The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1869-03-11
The Planet NTaPs-A World net
unlike Ours.

! The planet Mars Is the only object in
the whole heavens which Is known tC
exhibit features similar to those of oul
OWE earth, and the accumulated ex.
plOratiOns and discoveries of astrOnO-
mers during the last two hundred
years have resulted in the cOnstruc-
ton of a globe representing the char
acteristics of this planet, as astronomers
believe them to exist. At Il recent
meeting of the Astronomical Society
of England, a globe of Mars was ex-
hibited, on which land and seas were
depicted as upon an ordinary terrps-
tial globe. By far the larger part of
these lands and seas were laid down
as We'll known entries, respecting
which no more doubt is felt by astrOn-
Omers than is felt by gcOgraphers con-
cerning the oceans and continents of
our own globe.
An interesting description of this
globe appears in Frazer's Magazine.
To the Lands and seas developed in
this planet are applied the nants Of
those astronomers whose researches
have added to our knowledge on the
subject. Each pole Of Mars, it seems,
is capped with ice, which varies in eX-
tent, according to the prngress of the
seasons. Around each cap is a polar
sea, the northern sea being the SchrO-
ter Sea; the southern Phillips Sea.
The equatorial regions Of Mars are
mainly occupied by extensive cOnti-
nents, four in number, and named
Dawes Continent, Malder Continent,
Secchi Continent, Herschei I. CSir w.
Continent. Between Dawes and
Herschel Continents flows a sea shaped
like an hour glass called Kaiser Sea,
the large Southern ocean out Of which
it flows being denOminated Dawes
Ocean.
Between Madler and Dawes Conti-
nent flows Dawes Strait, connecting
large southern ocean and a northern
sea named after TychO; Herschel
Continent is separated from Secchl
Continent by Higgins Inlet, flowing
from a large southern sea termed
Maraldi Sea. In like manner BesseI
Inlet, flowing out of Airey Sea "a
northern sea,) separates the Nader
and Sccchi Continents. Dawes Ocean
separates into four Iargeseas, and large
tracts of land lie between them, but
whether they are islands or not is un-
certain.
In Delarne Ocean there is a small
island which presents so bright and
glittering an aspect as to suggest the
probability of its being usually snow
covered.
These seas, separated by lands of
doubtful extent, reach from Delaware
Ocean to the South Pole. Oue of the
most singular features of Mars is the
prevalence of long winding inIets and
bottle necked seas. These features are
wholly distinct from any thing on
earth.
For example, Higgins Inlet is a !
long narrow stream, extending for
about three thousand miles. Bessel
Inlet is nearly as long, and Nasmyth !
Inlet still more remarkable In form. |
On our earth the oceans are three
times as extensive as the continents.
On Mars very different arrangement
prevails. In the first place there is
little disparity between the extent of
oceans and continents, and then these
are mixed up in a most complex man.
ler. A traveller by either land or
water could visit almost every quar-
er Of the planet without leaving the
Element in which hebegan his journey
ngs. If he chose to go by water he
.Ould journey for upwards of thirty
thousand miles in sight oil land.