A survey of the field of modern research in seismology will reveal a surprising activity in three distinct fields: The field of pure seismology; the field of engineering seismology or of seismological engineering; and the field of applied seismology or of seismic prospecting. We may consider these briefly in succession.In pure seismology emphasis is shifting from average results and statistical studies to the intensive investigation of individual regions and of individual earthquakes. Even in those cases in which genuine contributions have been made along statistical lines, as, for example, in the exhaustive paper by Jeffreys and Bullen “On the times of transmission of earthquake‐waves” (Bur. Central Séeis. Pub., A, Travaux Scientifiques, No. 11, 1935), the material has been sifted in such a manner as to bring out the distinguishing characteristics of earthquakes by means of particular constants. Also, in the three papers “On seismic waves” by Gutenberg and Richter (Beitr. Geophysik, v. 43, pp. 56–133, 1934; v. 45, pp. 280–360, 1935; v. 47, pp. 73–131, 1936) individual earthquakes are discussed. At the Fourth General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics at Stockholm and again in the Fifth Assembly at Lisbon, the pressing need for the intensive study of individual earth