The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1888-08-29


People who can obtain the privilege
of looking at Mars through the Lick
telescope should not neglect the oppor-
tunity. Several years have elapsed
since that remarkable planet could lie
seen to such advantage as at present,
and it will be three years before we
have an equal chance again. IL has
certainly never been examined before
through telescope of such power rs
the monster refractor on Mount Ham
ilton. 1t may be interesting to lovers
of astronomy 10 know that the eminent
French astronomer, M. Perrotin, is en-
gagged in minute study of Mars, and
that his discoveries confirm those of
M. Schiaparili in every particular. 1t
seems actually true that the Longitude
nal stripes which circle round the planet
are bodies of water, and must, accord
ing to all laws of probability, be arti-
fetal. No one ever saw or conceived q
system of parallel rivers from 1000 to
1900 miles long and straight as plumb
line. Everything is possible, of course,
but such straight rivers it is impossible
to reconcile with the principles of cos
mogony as we understand them. On
this planet, at all events, nature abhors
straight line, and by analogy it
should do SO in Mars. Yet, if these
bodies of water are canals, as Schiapa-
rilli believed and Perrotin seems hardly
to doubt, what monstrous works they
must be They are from forty to eighty
miles wide. Fancy the labor of Dig
ging such canal, the time it must have
I'll l. 1f
must have employed. The pyramids of
Egypt are trihing in comparison. The
Suez Canal is 1877 feet wide at the sur
face, and the Nicaragua Canal is to be
$50 feet; the Marian canals are $500
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 sixty
miles long, The canals of Mars reach
length of 1900 miles-say as far as
from here to Omaha. What traffic
there must be to support such enter
prises! On the waterways Of China
travellers describe the incessant ebb
and flow of multitudinous crowds, but
to require canals of such dimensions as
we have described, the movement of
traffic in Mars must be far more pro-
digious. In fact, they imply a popu-
lation which almost staggers belief.
Considering that the volume of the
planet is only one-sixth that of the
Earth, the diameter being 4,400 miles
as against 5000 miles, they warrant the
widest conjectures as TO the density
with which it may be reopled. What
manner of men live in Mars, ii there be
men there, has always been a favorite
topic of speculation. The law of gravi-
tation tells us he may be fourteen feet
high; not such son of Anak as the in
habitant OF the Asteroids, but still one
who would regard the Belgian giant as
remarkable dwarf Pc ssibly the en-
ormous public works on Mars may be
explained ON the theory that these tall
fellows can work in proportion 10 their
stature-that one citizen Of Mars can
shovel as much dirt as two and half
denizens of this world. Whether the
grass OF Mars is red, Is the old astron-
omers ayerrsd, modern telescopes have
failed to decide. 1t is very difficult to
determine colors when an Object lens
collects 10000 times as much light as
normally enters the human eye. Blu.
| the speculative astronomer is safe in as
sorting his belief that Marian cabbages
are of the color of our beet roots, as nc
one can disprove the assertion. San
Francisco Coil.