In the Northern Hemisphere—
| Equinoxes | 1324 |
| Solstices | 1202 |
In the Southern Hemisphere—
| Equinoxes | 301 |
| Solstices | 261 |
Earthquakes are, therefore, more frequent at the equinoxes, and this especially at the autumnal equinox. In the northern hemisphere, at the solstices, the greater number of shocks occur about the winter solstices, whilst in the southern hemisphere, about the summer solstices.
Exceptions, however, are found in Central America and the West Indies, in the Caucasus, and the Ægean Sea.
The idea that earthquakes had a periodicity dependent upon the position of the heavenly bodies is by no means confined to Europe. In a Japanese work called ‘Jishin Setsu’ (an opinion about earthquakes) by a priest called Tensho, it is stated that the relative positions and movements of the twenty-eight constellations with respect to the moon cause earthquakes. This Tensho asserts after careful calculation, and Falb tells us that all future earthquakes can be predicted.
In the Kuriles and Kamschatka, Sicily, and in parts of South America, it is said that the equinoxes are regarded as dangerous seasons.
Frequency of earthquakes in relation to the seasons and months.—What is here said respecting the relative frequency of earthquakes at the different seasons and months is little more than an extension and critical examination of the results which have been given respecting the frequency of earthquakes in regard to the position of the sun.
That there is a difference between the number of earthquakes which are felt at one season of the year as compared with those felt at another is a fact which, as seismoscopic observations are extended, is becoming more and more recognised.