Arizona weekly citizen., 1889-06-08
ON THE PLANET MARS.
THE CANALS A LONG KNOWN MS
 TERY OF THE HEAVENS.


 TERY OF THE HEAVENS.
 Mars FavorabIy Situated for Astroaoms-
 cal Observation-some Rather Cnrious
 Facts - What Life on Our Neighbos
 Planet Is Supposed To Be Like.
 NJ Berthelot, one of the academicians, Is evidently light hearted savant, for hs at once asked M de Lesseps, who was present at the meeting If he had by chance a brother projector in Mars. whereat all the learned astronomers smiled solemnly This is. surely. the first time that joke has been imported from spot 35 .000. 900 miles of, which Is about the distance of the planet Mars from our earth The canals perceived b. M. Perrotin upon the surface of our next outside neighbor in the solar system. however. are long known mystery of the heavens. and one that is probably as far as ever from being solved by the face tious wizard
 Mars happens to be better situated for observation by astronomers than any other body in the sky except the moon 6e is more than a hundred times farther of than the moon at his very closest ap- proach. and measures only 4.200 miles through at his equator, but, unlike the moon. be exhibits in turn every portion of his surface. rotating in a day which Is sbout half an hour longer than our own Thus the entire face of the planet Mars has been pretty accurately mapped, and presents diversified aspect of large patches of alternating lighter and darker rnrr--. l.. .-A the divisions of land and water. At the poles of Mars are extensive white regions, which sometimes show up in the field of the telescope with striking brilliancy and clearness of definition: and since these undergo periodic changes. occasionally almost vanishing and shen shining forth again at just the seasons when 1t would oe winter with the Martians. astronomers mad been led to call them lice caps" and 10 believe that we actually behold the Arctic and Antarctic polar seas of the planet in the form of these little white saucers stuck on each end of the ''star of war"
 As for the canals with which M. Per. rotin poked scientific fun at NJ. de Lesseps. they are certainly very curious objects. From sea tc sea, or what looks like it, run these straight passages. wearing an appearance, no doubt, of some immense artificial work-some Panama or Suez .anal on a colossal scale. They do not alter or extend-there they always arel- ome of them completed, others appar- sutly imperfect, as if the Martian cham Der of deputies had refused to sanction a lottery loan for the fulfllment of the original design But when NM. Perrotin and Faye begin to talk of engineers" and ''men ih Mars" 1t Is necessary to re- member that to be seen at all. even as a hair line, these canals in Mars would have to be at least 600 times as broad as the rhames-say thirty or forty miles across and as their length Is to be reckoned in hundreds of miles, the navvies in Mars, if they exist, must certainly be wonderful oeingst
 Astronomers. admirable on so many points. are never so stupid and unimagin ative as when neditating on the probs bilities of life beyond this earth. that old and fascinating topic of more worlds than one" They take their terrestrial notions and experiences much too blindly into space. they ask If there be an atmos- phere in the moon, or water in Mars; and If any doubts exist about these clements they solemnly conclude that these and other lovely and eligible celestial abodes are tenantless- As if life were not con ceivable without lungs and liverl As if we must always carry about with us into he glorious promotions of inter-stellaI space the dentist, the anti-bflious pill and bronchitis
 It Is true that for beings constructed as we are at present Mars would be a uovel and rather 8 surprising kind of ,;- enough to breathe there, and water sufi cient for tea and washing-which ars both dubious points--the diminished -ravitation of the little planet is so great hat it would induce a physical and mental levity fatal to dullness and for bidding sense of fatigue What is a hundred weight here would there weigh only fifty six pounds, and we could all go up stairs five steps at @ time. or jump l twice our own height with ease and grace | Then it would assuredly be very nice, if | we were living in the right latitude on | Mars. to have a quick moon and a slow | moon. always careering round like splen- | did Chinese lanterns. saving gas bills and | encouraging long walks of lovers and | Martial poetry fall from a horse | would seldom or never prove at all seri- | ous in the Martial hunting fields: the | rider would rebound from the soft soil | like an India rubber cushion. Aerial | has quite possibly been solved long ago by the fortunate people of the red planet. the conditions being so ex- tremely favorable, and who knows, in- deed, whether the so called "canals" are not vast tobogganing slides. where the entire population enjoys the unwonted | sense of swift descent. and some little spice of perils But we may be sure of this. that if there be sentient creatures on the silver and pearl surfaces of Mars. they are of very different type from our frames. for life is always the of it's surrounding conditions. and we denizens of the earth have lungs and larynx simply because we live at the bottom of SD aerial sea. just as fish possess gills because they breathe the Telegraph.