The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1889-03-28
THE PI1A a NET MARS.
Some Recent Discoveries Made by
Astroa omers.

Prof Holden Talks IL Its Mountains, VAL
Jeys, Rivers, Caisals and Seasons
v Its life Ma tested on y
Gram scale.
The surface of Mrs when viewed In
the telescopes at Nace seen1So be di-
vidcd into region. Of three classes
whose principal -distAetion is in color.
The reddish regie4s have been, called
continents. --islands--and;1 he-dark,
greenish regions hay been called. seas,
oceans, CULTS; the lish regions near
the poles of Mars have been identified
with the polar caps d ice and snow. In
general these latter wax and wane as
they should whit Martial winter
and summer; and -ia- spite OF minor
variations II seems to hn fairly proved
that they are in fact what they seem to
. zanamelyY.- masses O. nolar- snem~on-
ice. II snow and ice eXst on the planet
there must be water there and the va
por of water. The spectroscope yields
independent evidence Of the presence
OF watery vapor in the planets atmos-
-phere also Whether The dark green
or thesneddish ginn ss@@Ee> the oceans,
seas and CULTS has never Tet been settled
by observation flfe-ezztersZ seem,s by
Terrestrial analogies, to designate the
grcea-areas as oceans, lie red as land,
but this distinction is Que based almost
exclusively on analogy fhe encroaah--
of H. ic
==ifow explained as pdftiai .submergences
of (red) continents by the neighboring
I zf Gggreen } tseas.ryBHt tire case may be the
exact opposite 4asid:"in fact, it is quite
possible II very different affair altogeth-
en- The limbs or edges Of the Planet
< arc always OF lemon yellow hue,
which tint usually masks a. sharp lines
OF the markings. 1t is Nv no means
understood how the abso lion of the
planets atmosphere opera4lg.- ~
- :. A fzeemPa risea-efzztht7r qriier and
later drawings has establ he'd one fact
beyond question. The spots md mark
: ings seen by Hooke and hgghens, in
+. 1869, are to be seen to-day unchanged
in fornae Again, the positions rof the
points of Mars, which Maedler accu-
rately fixed more. than fftylyears ago,
ARE the same as their positions deter
mined to-day (their latitudes and lon
gitudes) within the small errors insep-
arable-from and to be expected in
3 this kind of observation.X In general
then we may say that the main features
of Mars remain unchanged rom year
to year. While this is certainly true in
general, Prof. SchiapareIli has demons
straed that it is by no means rlgorous-
true. Many parts OF IT, Qlanet's
surface vary in color from time 10 time;
the boundaries of the dark re joys have
varied to and fro over Desirable
spaces; contain of the more deiicate
features. seem to be more cas- Y s4en at
enc time than at Others fftt77yT this
may we'll be due to the vary iug rams
parency OF the earth's atmospherei and,
finally, the atmosphere of Mars tself
must aud does produce meteoroiorical
variations AS Prof. Sclsiapav 80 has
said, this planet is no deser If lrid
rocks; it is living, and its life + IN AMI
tested in a complex system of abear-
ances, some OF which aye on and
scale that they can even be q ted
from our station on the earth.n
During the opposition of NJ.
Schiaparelli, not content witt 4 NO
out the boundaries OF the vario n
tinents and seas with a precisio ct
unreached. gave his attention h. to
the delineation of the v ry finest de-
tails Of the planets markings. He was
soon rewarded with the striking dis
covery of a whole network of fine dark
- lines, which for want Of better name
he called canals They usually ran
: from one dark sea or bay to anothet
Their courses were not sinuous like
those of rivers ION the earth. They
are, however, far too broad (about ffty
Il miles) to bear any real analogy to ter
restriaiq and artificial, canals. but we
must repeat that this designation is a
mere name OF convenience. The credit
OF the@discovefy OF these canals
tirely due to M. Schiaparelli. who -
studied them with sufficient care j
made adequate maps Of their cou ~,
Many. OF them had been laid dc
Showever,s in the drawings OF obser
previous to 1877; and recent obse
tions made byelarge telescopes may
said TO entirely confirm the MAJ
Schiaparelii, If not in every detail,
!. in every essential respect. We hE--
then to regard the topography Of M
zEas singularly complex considering T
circumstances under which we view
To the continents, the seas, the po4ea
caps OF Maedler we have to add 4
complex network OF canals. NOME
mystery was added by their discoyel
--only a greater completely. We mu
remember that the distribution OF lar
and water on the surface OF Mars is =
yet anlnown; that continents,
seas and canals are alike. in beini
mere names for markings OF variou
colors.
We come now. however. to a discov
cry announced by Prof.. Schiaparelli il
1881 which presents veritable mys
terry. Every thing heretofore known
n not explained, seemed applicable b