What a coincidence! I spent this afternoon finishing a book I've been reading by Simon Winchester ("The Professor and the Madman") and then I see that you, Don, have posted a link to his broadcast this weekend on BBC-News. Winchester is one of my favorite authors -- "A Crack in the Edge of the World" (about the San Francisco earthquake of 1906), "The Map That Changed the World" (about William Smith, the father of modern geology), "Krakatoa" (about the 1883 explosion of the volcano). I love his style of writing and the subject matter.

Anyway, I was reading the final chapter of "The Professor and the Madman," but the discussion of ear tones on this board earlier today was still fresh in my mind -- specifically, cause and effect. This final chapter was about discovering the cause of this man's delusions. With little known about mental illness in the late 1800s, there were various possible causes given then for his madness. None was really correct. It wasn't until the 1900s that it was determined that he was schizophrenic -- cause: schizophrenia; effect: delusional behavior.

So, in a similar way, I don't exactly accept the (presumed) cause and effect given for ear tones -- and maybe like Petra says, the way to prove it just hasn't been discovered yet. How can people say that these ear tones are earthquake related? Just because an earthquake happens shortly afterward, A does not necessarily equal B. Why couldn't they just as easily be extra-terrestrials trying to get in touch with us? It would seem to be as far-fetched.

Anyway, I'm trying to keep an open mind about this. I did a search on the internet and found this link -- thought it was of interest. Perhaps it's been posted before. If not, I thought it might be of some value.

John or Don, do you have any comments on the study or the equipment mentioned in the article? Is this a valid and true account? I'm always skeptical about what's out there on the internet.

Barbara

• The Mystery of Ear Tones Prior to Earthquakes