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Second, I want to talk about its principle. It was an urn-like instrument with a central pendulum. An earth tremor would cause the pendulum to loose balance and activate a set of levers inside. Then, one of the eight dragons which are placed in eight directions outside the urn would release a bronze ball in its mouth. The ball would fall into the mouth of a toad and give off a sound. So people can notice that the earthquake will happen soon.
Third, why did Zhang Heng invent this seismography? At that time, people believed earthquake as signs of heaven. So, person who expect the earthquake rightly, he can get immortal fame.