The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1868-11-25

LANDS AND SEAS OF ANOTHER WORLD
We have been assuming that the dark
spots on Mars are really seas, and the light,
ochrish-colored spots, continents. Some
astronomers have expressed doubts on this
point; but such doubts may surely be
looked on as unreasonable. We can never,
of course, feel absolutely. certain respect
ing the habitudes of so distant q globe !;
but there are many sound reasons for con-
GLIDING that the surface Of MFRS is really
diversified by land and water In the first
place. there is the color Of the spots It
was formerly supposed that the greenish
tint of the dark spots might be merely the
effect Of contrast with the brighter spots
which give to Mars its ruddy tint. But
this opinion has been found TO be errone-
Gus. and all modern observers agree that
the green tint really belongs TO the dark
spots, In fact, more doubt rests on the
reality of the orange tint than on that Of
the green. Astronomers have been in
clined to ascribe the orange color to the
absorptive qualities of the Martial at
mosphere, and it is only within the last
few years that the improbabilfty Of this
view has been established Then we have
the evidence drawn from the white spots
which cap the Martial poles. II these are
really masses of ice, resembling those
which surround the poles of our own earth,
the question must. of course, be answered
in the affirmative; for whence could such
enormous masses of snow and ice be form
ed, save from large seas? Now, we can
hardly see on what grounds it can reason
ably be doubted that these white spots are
rightly called
The snowy poles of moonless Mars
Their variation has been found to cor
respond exactly with the progress Of the
Martial seasons-and this not for one OF
two Martial years, but ever since Sir w.
Herschel first called attention to the pc
riodicity of the variation There is some
thing sngularly striking in the contrast
between the small, sharply-defned ellipse
of white light around the pole of that
hemisphere which is enjoying the Martial
summer, and the irregular and widespread
ing tracts of snowy light around the cold
pole. In the winter, these tracts extend
as far from the pole as 40 degrees, cir
cumstance which indicates an extent of
snowfall corresponding very closely to that
which in winter covers the northern parts
of Asia and America. In summer, on the
other hand, the icy circle is reduced to
within range of about or 10 degrees
from the pole; so that Arctic travellers
on Mars are not likely to approach either
pole more closely than Sir Edward Parry
approached the North Pole of the earth
in his celebrated "boat and sledge" jour
ney, in 1887. Now, when we see features
corresponding SO closely with those pre-
scented by our own earth, and consider,
further, the priori probability that our
nearest mel. hbor among the planets should
be constituted much as the earth is, we
are led at once to the conclusion that
these white patches are in reality snowy
masses, and therefore that there must exist
large seas and oceans whence the vapors
are raised from which these SHOWS have
been condensed.
But, further, we have distinct evidence
of the existence Of cloud-bearing at.
mosphere around Mars. The features Of
the planet are often blurred and indistinct,
when every circumstance is favorable for
And it is especially note
worthy that the wintry hemisphere il al
ways much less distinct than the hemi-
sphere which is enjoying the Martial sum
mer. A variable envelope" writes Pro-
lessor Phillips, gathers and huctuates
over permanent basis of bright and dusky
tracts on the surface of Mars, partially
modifying the aspect of the fundamental
features, and even in some cases Disgusting
them under new lights and shades, which
present no constancy-a thin, vaporous at
probably resting on surface Of
and, snow and water" -F dseJ''s Nag.