Arizona weekly citizen., 1889-06-01
ON THE PLANET MARS.
THE CANALS A LONG KNOWN MS TERY OF THE HEAVENS.


 cal Observation-some Rather Curious
 Facts - What Life on Our Neighbor
 Planet Is Supposed To Be Like.
 NJ Berthelot, one of the academicians. is evidently light hearted savant, for he at once asked M de Lesseps, who was present at the meeting. If be 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 85 .0O0. 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 a 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 He is more than hundred times farther of than the moon at bis very closest ap- proach, and measures only 4.200 miles through at his equator; but. unlike the moon. he exhibits In turn every portion of his surface. rotating in day which Is about half an hour longer than our own Thus the entire face of the planet Mars has been pretty accurately mapped. and presents a diversified aspect of large patches of alternating lighter and darker markings which may naturally suggest 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 definitions: and since these undergo periodic changes. occasionally almost vanishing and then shining forth again at just the seasons when 1t would be winter with the Martians, astronomers had been led to call them '.ice caps" and to 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 NJ. Per rotin poked scientific fun at NJ de Lesseps. they are certainly very curious objects. From sea tc sea, or what looks like 1t. appearance, no doubt, of some immense artificial work-some Panama or Suez canal on . colossal scale. They do not alter or extend-there they always arel- ome of them completed, others appar- ently 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. Pe-rotin and Faye begin to talk of engineers" and "men in 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 500 times as broad as the Thames-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 beingsi
 Astronomers, admirable on so many points. are never so stupid and unimagin- ative as when meditating 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 elements they solemnly conclude that these and other lovely and eligible celestial sbodes are tenantless- As if life were not con- >eivable without lungs and a hveri As if we must always carry about with us into the glorious promotions of inter-stellar space the dentist, the anti bilious pill and bronchitis
 1t is true that for beings constructed as we are at present Mars would be novel and rather a surprising kind of abode. Supposing we found dense air enough to breathe there. and water sufh- cient for tea and washing-which are both dubious points-the diminished gravitation of the little planet Is so great that 1t would induce @ physical and mental levity fatal to dullness and for bidding sense of fatigue. What Is 0 hundred weight here would there weigh only fifty six pounds. and we could all go up stairs five steps at time. or jump 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 @ 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. A fall from @ 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 navigation 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 perilf 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 terrestrial frames. for life is always the equation of its surrounding conditions. and we denizens of the earth have lungs and a larynx simply because we live at the bottom of sn aerial sea. just as fish possess gills because they breathe the water.-London Telegraph.