Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
The vienna geologist Melchior neumayr conveyed the magnitude of
Wähner's effort:
To get an idea of the quantity of observations that are necessary for a correct
assessment of an earthquake, we may consider the materials on the basis of
which a recently published work by Wähner on the Agram earthquake has
been composed. The author himself spent five weeks on location, occupied
exclusively with this matter; several other geologists from vienna, Pest, and
Agram were similarly occupied, and it was possible to use their observations
as well. Through the intervention of a few railway authorities, the reports of
well over a hundred railway stations were furnished, the maritime authorities
transmitted [reports] from all the port captains and lighthouse keepers of the
entire stretch from Cattaro to the Italian border; in addition a great many pri-
vate communications and newspaper reports arrived, such that observations
were brought forth from approximately 750 different locales. Certainly there
were still many holes, but overall on this basis an accurate insight into the
nature of this earthquake was possible through the united effort of more than
1000 different observers, whose results were united in one hand.
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no doubt Wähner had achieved an impressive feat of public outreach, but
the question remained: having collected over a thousand reports, what was
a scientist to do with them? “The analysis of the collected reports, the as-
sessment of their reliability, the separation of the worthwhile from the un-
usable, finally the synthesis and application of the information obtained,
demanded a significant investment of time and effort.”
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It would ultimately
take Franz Wähner three years to accomplish.
“To Discern the Phenomenon in Its Physical Elements”
Wähner insisted on reproducing observers' reports as completely and ac-
curately as possible:
Despite my attempt at brevity . . . I may indeed have reproduced the [wit-
nesses'] reports in too much detail. But I believed I should not go too far
with the abridgements, if I wanted to maintain complete objectivity and also
make it possible for others to draw an independent conclusion from the re-
ports. This cautiousness was particularly necessary, because in the course of
my work I arrived at a judgment that diverges from the views that have pre-
vailed until now.
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