CLIMATOLOGY. 299 



Many new properties of the 4 : 10 salt have been brought to light. In 

 the unpubUshed portion of this study effort has been directed to the prepara- 

 tion of di- and tri-tungstates in the wet way, without success, but there 

 has come to light this fact, namely, that the addition of tungstic acid to 

 normal sodium tungstate always, no matter how small its amount, gives rise 

 to the formation of 5 : 12 or 4 : 10 sodium tungstates. Such being the case, 

 the thought arose that probably 5 : 12 and 4 : 10 could be synthesized. 

 This has been accomplished with excellent results; and further, the hydrolysis 

 of the 5 : 12 and 4 : 10 sodium salts has been discovered to occur in pro- 

 portions corresponding to those by which the 5 : 12 and 4 : 10 salts were 

 synthesized. 



Again, in hydrolyzing the 5 : 12 salt, for example, it was found that the 

 normal tungs'tic acid present in this salt could be quantitatively precipi- 

 tated by an excess of zinc sulphate, leaving unprecipitated the meta-zinc 

 tungstate. The values obtained in this way for the normal tungstate and 

 the meta-tungstate correspond with the ratios which were obtained in the 

 synthetic process. Hence, in the case of the 5 : 12 salt its representations 

 may be expressed by the union of 8 molecules of normal sodium tungstate 

 with 7 molecules of sodium meta-tungstate. In other words, the whole 

 conduct of this salt and the 4 : 10 salt point to them as products of the union 

 of normal sodium tungstate, which is very basic with meta-sodium tungstate, 

 which is extremely acid in its reaction. 



The de-hydration of these salts and many other Unes of work with them, 

 such as the study of various metaUic salts and double salts, is under way. 



CLIMATOLOGY. 



Antevs, Ernst, University of Stockholm, Sweden. The hig tree as a climatic 

 measure. 



In the spring of 1923 the writer, on the request of President Merriam, 

 undertook a revision of Dr. Ellsworth Huntington's study of the big trees, 

 Sequoia washingtoniana, as a chmatic measure. Of the large material, 

 kindly placed at the writer's disposal by Dr. Huntington, trees growing 

 on more or less diy ridges, high above water, were selected on one side, and 

 on the other side trees living in the moist bottoms of the valleys in or close 

 by water. The trees of these two groups were treated separately. The 

 selected measurements belonging to the same group of age were added 

 and curves plotted from the totals. These curves were corrected after a 

 new graphic method for growth-variations depending on age and flaring. 

 The obtained figures were tabulated. The parts of the curves between 

 1301 and 2100 years of age were added separately, also the parts younger 

 than 1301 years separately. Parts older than 2100 years were not used. 

 The sums obtained were divided by the totals of the measurements and the 

 results were plotted in curves which record as accurately as the material 

 permits the climatic fluctuations which have influenced the growth. 



By adding the totals of the two groups and dividing by the sum of the 

 totals of the measurements, a curve of the whole "dry" and "moist" material 

 was secured. Finally a curve was obtained in a somewhat different way. 



