Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1892-05-27
is MARS TALKING AT US?
THE BOLD SUGGESTION OF AN
ASTRONOMER.
Certain Squares, TrinnGles and Rectangles
Formed by Spots on the Planet,
Designed to Attract Our
Attention.

Ouo Oi inc DOlucSb Oh Une many
oold suggestions that have boon
thrown out by imaginative writer's in
the last few years is recent one by
Flammarion the French astronomer.
1t is in reference to proposal made
some months ago to encourage the
formulation of plan for opening up
communication between the inhabit-
| ants of earth and those of some other
world. He argues that as the planet
Mars is several million years older in
point of development than is our
world, its people are further advanced
in the scale of intellectual progress
than we are, and that they may have
been making signals to us for the last
hundred thousand years or SO without
our being made aware of the fact.
The reasons for the deduction may
be briefly stated says the Chicago
Tribune. Even without supposing &C.
cording TO the Kant-L aplace theory,
| that Mars was thrown off from a ring
| of nebulous matter much earlier than
the earth. he must have cooled down
| more rapidly because of his smaller
| bulk. his diameter being less than
| D, 600 miles. This reasoning is sup
| ported by the ascertained facts that
his atmosphere is far less dense than
ours. and his land and water surfaces
! are nearly equal, while with us the
| proportions are nearly one to three.
1t is inferred that both oceans and at
mosphere have diminished on that
| planet much more than the 9 per cent
| credited by some with having disap-
| peared from the earth since the be-
| ginning OF geological history. On
Mars the successive phases of planet
life have been condensed into a
| shorter time than is the case with
us. Its people are there ore nearer
| the maximum of possible develop
ment if they have not long since
passed it, and all animation will have
disappeared there when our earth is
still the theatre of intensely active vi
tality. hence it may be inferred that
the most highly organized inhabitants
of Mars long since thought of the in
ter-planetary communication scheme.
which is yet novelty with us. and
have during many centuries been
vainly trying to make us aware of the
fact If they really have been doing
so they have acted in the most simply
suggestive way possible.
|
constructed maps of Mars there are
observable in several places small
dots by the side of which the astron-
omer notes the presence of luminous
spots that shine like snow under the
| rays OF the sun. 1t is not probable
that these spots are due TO tho pres
ence of snow, since some are situated
| near the equator while others are in
i~h LOT 81 l.
tain peaks, for they are close to the
| sens and symmetrically disposed with
| reference TO certain rectilinear canals.
Furthermore. several among them ap-
pear to mark parallels of latitude and
! meridians, and in examining them one
is inevitably reminded of geodetical
signs. The close observer can dis
tinctly trace triangles. squares and
rectangles formed by these luminous
| spots.
Improbable as the inference may
| seem to be. 1T is likely that several OF
| the astronomical observers who can
| not think of any thing better to do
with their telescopes will subject
these spots to patient scrutiny. and
record what they see for comparison
with appearances in the future. when
some of these spots will have changed
their positions if they be really the
result of intelligent design. II meth
odical changes be discovered In the
course OF a few years. or even centu-
ries, it will be hard TO resist the con-
clusiou that the guess of the Partisan
writer is correct one and then will
begin the effort to reciprocate. Evil
IDENTIFY this will be much the worse Job
OF the two, on account of the relative
position. We can best make out
the smaller details on the sur
face of Mars when nearest 10
him. he being then in opposition to
the sun. But at that time we
are buried in the sunlight as seen
from the planet and the distance
must be at least doubled in order to
carry the earth sufficiently far away.
angularly. to permit distinct view
from our neighbor in space. That is,
each of the luminous mounds con-
structed by us must have twice the
diameter or four times the area of
those on Mars in order to be visible
with equal distinctness il the optical
power employed be the same in each
case. II however it be suppose,
possible that the Ma tial folks
have learned how to construct
telescopes which are correspond
ingly moro powerful than the
best we have. that difficulty vanishes
in theory. But who is going to know
thisp And how long will it be ere
the fact is established TO the satisfac-
ton of the most curious among NOR
tails?
Iu any event it must be very MANY
years before the actual exchange OF
signals between ourselves and the
Inhabitants of Mars can become p fact,