Devastated houses following an earthquake, Japan, 1876.

Lantern side by John Milne (1850-1913). Milne travelled to Japan in 1876 to study seismology, and experienced an earthquake on the evening of his arrival. He and W K Burton were profesors at the Imperial College of Engineering in Tokyo. The earthquake that struck Japan in 1891 was studied using modern seismological instruments and techniques that had been developed by Milne and his colleagues over the previous fifteen years. His library and instruments are held in the Science Museum collections.