Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1888-05-25
THE Il ED PLANET
Spcculations About the canals" Of Mars and
Their Builders.

Spcculations About the canals of Mars ana
Their Buildcrs
People who can obtain the privilege of
looking at Mars through the Lick Tele-
scope should not neglect the opportunity,
says the San Francisco Call. Several
years have elapsed since that re-
markable planet could be seen to such ad-
vantage AS at present, and it will be three
years before we have an equal chance
again. 1t has certainly never been ex-
amined before through telescope of
such power as the monster refractor on
Mount Hamilton.
IL may be interesting TO lovers of as
tronOmy to know that she eminent French
astronomer, NJ. PerrOtin, is engaged IN
minute study of Mars, and that his dis
coveries confirm those of M. Schiaparilli
in every particular. 1t seems actually
true that the longitude stripes which circle
round the planet are bodies of water, and
must, according to all laws of probability,
be artificial. No one ever saw or con
oeived a system of parallel rivers from
one to two Thousand miles long and
straight as plumb line. Everything Is
possible of course, but such straight rlv-
ers it is impossible to reconcile with the
principles of cOsmogOny as we under
stand them. On this planet, at all events,
nature abhOrs a straight line, and by
analogy it should do 50 in Mars.
Yet if these bodies of water are canals,
as Schia parilli believed and Perrotin seems
hardly to doubt, what monstrous work
they must be! They are from 30 TO 80 miles
wide. Fancy the labor of digging such
canal, the time it must have taken, and
tho number of wOTkmen ii must have en-
pioyed. The pyramids of Egypt are trif-
ing IN comparison. The Suez canal Is 1917
feet wide at the surface, and he Nicaragua
canal is to be $50 feet; the Martial canals
are . 800 times wider. Our canals on this
one-horse globe are considered long when
they reach 100 miles in length. The
Panama canal will be less than 60 miles
long. The canals of Mars reach a length
of 1000 mileg-sLy as far as from here to
Omaha. What traffic there must be to
support such enterprises! GA the water
ways of China travellers describe the in
cessant ebb and flow of multItudinous
crowds; bat to require canals of such
| dimensions as We have described, the
| movement of traffic in Mars must be far
more prodigious. In fact, they imply
population which most staggers belief;
| considering that the volume of the place
! is only one e-sixth that of the earth, the
| diameter being 4, 400 miles as against 900
! miles, they warrant the widest con lectures
as to .he density with which it may be
| peopled.
| What manner of men lives in Mars, If
| there be men there, has always been
! favorite topic of speculation. The law
I of gravitatlon tells us that he may be IA
i feet high not such a son of Anak as the
! iEhabitant of the asteroids, but still one
/ WAC would regard the Belgian giant as q
| remarkable dwarf. Possibly the enor-
| NOUS public works on Mars may be ex-
| plained on the theory that these tall fei-
lows can work in proportion TO their
| stature---that one CITIZEN of Mars can
! shovel as nuch dirt as two and half
| denlzens Of this world.
| Whether tie grass of Mars IL red, as the
| old astronomers eysrred, modern tele-
| scopes have failed to decide. Ii Is very
difficult 10 determine colors when an OBJ
ie.t lens coIlects thirty thousand times as
% och light as normally enters the eye.
! But the speculative astronomer is safe in
| asserting his belief that Marian cab
| bsges are Of the color of our beet roots,
as 10 one can cisprove the ASSERTION.