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In-Depth Information
fact, been collecting seismic observations from the entire eastern Alps; but
the “critical inspection” of this material had “for many reasons” to be con-
ducted piecemeal, “not according to period but according to place.” Thus
the evidence itself called for a
landeskundlich
approach: “The largest portion
of the sources to be used for the critical annotation of the earthquake re-
ports bear the character of contributions to the
Landeskunde
of the affected
province.”
24
While Hoernes and Canaval were enlisting observers in the Alps, the
south slavic Academy of sciences and Arts in Zagreb formed its own seis-
mological committee. The Zagreb academy was a product of the movement
for south slavic unity at a time when the notion of a south slavic identity
was widely disputed. Under the direction of Michael Kispatic, the first PhD
in the natural sciences at the University of Zagreb, the seismological com-
mittee collected observations of earthquakes in Croatia, slavonia, Dalmatia,
and Istria (in both Austrian and Hungarian halves of the monarchy) and in
occupied Bosnia. Kispatic, the author of popular works on the geology and
“natural-cultural” history of the south slavic lands, also compiled a histori-
cal catalog of earthquakes in the region. To this end, he acquired medieval
and modern documents from a circle of prominent intellectuals in Zagreb,
who were in the midst of penning the first contributions to a Croatian na-
tional history.
25
His seismological committee gained significantly in prestige
in 1893 when it was joined by Andrija Mohoroviˇi´. Mohoroviˇi´, already
successful as a meteorologist, went on to discover the boundary between
the earth's crust and mantle that now bears his name. According to Kispatic,
Mohoroviˇi´ “found quite a number of
patriots
in Croatia and slavonia who
send in, on an almost daily basis,” reports of seismological as well as mete-
orological phenomena.
26
The south slavic seismological network, like those
in styria and Carinthia, pursued seismology as a patriotic form of regional
natural history, as well as a means of geophysical analysis. It thus helped
construct the south slavic lands as an ostensibly natural region.
Elements of Observation
In Austria, as in switzerland, nonexperts often proved to be excellent ob-
servers. Canaval adopted the questionnaires of the swiss earthquake Com-
mission, and Hoernes adapted their observing instructions.
27
Hoernes
suggested that earthquake observing was more a function of character than
expertise: “People who have the
sangfroid
when an earthquake strikes to
make useful observations on the nature of the motion will be able to ascer-
tain this feature just as well as seismographs, even if they depend only on
