Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-12-23
THE PEOPLE OF MARS.
Wonderful Discovery of an
Italian Astronomer
MARS LIKE THE EARTH.
Air and Water-BrOad Canals,
Lakes and MOuntains-Plainly
Discernable by Telescope.

The discovery of a network of so.
called canals upon the planet Mars by
Schiaparelli several years ago has been
confirmed this year by observers both in
England and Italy. In 1877, Mars. being
on the same side of the sun the earth
was, and in that part Of its orbit which
brought it unusually close to the earth,
shone with greater splendor in the mid
night sky. 1t was under these favora.
BILE circumstances that Professor Hall,
with the huge telescope that had been
set up at Washington, caught sight of
two small moons revolving close around
Mars, and moving so swiftly that they
might almost be compared to little
golden shuttles playing back and forth
on either side of the ruddy planets
disk. The fame of this discovery was
so great, and the delight of the astrono.
mers, who found here new and totally
unexpected test OF the laws of planetary
motion, SO unbounded, that another dis.
covery, made at the same time, received
comparatively little attention. This
other discovery was the work of the
keen.eyed Director of the Milan Oh
servatory, N. Schiaparelli. He found
that the equatorial regions of Mars were
intersected by long narrow lines which
resembled in color those spots that are
believed to be seas, and which began
and ended in these Marian seas, thus
indicating a close connec ion between
them.
The shape of these supposed water.
| courses suggested the nams "canals, 4"
which was applied to them. Some as
tronomers OF reputation argued that
they really were canals constructed BY
| the supposititious Inhabitants of Mars;
aud to the objection that the canals
We're too large to admit of the suppo-
stion that they could be artificial orks
being sixty miles or more broad
they replied that since the force of
gravity ON mars is very much less than
upon the earth, the inhabitants of that
planet might attain a proportionately
! greater stature and muscular power and
agility that would enable them to under.
take works utterly beyond the capacity
of terrestrial men. This sort of specula.
tion tended to bring Schiaparelli's really
brilliant discovery into derision, par
ticularly among those whose telescopes
did not reveal the phenomena he had
detected. But Schiaparell insisted that
he had seen what he had sesn, and his
discovery was defended by his well.
established reputation as an observer.
In 1879, Mars being once more favora.
| bly, situated, he saw his canals again,
and discovered number of new ones,
and in the fall and winter of 1872 he
repeated his observations. On these last
two occasions he made still more sur
prising discovery, namely, that the ca.
nails, or many of them, were double.
Right alongside those which he had seen
before, and + flowing the same sinu-
os;ties, he detected new canals. He
made map of Mars on Mercator's pro-
lection, and in this map the whole sur
face of the planet, except in the polar
regions, is seen covered with a network
of dark stripes running in pairs, inter-
secting the continents in every direction,
and invariably ending in the surround
ing seas.
The manner in which the doubling of
the canals was effected was not the least
astonishing part of the discovery. They
were not at all seen double at once.
Schiaparelli himself suggested that the
phenomenon depended in some way
upon. the seasons of the planet. One
after another the canals would double
up. No less than seventeen successive.
ly exhibited this appearance in the
course of a single month. The new
canal would appear at first as faint
streak, barely discernlble alongside the
old one. 1t would then rapidly become
darker and palmer until in the course oi
few days it was as broad and distinct
as the original canal.
This strange doubling of the so called
canals made the whole phenomon ap.
pear to those who were originally in.
clined to doubt its reality as the result
OF mere Imagination or self-deception on
the part of the observer. Schiaparelii
himself relates that he was so aston
ished by what he saw that at first he
thought he must be the victim of an
''illusion, caused by fatigue of the eye
and some new kind of strabismus." But
he convinced himself by the most pains
taking observations that there was no
deception about his discovery. "As
things stand" he said, ''it would be pre-
mature to put forth conjectures about
| the nature of these canals. As to their
existence l need not say that have
taken every necessary precaution to
avoid even the suspicion of Illusion, and
| I am absolutely certain of what l lave
seen."
Yet, Notwithstanding N. Schiaparelli's
| assurance that the world of Mars really
possesses these curious markings. the
| fact has hitherto rested principally upon
his observations alone. To be sure, a
few of his claims had been detected sew.
| eral years before his original observation,
| notably by Dawes, but nobody besides
Schiaparelli had beheld the phenome-
non on any such scale as was exhibited
in his map. But now confirmation OF
his discoveries comes from two most
trustworthy sources. During the appo.
sition OF Mars this year. MIR. Denning,
of Bristol, and M. NJ. Thollon and Per-
rotin, of Nice, undertook careful telo-
scopic studies of the planets surface.
Mr.. Denning was able to detect the
existence of Schiaparillis canals, al
though they were very faint lines as he
saw them, and he did not perceive
them double. Nevertheless, he saw
enough to convince him that there was
no dece ption in the Italian astronomers
observations.
MN. Perrotin and Thollon, in. the
purer skies of Nice, were able to accom-
plish much more. They plainly saw
the double canals of Schiaparelli, and
also detected the curious and rapid
changes in the appearance of these OBJ.
jects that so astonished their original
discoverer. Schiaparelli himself, at
about the same time, rediscovere the
double canals. The astronomers at Nice
also caught sight of several shining
points lying south of the north polar
snowfelds of Mars, and closely resem-
bling similar phenomena perceived by