, 1870-06-19
LIFE IN MARS

! l!om winch to draw our infereneee to otfs
AmnAt1hee which We can, as yet, oufy cnnies
, ao aae lnao We haye N the case Of the Moo1,
, even re planet Jupiter, or Venus, or We1ran
worlds IN Ill Of which thare Is some ~
, fundamental difference OF condition Wiz
Rus5 Auect the whole course OF nature tharr
II tho moon there is the fatal d;Serane
, q 70 atmosphere, and none, therefo1e
evaporation, clouds, color1, yeeet.tion innn
1e.,dependent thereon. In Merruiry az.
venus, u there is not, Us we should gupnose d,
0e WsI LOOK, an amount Of heat which wuuli
maKe thoee planets quite intolerablo to The
Various faces Of creatures inhAhiting our earth
there is not, and no evidence at Iii reaIir de
Ions9auhg The existence of those genera
pnyscA conditions on which alone We can bss,
N argument from analogy. In Jupiter th@t
y ptetty clear positive evidence thai tie candi
Esa Huns OF existence arc quite Inconsistent with
OF the planet is still glowing uncoudenssa
!nAaa OF molten ruAtter, with IN ntnnnsnhars
neAV1ly charged with boiling yapor and 4
tnere he lfe At al OF our Kind in the Joviau
system, It must in III probability bo On tha -,
San nses. - Ina not On TIE planet itself, and ever
teraAl, - compared With The earth or Il.
moon. 1s 70 suggest 1 rery different prnar,1
physical condition. OF couIvo. there f. noth.
'nS 10 provo that intellectual beings, Ike a our
selsee IN reasoning powers, may not exist in
.le ae1y infnaco OF the sun, or on the cinde,
"Aeh Tc call the moon, or, indeed, in empty
space itself; but there We come into tho -,
slon Of pure conjecture, and tho areument
from analogy wholly fails. Nothing n Ravond
PuIe conjecture. A hundred thousand intel.
iectua beings, ike myself. may be daucinr on
ILnpp ~ papeI , on Tmeh an H:iting, for anything
KNOW out have no rcaBon to think 80. and
haFo very little more reaso4> to think tbat
huch beings extAt either On the sun ar an tha
| noons 1or the only circumstance which favor
aoty olatingu1ehcs these positions from empty
spase, foF the abode Of beings like ourselves.
IL the existence Of force Of GRAVITY tbeTa
morn or less resembling tho force Of rravity
Waicn Keeps us rooted to the earth; and eyan
! snatc1tcumstance as regards the sun can har1jv
| ne sAid 70 furnish An analogy, for 1T ths
| surface % q the sun, TO say nothing of The iiifi
Gu!! ~ ot uVlnS IN furnace, tho force Of eray-
s.S ~ Assn N9pla be 80 enormous as to crush
any one with the body OF man. While.
therefore, there il nothing to prevent our con.
jectutng inhabitants for all the suns il, snaca.
'hese IL precisely as little reason for doing no
u 1of eonjeet9rlng inhabitants for the inter
Eening celestial vacuum The mere attraction
q by the eh a tbese ss1s les points
no moro to suggest living beings in
any degree like ourselves. than tl,a
rhunlpg of candle should suggest to a moth
~ inat, III tllc name Of that CANDLE living beings
nKe itsclf o1,ss- In point OF fact. ths noth
would be much nearer the mark il it peonled
tho dark Intervening spaces with moths, % md
t1c's4eu them from the various luminous
POINTS visible to it; and 30 ss roeAr1s
solar worlds, not only have We no rea-
son TO single them out for conjecturaf
lhhahstants; but as far a We can reason
from analogy. at all, wo haye special
reason to single them out as localities in
WHICH creatures like ourselves nfe even more
unlikely 10 exlBt than in the empty celestial
spaces themselves. No doubt it is PERFECTLY
leasonaole 70 suppose that there may be PLAN
i,, elay siEstems IT, for most or al OF the solar
worlds Ike that to which We belong. and that
there, beings more or less like onraelves do
NOT alreaay exist, preparation m8y be making
iof them. But what We want to insist on is,
taat 70 lar al We can reason at all in this mat
tef, We can reason only by anology; and that |
lure, fails ue. Just go lar as We have no tanVi-
build. '''->A -
Now, in the case OF the planet Mars. and in
the case OF the planet Mars alone, our astron-
ome1s have really established tho o1iztenco Of
q hmllaafy OF physical condition. which gives
Us the atFonBest positive grounds for infer
ing that even such creatures as we now arc
could somehow make shift to live there
though. Of course, not without q cor
tan s'l!,. amount OF preliminary discomfort
~ Mml9 e Se wero trying to acciimatize ourselves
I
tiles, and bis delightful chart OF the planets
continents and waters, suggest to us to discuss
one or two OF the known differences Of cnndi-
tion, in their relation to tho probable results
upon the historJ and civilization OF the
y MMartialists. First, let uH briefly SAY that
The Martialists havo world iess in
area tLan one Of our hemisphcres to explore:
hat, il. spite Of this, it has not yerv much lcss
land than the oaHh, much less proportion
d ot ~ surface beng occupied with water than
oi our globe; that its seas arc OF the general
type Of the Baltic and the Mediterranean, for
ne \ most part narrow, struggling, inland seas;
mat the greatest seas nro IN tho neigh
ooslood Of the cnld South pole OF
Y liars, which has climate far seyerer than the
North pole that there is world Of pcrpet-
seen to diminish as the summer returns to
ZACH hemisphere, and to increase again as win.
