# Scientia - Vol. VII/Mars

Mars ../Die Druckkräfte des Lichtes ../Die Leitgedanken meiner naturwissenschaftlichen Erkenntnislehre und ihre Aufnahme durch die Zeitgenossen IncludiIntestazione 21 marzo 2014 100% Da definire
Scientia - Vol. VII Autori vari 1910 CC BY-SA 3.0 GFDL Indice:Scientia - Vol. VII.djvu //it.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Scientia_-_Vol._VII/Mars&oldid=- 20160303155949 //it.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Scientia_-_Vol._VII/Mars&oldid=- 20160303155949
MARS
At the request of the Editor of Scientia, I send a summary of the state of our present knowledge about the planet Mars from the work of the Lowell Observatory. I shall refer to the various facts by numerals, and thus, from their succinctness, give the reader an easy opportunity of estimating their concurrent force and of the conclusion to which they lead.
From these two factors, sufficient water and enough warmth, we see that the conditions on Mars are quite suited to habitability by organisms of some sort. This is one of the results which observations at the Lowell Observatory during the past fifteen years have established.
We now go on to the question of its present habitation by organic life, which is the one of most popular interest. Organic life needs water for its existence. This water we see exists on Mars, but in very scant amount, so that if life of any sort exists there it must be chiefly dependent upon the semi-annual unlocking of the polar snows for its supply, inasmuch as there are no surface bodies of it over the rest of the planet. Now, the last few years, beginning with Schiaparelli in 1877, and much extended since at Flagstaff haveshown:
Now, if one considers first the appearance of this network of lines and spots, and then its regular behaviour, he will note that its geometrism precludes its causation on such a scale by any natural process and, on the other hand, that such is preciseley the aspect which an artificial irrigating system, dependent upon the melting of the polar snows, would assume. Since water is only to be had at the time it is there unlocked, and since for any organic life it must be got, it would be by tapping the disintegrated cap, and only so, that it could be obtained. If Mars be inhabited, therefore, it is precisely such a curious system we should expect to [p. 6 see, and only by such explanation does it seem possible to account for the facts.
These lines are the so-called canal of Mars. It is not supposed that what we see is the conduit itself. On the contrary, the behaviour of these lines indicates that what we are looking at is vegetation. Now, vegetation can only be induced by a water supply. What we see resembles the yearly inundation of the Nile, of which to a spectator in space the river itself might be too narrow to be seen, and only the verdured country on its banks be visible. This is what we suppose to be the case with Mars. However the water be conducted, whether in covered conduits, which seems probable, or not, science is not able to state, but the effects of it are so palpable and so exactly in accord with what such a system of irrigation would show, that we are compelled to believe that such is indeed its vera causa.
Flagstaff, Arizona Lowell Observatory.
Percival Lowell