The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1891-11-06
TALKING WITH STARS.
PROFESSOR DAVDSON'S VIEWS or
INTERPlANETAR SIGNALS

Tint the Attempts VIII lie Successful.
When Professor George Davidson of
the Davidson Observatory and the Coast
and Geodetic Survey was shown the Paris
cablegram saying that an old lady had
Just died at Spa, leaving 100 O00f. as n
prize to the astronomer, French or
foreign, who within 10 years shall be
able to communicate with any planet or
star, reread it through slowly once, then
lie read it twice more rapidly. Finally
he picked it up, held it at proper dis.
tance (. ON his eyes, and squinted at it
just as he 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 ladyi" the veteran
astronomer finally exclaimed. "Now.
isn't that a pretty way to treat such a
piece of philanthropy as that?" An old
lady, indeed! Now, why under the sun
do you suppose they keep back her namey
am inclined to believe that some good
looking young man-one of these smooth
talkers-has been getting close to her and
talking lot of astronomy into her ear.
Professor Davidson picked up a blue
pencil and drew on white sheet of paper
a right apgled triangle.
This that have drawn, he said, "is
the old triangle of Pythagoras. That
triangle has right angle and the square
built upon the side opposite the right
angle is equal to the sum of the squares
built upon the other two sides. The
proposition is said to be the fundamental
one Of geometry. 1t has been proposed
to draw such a 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 go
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.
$50, if 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 inl abited by men of
knowledge, and that the drawing is q
signal. Then, of course, they will set to
work to answer it by building just such
figure ON Mars. That will be talking
from star to star.
"But all this is bosh and nonsense to
me, and dare say it was bosh and non
sense to the man who wheedled this
Frenchwoman into setting aside her
100,000 francs. But whoever he was, he
knew on which side his bread was but.
tered, and knew that such q trust, for
whatever purpose, would bear interest.
But even suppc sing that the Desert of
Sahara is one great plain and that it is
large enough for the purpose, and even
supposing that it was possible to make
such an enormous figure am in doubt
whether the people on Mars, with such
telescopes as we use, would he able to
see it.
AT certain times Mars is but "a, ,000,.
600 miles from the earth, but it gets fur
tier and further away, until the distance
is 81 SOC, 900 miles. That is a good way
off to see triangles. But if 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 not jump to the chi.
merical conclusion that there were idiots
enough down here to build such an af-
fnir.
"The truth is we do not know whether
my Of the planets besides the earth arc
inhabited. We think we know that il
might be possible for men to live or
Mercury. hesituation and condition OF
things on the other planets are altogether
different 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 are
Mercury, Venus, the earth, and Mars.
Mercury is only 35,392, 900 miles from the
sun, which isn't very far when you take
the heat into consideration. Cons,..
quently we believe it is a good many
times hotter than Arizona on Mercury.
There are other disadvantages, such as :,
lack of space, enormous mountains, and
no certainty of atmosphere. Mercury is
only 5000 miles in diameter, yet there
are mountains on its surface over l2
miles high.
"Vcnus is SO, l34, 900 miles from the
sun, ann is plenty hot enough, although
nearly twice rs far as Mercury from the
great heater. Then there is some qlles-
ton about the atmosphere as yet, aud the
year is only 224 days long.
"The earth comes next, being 81 ,430,
600 miles from the sun. After this planet
is Mars, 139, ,3l1 900 miles from the luni-
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 SO eccentric that
NJ certain times lie is only 126,3ls,-
coo miles away, consequently the tenn.
pcratures are, likely, merely little
more moderate than those on the earth.
Then, too, the diurnal motion of the two