SOME ASPECTS OF FALLOUT IN BRAZIL 799 A concluding suggestion for such synoptic types of study of the many stations of South America may not be out of place. The vast difference between precipitation on the east and west coasts must be kept in- mind. Studies can be made relating air contamination or fall- out to precipitation, and the monthly rainfall at a station can be taken as a practical index of precipitation. Ideally, what is wanted is the precipitation history of an air mass. In the United States the practical index can be substituted for the ideal without much prejudice. In South America, however, where precipitation can differ from place to place by orders of magnitude and where the most important precipitation history of an air mass takes place east of the Andes, use of such an index can lead to wrong conclusions.

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