OF Inc
dragon's mouth are well hidden in
the bottle.
..When an earthquake occurs, ana
the bottle is shaken. the dragon In
stantly drops the ball, and the frog
which receives it vibrates vigorously.
Any one watching this instrument
can easily observe earthquakes
with this arrangement, although
one dragon may drop a ball. it Is not
necessary for the other seven dragons
to drop their balls unless the move
ment has been in all directions; thus
we can easily tell the direction OF an
earthquake.
"Once upon a time dragon dropped
its ball without any earthquake being
observed, and the people therefore
thought the instrument OF no use.
but after two or three days notice
came saying that an earthquake had
taken place at Rosei. Hearing of this,
those who doubted the use Of this in
strument began to believe in it again.
After the invention OF this ingenius
instrument by Choke the Chinese gov
eminent wisely appointed a secretary
to make observations on earth
Quakes:
A MOTHER earthquake instrument.
"A also of eastern origin. is the mag
netic seismoscope of Japan.
On the night of the destructive
earthquake OF 1855, which devastated
a great portion of Toxic. the owner
of a spectacle shop in Asakusa OBJ
served that a magnet dropped some
old iron nails and keys which had
been attached to II. From this occur
renee the owner thought that the
magnet had. in consequence of its
age, lost its powers. About two hours
afterwards however, the great earth
quake took place. after which the
ed it's powers This occurrence lead
to the construction of the seismo-
scope, examples of which are still to