The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1888-06-08
The Red Planet.
'om the San Francisco Call.

from the san Francisco tall.
People who can obtain the privilege
OF looking st Mars through the Lick
telescope should Mot neglect the op.
portunity. Several years have elapsed
since this remarkable planet could be-
seen to such advantage as at
the present, and it will be three
years before VIC isave an equal chance
again. 1t has cert a;nly never been
examined before through 81 telescope
OF such power as the monster refrac-
tor on Mount Hamilton.
1t may be Interesting to the lovers
OF astronomy to know that the emil
nent French astronomer ~. Perrotin,
is engaged III y minute study OF Mars.
and that his discoveries confirm those
nj NJ. Schiaparlli in every particular,
1t seems actually true that the Iongi,
tudinal stripes which circle round the
planet are bodies Of water. which
must according to all laws OF proba-
bl!ty, be- artificial. No one ever saw
orconce'Eed asystem OF parai!.l rivers
from 1000 to 1000 miles long and
straight us u plumb lines. Everything
is possible Of course, but such straight
rivers it is Impossible to reconcile with
the principles oi Gosmo.ony as we
understand them. On this planet, at
nli events, nature abhors u straight
l'nr, and by analogy it should do so
i'll Mars.
Yet. if tiAeSe bot,cs Of water are ca
nails, Sth!aparlla beileT"i and Perro-
tin seems hardly % doubt, what mon
strous works they must be. They
are from 80 to 50 miles wide. Fancy
the laIetnr r,ttt,i,! tt,i !i"illr. taken; the
numbc: OF workmen it Must have
employed, The pyramids of Egypt are
triiling i'll comparison. The Snez canal
131 feet vide at the surface, and the
Nicaragua canal is to be $50 feet the
Martial canals are $500 times wider.
Our canals on this one.horse globe
are considered long when they reacl,
100 miles in length. Tie Paname ca
nal will be less than so miles long.
The ranals OF Mars reach q length OF
1000 miles-say us f;,r as from here
to Omaha. What traffic there must
be to support such enterprises. On the
waterways OF China travellers describe
the incessant ebb and flow OF multi
tulinOus crowds, but to require ca
mai, Of such dimensions has We have
described lie movement of traffic in
Mars must be far more rrodisiols. In
fact, they imply population, which al
most sta.yers belief; considering that
the volume of the planet is only one
sixth that OF the earth, the diameter
being 400 miles, as against 5000
miles, they warrant the widest con-
lectures us TO the destiny will: which
it may DE peopled.
What manner of man lives i'll Mars,
il there he men there has always been
n favorable topic for speculation.
The law OF gravltation tellsus hat he
may be fourteen feet high not such
son OF Ahak as the lnhH!lt2nt OF the
asteroids. but still one who would re-
gard the belgian giant as a remarka-
bile dwarf. Possibly theenormous pub
lie works on Mars may he explained
on the theory that these tall fellows
can work in proportion to their stat
ure-ihat one citizen OF Mars can
shovel as much dirt as two and u half
denizens OF this world. Whether the
grass OF mars is red. as the old rs.
tronomers averred, modern telescopes
have failed to decide. 1t is very dtlii-
cult to determine colors when an OBJ
jcct lens collects thirty thousand
times us much light as normally en-
ters the human eye. But the specu-
lat vc astronomer is sale in asserting
his belief that Murtian cabbaoes are
OF the color OF our beet roots aS no
one can disprove the assertion.