Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1892-10-08
IN MARS,
FRt Men There Weigh Next to Nothin,
and Are Wonderfully Agile.

Fnt Men There Weigh Next to Nothing
and Are Wonderfully Agile.
Mars weighs but one-ninth of what
tie earth weighs, and, therefore, objects
of a given mass weigh here nine times
~ much as they would weigh if taken
TO Mars For example, our standard
silver dollar of 412lS grains would
weigh but ass grains in Mars, and
would doubtless be refused by the Mar
tians If rendered in the payment of
debts, public or private. 1t follows,
however, from the lesser power of the
force OF gravitation ia Mars that it is a
paradise for fat men. The reason that
the elderly person gets tired soone
than the small boy is not that the
muscles of his legs are inferior, but that
they have more TO carry. The fat per-
son here has as powerful muscles as he
had when lean, but they have a greater
weight to bear and they tire under it.
III Mars it is different. There our stout
person of 800 pounds would weigh but
33h, legs and all. 50 that he could trip
along with his present muscles as light
ly as a kitten. Even the "fat lady of
miles Il day and not feel it. Agility, we
may assume, with y~ivacity as its accom-
panying virtue. is a characteristic of
the people Of Mars. Doubtless the Mar
tians, owing to the light burden on
their legs, grow taller than we do, and
are larger and more powerful every
way. Weight restricts development
The strength of muscle and bone NAV
be exceeded if an animal exceeds a GER
tain size.
In the sea the whale grows larger
than any terrestrial creature because
the water bears him up, Like the BIZ
cyclist, he has only to propel himself
by moving his legs-that is to say, his
fins, II nan lived in the sea he might
grow much larger than he does. In
Mars he could, with the same strength
OF muscle and bone, grow nine times as
large as he does here, A man fi~fty-four
feet in height, with a CORE sponding
development in other directions, would
be a powerful animal He would h.
capable OF doing an incredible mount
of work per day. Citizens OF such pro-
portions might very well undertake the
colossal canals with which the surface
of Mars is 5, s%trilljngly marked
These canals signify the astonishing
strength and energy of the Martians.
They are supposed to point also to a
plthctic necessity. Their planet, weak
IN gravity, is weakening nov in all the
natura! forces. Its heat is rap dly de-
parting, Its crust is cooling, and as it
coos its strata, ike those Of our moon,
absorb the water OF its Oceans. The
astronomers of Mars foresee a coming
time when all the water and atmo-
sphere Of their planet will disappear,
beng absorbed, as in the case of our
moon, by the chilled material of its in
terror. They have dug their canals in
large part, it is believed, to briny the
water OF their shrinking oceans to their
famished lands. Originally undertaken,
perhaps, as waterways, these canals
are supposed to be now vastly dccpened
''''''I'@iN IL VIC tIIlNtNhiltt Oh inc
water required for irrigation and Tor
drinking purposes. The extent and ex-
IRENE width of the excavations stag
gers belief: bat it Will be remembered
that Mars is much older than the clrth.
and that with the Marliani it is now
dig or die.
So they dig, AMI they dig double
lines. They parallel every waterway.
possibly to avert tn calamity of want
OF water over their vast con mental
areas in ca c one of the canals should
get stopped up by Il )and,Iid.. 1t has
been doubted whether the canals of
Mars are really double, but the astrono-
mfrs Of the Lick Oh crvatorv say they
obs rived them on the night of August
II with their incompatible tclcscnnc,
and testify that thcy ar, "dis.inctlv
double They add chat they ar, PEP
fcctly sra ght lines passing through
the continents from sea to SEA As a
canal in Mars would have TO b, treoty
miles VIDE to he visitlr with orr II Il
telescopes, il J, evident that the Mar
tans m1,t have gwen mncl ut'c.tioa
TO cngin 'ciing TAcrc is NJ evidence
That they have usel steam or electricity
Tor transportation ur Tor in / trial p1r-
poses. Hcing mn 'c- the ne e., NV of
having a large water supply, it j, pos
'lo'c that they have no, fpUnI it to nav !
to US powers Jther than water power,
I'csiIcs, Il Ian much in'cr,rc Ell by ca.
nails OF vast with a1d depth could not
well develop an c%t2a live railway sy,-
TEN. without coI'"-thcre i, no evil
dcncc that Mars had II carhln;f,rous
ptriod-thc manu'actpr' of Steam en-
s'nes codd make but little p,og,css.
As respects c%lcctri ity, the thinacss
o. the atmosphere of Mars would. il is
believed, interfere materially with the
efficiency of dynGno& The electricity
would b. dispersed somewhat. as il is in
y vacuum tubc, Lcfor. it could dous,ful
work. There could be little magn .tisn.
,tlsp'ain, because the planet, beside, be-
Jag frozen at both rrds and cold in the
,niddlc, gets few rays Of tn. sun-,he
source Of all energy in our system. 1t
a, Improbable, in fact. that the Martians
have ever given much attention to the
eubtler sciences They have given their
sninds wholly to canals, and canal dig
Fing Is not an elevating employment
baltimore Sun.