cr comes back; that in spite Of the prepondar-
,nSe , of land, vast deal Of rain
.,aaaz .nna on Mars, especially in winter,
,tonaa y ,sa CIT. often h.ding tho confgu,ation
hen suddenly dispetsing, aud leaving the cor
inents clear again. clearinc-up which
lsually happens about the hour Of noon in
Mara, Just rs our weather 80 often changes as
en.,s. nc san :, tihsses t,h the meiiaian; that the
u gravity on Mars il much less th,n hsff
< hat 1t is with Us, 30 that, a. Mr. Proctor ex-
'rcsses it, Daniel Lambert OF Mars would
% able to leap easily to height Of ave or si1
,ur terrestrial athletes"
The general result, then, Of the te!cscopic
Observations on Mara and the deduccd cal-
ulations. may be said to bo-(D with certain-
:, th.t tho weight Of objects Of tho same
aass in Mars is much less than half what
is here, and that consequently thero
Fouid DC faf greater range Of activity for
reaturcs OF tho came size; that falls would 10
ess dangerous; that the strain on walls, OF
oiumns, or any Other supports would be much
trrctures Of that kind might bo easily sell M
kill with ourselves hut, on the other hand
bat friction. which is more or less
soporuond to pressure. and, there
9oes, ore n >, me 1s,t. case = Of piles Of
n the surface Of the earth, 30 that any violent
1tTGt disturbances such as hurricanes, would ,
1ert still greater edcct than on our earth,
destroying such structures, since there
'on!d b Leg solidity, and. therefore, less
r'csiond resistance to overcome in overturn- ,,
ag them Again, the vastly diminished
reight Of given masses would rive 3 yey creat
dssnta8e to all kinds Of engines OF drauEht.
;ariAges, carts, and railways. would 1t
an sastly greater speed than on
I Mars might be IS swift as The Wind. All
hese ln{crences are matter Of certainty, so
ar as they 50. But {e), there sce,ns vs1y =,
'reat probability that tho atmosphere Of Mars !
> relatively considerably denser than ours, :
iuce at : distance from the sun 60 much .
;rcAter than the planet probably receives, d. !
ectly, less than half the Light and heat wc ro- ..
Give, there seems no sign Of any arctic sevesi-
=. and clear evidence that tho atmosphere
'olds vast quantities Of watery vapor eren IN ,
ElnteI, which points TO general Temperature !
higher than our world would :
ave II removed to the eame distance from :
he sup, espe peci&lly when eng considers how
much less water to supply vapor, aod how :
much greater I proportion Of land than the
atth, Mars contains Again, the rapidity
yith which storms clear Oh from big CONT {
lent and lcare the outline clearly marked after
'cins all cnScloped in mist before, seems
o chow the existence Of vely rspid | :
Of air; and this, no doubt, tho J
;reatet INCLINATION Of the AXIS of Man, g,vinf,
greater range to tho uorthw1rd aud SOUTH
Eard journeys Of tho sun, would promote
'ntting these fActs together, then, We should ,,
nltr that Tie atmosphefe Of Mara is. in pro-
oortion. heavier than that of the e,fth, and |
heIefore warmer envelope for tho planet,
hat its winds are more violent, and that the
;reat difficulty OF tho architects Of the pl1net
8 moro likely to be the strengthening Of their :
6uctutes against literal forrca.-har.icaues
OF iustance-than against the straiu Of r1syi-
;. THAR outer walls would have to be COM i
,aEadvely much more solid their difficulty in
Aialng broad arches aud spacious roofs would I !
" much less and locomotion On Mars
must be much more easy and speedy, cazeris
'a-ibus than Iocomotion On the Garth
Ii this be 80, wc may 500 fitness In tho
much larger proportion Of land in tho plAnet ..
md the comparative nA11owpees and eu2ll-
or,F nknh1 = 3. |