Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-05-11
How Life in Mars Goes On.

ditiOn, which gives US the strongest posi-
tive grounds for inferring that even such
creatures as we now are could somehow
make shift to live there, though, OF course,
not without certain amount of preli-
minary discomfort while We were trying to
acclimatize ourselves Mr.. Proctor
graphic account of these similarities, and
bis delightful chart of the planets CONT
nents and waters, suggests to us to discuss
one or two of the known differences OF
condition, in their relation to the probable
results upon the history and civilization OF
the Martialists.
First, let US briefly say that the Mar
tialists have world less in area than one
of our hemispheres TO explore; that, in
spite of this, it has not much less land than
the earth, a much less proportion of its
surface being occupied with water than Of
our globe; its seas are of the general type
of the Baltic and Mediterranean, for the
most part narrow, struggling, inland seas
the greatest seas are in the neighborhood
of the cold south pole Of Mars, which has
8 climate far severer than the north pole
there is world of perpetual snow at each
Martial pole, which can be seen to diminish
as the summer returns to each hemisphere,
and to increase again as winter comes
back; and, in spite of the prepon-
derance of land, vast deal Of rain falls on
Mars, especially in winter, clouds often
hiding the con6guration of the continents
from our astronomers. and the suddenly
dispensing, and leaving the continents clear
again-aclearing up W hich usually happens
about the hour of noon in Mars, just as
our weather so often changes as the sun
passes the meridian; that the length Of the
Martial year is nearly twice as long as
ours; and that the force of gravity on
Mars is much less than half what it is with
us, so that, as Mr. Proctor expresses it, "a
Daniel Lambert on Mars would be able to
leap easily to a height of five or six feet,
and he could run faster than the best Of
our terrestrial athletes"
The general result, then, of the tele-
scopical observations on Mars and the de.
duced calculations, may be said to be:
~ With certainty, that the weight Of
objects Of the same mass in Mars is much
less than half what it is here, and that
consequently there would be far greater
range of activity for creatures of the same
size, that falls would be less dangerous,
that the strain on walls or columns, or any
other supports, would be much less and
that. therefore, roofs, arches and stTuc-
on a much larger scale by creatures Of
equal skill with ourselves; but, ON the
other hand, that friction, which is more or
less proportional to pressure, and.
fore, in the case of piles of
stones, etc, to weight, would be far less
than on the surface of the earth, SO that
any violent lateral disturbances, such as
hurricanes, would exert a still greater eff
feet than on our earth in destroying such
structures. since there would be less solid
ity and, therefore, less fractional resistance
to overcome in overturniDg them. Again,
the vastly diminished weight of given
masses would give a very great advantage
to all kinds Of engines of draught. Car
riages, carts and railways would attain a
vastly greater speed than on our earth, and
the sledging on the snow fields of Mars
might be as swift as the wind. All these
inferences are matters OF certainty, so far
Is they go.
But (2) there seems very great prOba-
bility that the atmosphere of Mars Is re-
latively considerable denser than ours,
since at distance from the sun 80 much
greater that the planet probably receives,
directly, less than half the light and heat
we receive There seems no sign OF any
arctic severity, and clear evidence that the
atmosphere holds vast quantities of watery
vapor, even in winter, which points to q
temperature much higher than our world
would have if removed to the came dis
lance from the sun, especially when one
considers how much less water to supply
vapor and how much greater q proper
ton of land than the earth Mars contains.
Again, the rapidity with which storms
clear off from a big continent, and leave
the outlines clearly marked after being all
enveloped in mist before, seems to show
the existence of very rapid currents of air
and this no doubt the greater inclination
of the axis of Mars, giving greater range
to the northward and southwark journeys
of the sun, would promote. Putting these
facts together, then, we should infer that
the atmosphere of Mars is, in proportion,
heavier than that Of the earth, and there
fore a warmer envelope for the planet
that its winds are more violent. and that
the great difficulty of the architects Of the
planet is more likely to be the strengthen
ing of their structures against lateral forces
hurricanes, for instance-than against
the strain of gravity. Their outer walls
would have to be comparatively much
more solid their difficulty in rising broad
arches and spacious roofs would be much
less +, anu lUCOulOtiOu Ou MAID uu5t uc
more easy and speedy, eeteris paribus, than
1OcOmOtion on earth.
If this be SO, we may see fitness in the
much larger proportion OF land in the
planet, and the comparative narrowness
and smallness Of the as. Probably life
in Mars is faster than it is here. 1t is very
improbable that the civilization of the diff
ferent continents there, is divided by peri
DDS extending over two thousand years.
There is probably no one of the great con
tinental tracts of Mars known there as
"the New World" If great migrations
of conquering races have taken place on
Mars, as on the earth, they have probably
succeeded each other faster, having less
surface to move over, less obstacles, per-
haps, in the way. and greater advantages
in locomotion We should not be sur
prised, too, If the Martialists had got
greatly ahead of US in respect Of navigat-
ing the air. We know that the density OF
the planet, as whole, is less than three
fourths of taat of our earth; 80 that 1t
seems likely that the tissues Of the body
Of Martialist, which must be fed from
the substance Of the planet, are, on the
whole. intrinsically lighter than those OF
Mans body But, il the Martialists' bodies
are intinsically lighter, and their atmos.
vho~o . GOOD daoI hoo uiap than Oura priQl