Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1891-11-07


H.. Davidson Observatory and the Coast
nd Geodetic Survey was shown the Paris
,.Ablegram saying that an old lady had
asst died at Spa, leaving 1OO,OOOf. as
ne to the astronomer, French OF
,,reign, who within 10 years shall be
able to communicate with any planet on
star. reread it through slowly once, then
he read it twice more rapidly. Finally
lie picked it up, held it at proper dis.
'auce from his eyes, and squinted at 1t
,,t as he would squint at Mercury
through his telescope if he wanted to find
me big tortoise shaped spot on its
northern hemisphere.
An old lady-an old LADY," the veteran
astronomer finally exclaimed. Nov,
sn't that a pretty way to treat such
piece of philanthr py as that?" An old
ally, indeed. Now, why under the sun
SO you suppose they leep back her name:
am inclined to believe that some good
boxing young man-one of these smooth
tslkers-has been getting close to her and
talking a lot of astronomy into her ear.
Professor Davidson picked up blue
encil and drew on awhile sheet of paper
right angled triangle.
"This that | have drawn" he said, is
re old triangle of Pythagoras. That
triangle has right angle, and the square
'uilt upon the side opposite the right
angle is equal to the sum of the squares
!uilt upon the other two sides. The
deposition is said to be the Fundamental
ne of geometry. 1t las been proposed
H.,
Desert of Sahara, or some other great
plain, the lines of course, to be hundreds
o; miles long, and made so they would
Ike distinct on the desert sand.
These are the suppositons that 90
along with the idea. 1t is supposed
that there are people on some of the
planets, at least on Mars. 1t 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.
so, if the people ON Mars look through
their telescopes at the earth they will be
sire to see that enormous figure on the
desert. and seeing 1t they will realize
tlat the earth is inhabited by men OF
knowledge, and that the drawing is
signal. Then, of course they will set t'
york 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 t,
me, and | dare say it was bOsh and non
sense to the man who wheedled thi
frenchwoman into setting aside he
100, 900 francs. But whoever he was, h.
Knew on which side his bread was but
cred, and knew that such a trust, 70
whatever purpose, would bear interest
But even surprising that the Desert OF
Sahara is one great plain and that it Is
large enough for the purpose, and ever
surprising that it was possible to max,
such an enormous figure, | am in dOub
whether the people on Mars, with suci
telescopes as we use, would be able t,
see it.
AT certain times Mars is but $4,000
coo miles from the earth, but it gets fur
rher and further away, until the distance
is 81 800, 900 miles. That is a good way
off to see triangles. But if Mars is i'll
llabited am inclined to believe that thr
inhabitants are not fools. If they saw
triangle shaped object on the face of the
'arth they would not 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
my of the planets besides the earth ar.
Inhabited. We think we know that it
rnight be possible for men to live OF
Mercury. Thesituat;on and condition q;
!hings on the other planets are altogethc
liiferent from those on the earth. So
when we talk about the inhabitants OF
the planets we enter the realms of sur
mise, and jules Verne has better chance
than the scientist
"The four planets nearest the sun ar
Mercury, Venus, the EARTH and Mar,
Mercury is only 30, 392 900 miles from rhv
sun, which isn't very far when you tax,
the heat into consideration. Cons
quently we believe it is good MAN.
times hotter than Arizona on Mercury
There are other disadvantages, such as {,
lack of space, enormous mountains, ami
no certainty of atmosphere. Mercury Is
only 5000 miles in diameter, yet ther,
are mountains on its surface over j.
miles high.
Venus is &C. 13i, 900 miles from the
sun, ann is plenty hot enough, although
nearly twice as far as Mercury from tie
great heater Then there is some qIcs-
ton about the atmosphere as yet, and the
year is only 224 days long
"The earth comes next, being 81 ,430,
900 miles from the sun. After this planet
is Mars, 1876, 311 900 miles from the lumi-
nary.
"All astronomers admit that if people
like those on the earth live on any of the
other planets Mars is probably the one.
The reason why is easy to tell Although
Mars is further from the sun than the
earth his orbit is 50 eccentric that
Mt certain times he is only 126, 31S,-
900 miles away, consequently the tenn
peratures are, likely, merely a little
more moderate than those on the earth.
Then, too, the diurnai motion of the two
planets is about the same, so that from
one years end to another the distance
from the earth to Mars varies only from
$500, 900 miles to 81 500, OOmiles. Mar,
has its seasons and its polar ice, just like
the earth.
Through the telescopes we can watch
ice fields at the poles get larger as winter
approaches, and see them get smaller
again in the summer Mars has an at
mosphere and clouds like those on EARTH
There are continents and oceans on Mars
so that altogether the analogy between