The effect of a temp. gradient on the movement and distribution of water in soil has been examined in closed columns of soil for a wide range of initial water content. Small amts. of soluble salts acting as a tracer served to distinguish between liquid and vapor movement. In all except the wettest and driest columns of soil, there was a transfer of water toward the colder end of the column and of salts toward the hotter end. This result is considered to be due to a net transfer of water from hot to cold, in which water evaporating from the hotter soil moves as a vapor into colder soil, where it condenses and returns as a liquid when a favorable gradient of pressure potential has been established. It is shown from theoretical considerations that, when the soil is sufficiently wet to permit liquid flow, a state of equilibrium cannot be reached, and continuous circulation of the soil water takes place. The maximum net transfer of water from the hot to the cold end occurred in columns the initial water contents of which were approx. 1/3 of the moisture equivalent. Movement of water in the liquid phase is shown to have occurred at a low water content, which corresponded to a pressure potential of[long dash]0.8 X 107 ergs/g. (pF 3.9).