The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-06-08
FLASH LIGaT FOR MARS.
II the People OF That Planet Can Read
1t Ought to Work.

it Ought to Work.
From the Chicago Daily Tribune.
fropaoly the most intelligent suggestion
YET thrown out for exchanging signals with
the inhabitants Of the planet Mars, il any
such there be. is made by e. Ellsworth Ca
rey. 1t 10 that perfectly level area, say at
least five miles in diameter, not in the vi
entity Of hills or mountains, be COW
cred with a uniformly black eating
or earthv sand or coal dust. This
area is TO be covered with gas lets or cleo
trio arcs, placing the illuminating points
about feet apart. That would reouire
some 6, 000, 900 points of intense brilliancy
visible TO the inhabitants Of Mars with a
maghifyfnR power OF 800 dinmstres when
the earth was sufficiently far away from
conjunction to be seen while the sun was
below the belt of twilight.
Inc plan is to SO construct and connect
these signal lights that the turning of a KEY
would instantly extnguish or light them
all. Then the illumination should be made
to appear and disappear at regular
intervals Suppose at first the inter
val between the flashes was three
seconds and the flashes continued five sec
onds. Then the Intervals and duration of
hght should be changed. say to six. twelve.
eighteen, ETC., seconds, and then the series
OF inter Vals reversed. Mr.. Carey argues
that such signals would hardly be kent mn
long without attracting attention on Mars.
II It's inhabitants be far advanced in intelli.
gence, development, and civilization.
Ihey must then conclude that the
earth is similarly inhabited, and that
some OF Its people had constructed a flash
light visible to the jewellers of Mars. IL
also may be expected that they would ar
rive at the conclusion that such light was
maintained as signal to attract their at
tentlon. Further, it may be supposed that
Ia the latter case they would make arrange
ments to return the signal, if possible,
enough some, perhaps many, years might
elapse before they could respond in q man.
ner we should understand.
This is pretty theory, and its author de-
serves credit for having been the first to
show the world how interplanetary COM
municatlon is possible. But there still
remains the question, is it practicable? For
the present, at least, that must be answered
with decided negative. 1t is not likely
that any man, or association of men. would
undertake the enormous expense involved
in carrying out this scheme, seeing that
there is in 1t no suspicion of profit, and but
probiematical amount of glory, not to be
gained till perhaps years after the
death OF the investor. If genera
ton should ever arise on this earth
that loves wisdom more than wealth it
may find other uses for its money than in
trying TO bridge the gulf that separates us
from the other members of the solar sys-
tenn, but till then it is idle to expect the
costly effort to be made. Still it will do
no harm for the enthusiastic ones to revel in
anticipation Of some such result to be
achieved by those who will come after
them, and there is another view of the case
still more enticing to those who are specu
latively inclined. Some of the philosophers
who have studied the appearance of Mars
think there is reason to suppose its inhab-
itants are much further advanced than our
selves in the march Of intellectual progress
that planet having cooled down from the
original nebulous heat sooner than Its larger
brother or sister, the earth. Hence
it is not absurd to suppose the inhabitants
of Mars already have been considering the
problem of intercommunication with other
members of the solar system, and for aught
we know, they may have been making such
signals to us for centuries past without our
being aware Of the fact. IL some of the
lynx-eyed ones who scan the objects in the
sky through telluric telescopes once see
changes on the surface of Mars which they
fancy indicate that signals are in progress,
the case would be radically altered. it
might not then be impossible to f1ud persons
willing to stand the immense cose of setting
up and conducting a return telegraph
apparatus, by means of which we may &C
knowledge the salute and raise ourselves in
the estimation of our neighbors.