Wichita eagle., 1886-09-03
9ail9 Il eagle
ON THE PLANET MARS.
THEORY THAT THE PLANET IS IN
HABiTED BY HUMAN BEINGS.


Some Curious Facts Concerning Our
Neighbor-Res Color of the Land-Nar.
tial Atmospherc-Probabl Size of the
Martialites-An Objection.
Some time ago it was observed that stu
ated at each pole of Mars there is a white
patch, which increases and decreases at regu-
hr intervals. This had been observed for
many years before the explanation was sug-
yested by Herschel that it was due to the
freezing Of the sea, and was exactly analogous
TO our Arctic and Antarctic oceans If this
was true the patch of ice would Of course de-
crease in the martial summer and increase
again as the winter came on. This was soon
shown to be the fact Thus we see that, as
Tar as regards the sea, Mars Is very similar
to our earth, with the exception that the pro-
portion of land is much larger. On the earth
the land is only about one-third Of the area Of
the sea, while On Mars the land and sea sur
faces seem to be about equal in extent. The
land is much cut up by the water, which ex-
lists not so much in the form of a few large
oceans, but rather as a number Of curious
shaped narrow inlets and channels, which
intersect the continents in all directions
The bright red color of the land is curious
fact for which no adequate explanation has
as yet been suggested Herschel considered
it was due to the peculiar nature of the soil;
but it certainly seems curious that in this
point Mars should differ from all the other
planets. The appearance Of the earth seen
from similar distance would probably be a
dirty green, or perhaps brown. In fact, on
the earth we have no soil or rock, which oc.
ours in any quantity, of the red color which
we observe on Mars. There is therefore no
vegetation, unless we adopt the curious
theory advanced by French savant that in
Mars the foliage is red. Unluckily we have
no instrument that can at all help us here;
the telescope and spectroscope are alike use
less, and for the present we must content our
selves with vain conjectures
THE EXISTENCE or LIFE
The next point that ought to engage our at
tention is the atmosphere without which no
lie is possible. Without entering into calcu
lations we NAV state that the pressure of the
air at the surface of Mars would be about
equal to five inches of mercury. or about one
sixth of the normal atmospheric pressure on
large extent OF sea, we would naturally ex-
pect that clouds would form a prominent
feature on the Martial surface: and observa-
ton has proved this to be the case. The air
on Mars being much less dense than on the
Garth. it is presumable that the winds would
move with much greater velocity: and for
this reason it has been thought that trees
could not grow to any considerable height
tIa hoo in, hot
the velocity would be high. the actual force
of the wind would probably not be very
great on account of its excessive tenuity
In an inquiry as to the probability of the
existence of life, one of the most important
points to be taken into account is the amount
of heat available Now, Mars is at such a
distance from the sun that on the whole it
would receive about two-fifths as much solar
heat as we do. This does not, however, give
the amount of heat that is actually received
on the surface of the planet, a considerable
proportion being absorbed by the atmo.
phere: and since our atmosphere is SO much
denser and thicker than that Of Mars, it fol-
lows that we lose a much larger percentage of
the solar heat To calculate the exact amount
of heat absorbed by given thickness of air
is very difficult, if not impossible, problem;
but it seems likely that, taking everything
into account, the inhabitants of Mars will re-
ceive more heat from the sun than we do.
This would have the effect of making the
evaporation very large, and if SO the martial
atmosphere would be mostly composed Of
water vapor.
According to Professor Langley, the true
color Of the sun is blue, and its yellowness is
due to the dirt always present in the air. To
the inhabitants of Mars it would most prob
ably appear nearly white, unless, indeed, they
also have volcanoes to fill the air with lava
dust.
Let US now sum up the facts as we have
stated, and determine. as far as we can, what
sort Of man the inhabitant of Mars must be.
In the first place, the force Of gravitation at
the surface is only just over one-third of its
equivalent on the earth; a pound would,
therefore. weigh about six ounces in Mars Il,
therefore, we assume that the men are OF such
u size that their weight and activity are the
same Is ours they would be about fourteen
feet high on the average. This would make
their strength very great, for not only would
it be actually superior to ours, but, as every
weight is so much smaller, it would be ap-
parently proportionally increased.
Skill. OF TEE MARTIALITEs
the Martialites have executed large engineer /
ing works; perhaps also their telescopes are
much superior to ours, and we have been OBJ
jects of interest for their observers. With re-
gard to telescopes, it may be interesting to
examine what is the effect of the highest mag
nifying power we can use. At his nearest .
approach, the distance from lis to Mars is
about 3. eco 600 miles; and assuming that !
the highest power that can be used with adj
vantage is 1900, we approach with our
telescopes to q distance of $1,000 miles, so
that houses or towns, or, indeed, any arti- /
fetal works, would be hopelessly invisible. .
With regard to the supply of heat and light.
we have seen that the Martialite is not worse
OF than we are. To him the sun would ap-
pear as a white or perhaps blue disk, about .
two-thirJls Of the diameter that it appears TO
Us. The Martial day differs but slightly from
ours: his year, however, is much longer, being
about 6S7 of our days, which is about $50
martial days The inclination of his axis to
the plane of the orbit is such tha: his seasons
would be very similar TO ours. 1t is diff
ficult to reconcile the idea of an extensive
vegetation with his peculiar red color; it is
just possible, however, that some of the green
patches generally supposed TO be seas may in
reality be large forests.
The most valid objection TO the habitability
q Mars lies in the fact of the extremely low
atmospheric pressure, which, as we have seen,
would probably average about five inches Of
The lowest pressure that man has
ever lived in even for short time, IS about
seven inches. which was reached by Coxwell
md Glaisher in their famous balloon ascent.
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