Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1889-02-21
THE PLANET MARS
Some Recent Discoveries Made by
Astronomers
t~y.. Rivers Canals snf S-s-oa.-
It's Life wanlf~-t-G On
Grand scale.


Grand scale.
The surface Of Mars when viewed in
the telescope : AZ once seen 20 be- d-
vided into regions OF three classes
whose principal distinction Is in color.
The reddish regions have bscu called
continents. islands. land. the dirk.
greenish regions have been called seas.
oceans CULTS, the whftish regions near
the poles OF Mars have been Identified
with the polar caps Of Ire and snow In
general these latter way and wane A.
they should with the Martial winter
and summer, and in spite Of minor
variations il seems 20 DE- fairly proved
that they ara in fact what they seem To
be-namely. masses Of polar snow or
tre- IL snow and ice exist on the planet
there must be water there and the w
por OF water The spsctroscope yields
independent evidence OF the presence
OF watery vapor in the planets atmos-
phere also. Whether the dark green
or the reddish regions are the oceans.
seas and CULTS has never yet been settled
BY observation The colOrs ssem. by
terrestrial analOgies. 10 Designate the
green areas A. oceans. the red ~ land.
but this distinction Is oue based almost
exclusively on analogy The eucruach-
ment OF green areas upon red ones Is
now explained A. partial submergeuces
Of (redD continents by the ueighboring
(green) N But the case may be the
aw.-S ~.-naf~w - = F. l.
possible n very different affair altogeth-
er- The limbs or edges Of the planet
are always Of a lemon yellow hue.
which tint usually masks the sharp lines
of the markings 1t 10 By no means
understood how the absorption OF the
planets atmosphere operates.
"A comparison OF the earlier and
later drawings has established one fact
beyond question The spots and mark
inss seen BY HOoke and Huyghens. in
1859. are To be seen to-day unchanged
In form Again. the positions Of the
points Of Mars. which MaedIer acru-
rasely fixed shan fifty years ago.
are ths same as their positions deter
Sined to-day their ATTITUDES and lon
gitudesl within the small errors insep-
arabic from and to BE- expected in
this kind OF observation. In general
then We may say that the main features
OF Mars remain unchanged from year
To year While this Is certainly true in
general. Prof S~chiapareIIi has demon
straied that it is By no means rigorous
ly true Many parts of the planet 5
surface vary in color from time 10 time.
the boundaries Of the dark regions have
varied to and fro over measurable
spaces, certain of the more delicate
features seem 10 be more easily seen at
one time than at others Though this
may well be due to the varying trans
Pareuey OF the earth's atrnospherel. and.
finally. the atmosphere Of Mars itself
must and does produce meteorological
variations A. Prot SchiapareIIi has
said, this planet IS no desert Of arid
roeSs, Il Il living. and its life Is mani
Tested IN n complex system OF D
anees. some Of which are on - grand
a scale that they can even be detected
from our station on the earth.
During the opposition o. 1877 NJ
Schlaparelli. not content with LAYING
out the boundaries Of the various CON
tineuts and seas with 4 precision rs yet
unreaehed. gave his attention also 10
the d~slineatiou OF the very finest de-
tails Of the planet markings He was
soon rewarded with the striking dis
eovery OF a whole network OF fine dark
lines. which for want Of n better name
he called canals They usually ran
from a dark sea or bay o. another.
Their courses were not su5lous ike
those Of rivers on the earth They
are. however. far too broad (about fftv
miles, 70 q any real analogy % ter
restrial and artificial canals but we
must repeat that this designation i a
mere name Of convenience. Tie credit
OF the discovery Of these canals Is en-
tirely due to NJ S~chiapareIli. who first
studied them with suficien: care and
made adequate maps Of their courses
Many Of them had been laid down.
however. IN the drawings or observers
previous to 1877, and recent OBSERVE
tons made by large telescopes may be
said u entirely confirm the map Of
Schiaparelli- il not in every detail. vet
In every essential respect We have
then TO regard the topography Of Mars
As singularly complex considering the
circumstance under which We view IL
To the continents. the seas. the polar
caps OF Maedler We have to add the
complex network OF canals. No new
mystery vas added. by their discovery
only a greater completely We must
remember that the distrihutlou Of land
and -sisr on the surface q Mars IS a.
yet unknown that co-utircnts
seas and canals are alike Ia icing
mers names for markins= Of various
eolorss