Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1891-08-26
TALKING WITH STARS.
PROFESSOR DAvlDsoN'S VIEWS or
lNTERPIANETARY SIGNALS.

Thc Suggested Use Of Huge Triangle
o., the Desert OF sahara -Improb biIitJ
THAT the Attempts VIII He Saccessrul
When Professor George Davidson o.
the Davidson Observatory and the Coast
..nd Geodetic Survey was shown tile Paris
cahlegram saying that an old lady had
.ust died at Spa, leaving 100, ,000f. as a
lrze to the astronomer, French OF
foreign, who within 10 years shall be
able to communicate with any planet OF
star, reread it through slowly once, then
he read II twice more rapidly. Finally
he picked it up, held it at proper dis
tance from his eyes, and squinted at it
just as lie would squint at Mercury
through his telescope If he wanted to find
the big tortoise shaped spot on its
northern hemisphere.
"An old lady--an old ladyl" the veteran
astronomer finally exclaimed. snow.
isn't that pretty way to treat such a
piece Of philanthropy as thatS" An old
lady, indeedl Now, why under the sun
do you suppose they keep back her nanei
am inclined to believe that some good
looking young man--one of these smooth
talilers--has been getting close TO her and
talking q lot of ashpnomy into her ear.
Professor Davidson picked up blue
pencil and drew on awhile sheet of paper
right angled triangle.
This that | have drawn, he said, "is
the old triangle of Pythagoras. That
triangle has right angle, and the square
huilt upon the 81 le opposite the right
angle is equal to the sum of the squares
built upon the other two sides. The
proposition is said 10 be the fundamental
one of geometry. II las been proposed
TO draw such figure as that in The
Desert of Sahara, or some other great
plain, the lines, OF course, to be hundreds
of miles long, and made so they would
be distinct on the desert sand.
"These are the suppositions that &c
along with the idea. Ii is supposed
that there are people on some Of the
planets, at least on Mars. II is supposed
that the people on the planet are civilized
and capable of looking through tele.
scopes, and it is concluded that If this is
so, they must know the Pythagorean
proposition.
80, il the people on Mars look through
their telescopes at the earth they will be
sure to see that enormous figure on the
desert, and seeing it they will realize
that the earth is inhabited by men OF
knowledge, and that the drawing is a
signal. Then, of course, they will set 10
work to answer it by building just such
a figure on Mars. That will be talking
from star to star.
But all this is bosh and nonsense to
me, and dare say /. was bosh and non.
sense to the man who wheedled this
Frenchwoman into setting aside her
100, 900 francs. But whoever he was, he
knew on which side his bread was but.
tered, and knew that such trust. for
whatever purpose, would bear interest.
But even supposing that the Desert OF
Sahara is one great plain and that il is
large enough for the purpose, and even
supposing that 1t was possible to make
such an enormous figure, | am in doNbi
whether the people on Mars, with sucll
telescopes as we use, would be able tu
see IT,
At certain times Mars is but 34,000.-
coo miles from the earth, but it gets fur
ther and further a way, until the distance
is 81 500, 900 miles. That is a good way
or to see triangles. But il Mars is in
habited am inclined to believe that the
Inhabitants are not fools. II they saw a
triangle shaped object on the face Of the
earth they would OF jump to the CHI
merical conclusion that there were idiots
enough down here TO build such an af-
fair.
"The truth is we do not know whether
any of the planets besides the earth arr
inhabited. We think we know that ii
might be possible for men to live OF
Mercury. The situation and condition OF
things on the other planets are altogether
different from those on the earth. So.
when we talk about the inhabitants o;
The planets we enter the realms of sur
mise, and Jules Verne has better chance
rhan the scientist.
Tie four planets nearest the sun are
MercnEy, Venus, the earth, and Mars
Mercury is only 80, ,302, 900 miles from the
sun, which isn't very far when you take
the heat into consideration Conse-
quently we believe It is good many
times hotter than Arizona on Mercury.
There are other disadvantages, such as a
lack Of space, enormous mountains, and
no certainty Of atmosphere. Mercury Is
only 1900 miles i'm diameter. yet there
are mountains ON its surface over ~