The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-06-21

In each set of studies the pul.,,,.
the climatic factors has been wsn %
tablished: they suffer only throuyh -,
brevity OF the measuring rod. ''s
But In passing TO the Cnit.d o..
Prof Huntington has found a o.,..Aes
which carries Its dates back IN
broken continuity for thoussnd.
years. The calendar q IN. hr-SN
ages II written In the rings :.
growth OF the giant seauo,as =, .n
Sierra Nevada, each ring tells m. e
of the weather OF tho year IN 49,
It was laid down by the .so.nS,sa
sap. Huge as the seouoiaa s,~.
writes. their size Is Scarcely a. VIM
derful AZ their age. A tree ths, ~.
lived 500 years Is still in its .ssv
youth; one that has rounded ON, AZ.
summers and winters is only in n,n
maturity; and old age. the threescors
years ana ten or the sequolas dos
not come Tor seventeen or eighteen
centuries. How old the Oldest ,r,.,
may be Is not yet certain, but dur,ns
our two seasons Of field work IN ,a,S
and 1912 we counted the rings Of s.v.
enty-nine that were over 2 900 years
OF age, OF three that were over sooa<
years and one that was $40 v.sr,J
In the days OF the Trojan War 49,
OF the exodus OF the Hebrews sror
Egypt this Oldest tree was a stnr5,s
sapling"
Much OF the volume n s,ven IN ..
establishing the method OF reading ~
tree record, II coordlnating II ui,h
the already established Caspian -trans
record. and Of extending II 10 nrov,a'
the explanation Of the great Mava civ.
ilization OF Yucatan. community ~
whose written history we as vet "a.
read no word save It's extensive chro'
nology. An these will be found o, rr.a,
interest by the climatologist by thu
mathematician and the archeolog,s,
The wonder OF II all Is that In ths
stumpage OF the reckless umber7na,
OF the Sierras we can read bv da,.a
years the history Of the past hsck.
ward to 1900 Il. c., when our v,-d
was yet very young. Fable and mvth
pass slowly into family tradition. w.
nealogies gradually assume the gulse "A
chronicles, annuaries become historis.
and thus we have the story os ths
rise and decline OF this race OF man
and OF that But in reading the "a.
| quota rings into this long calenda,
Prof. Huntington has set upon a cles,
record one of the factors vital to thu
success OF human society. the record
OF the weather backward into the re.
hottest past Temperature and rain.
fall operate to make any given terrain
habitable for man. and given the rcc,i
ord of the rain the conditioning ,en4
perature may be inferred. We know
that the desert was made 20 blossom
as the rose and we may reason Il GU,
that Tadmor of the desert was not
planted in shifting sands to he under
Zenobia a rival OF Rome. Il Is an
astounding marvel that the tree rings
OF the Californian Slerras have recorded
the climatic factors which account for
these mysteries of ancient empire.
| Measured with nice accuracy thes
rings of sequoia growth have been mads
to Yield a continuous record n the
climate of 300 years OF our history.
! The period is long enough TO establish.
secular change, to prove that the I'll.
| mate OF the earth has changed not
once but many times. II exhibits nodes
measured by a brief space and nodes
measured by centuries. It shows why
, regions once the seat OF rich culture
have become powdery desert and why
the regions of present culture have
been as dreary as Greenland. The pen.
dulum has swung to and II has swung
| fro while the sequoias have been keep
ing their record. II Is reasonable 10
| compute that 1t will continue 10 swing
| through the ages to come as II has In
the past. AS in the past, nature win
invite civilization to lands now bitten
| with fever and the dense forests u