The record-union., 1892-08-04
Special to the REcoRD-UN1oN.


SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 3.-Professor
Edward S. Holden, in lengthy commu-
nication to the Associated Press from the
Lick Observatory, gives an account of the
work being done there during the present
opposition Of Mars. He says there seems
to be a general misrepresentation as to the
character of the work being DONE The
astronomers do not expect to discover an
unknown continent, but after months of
work expect to max new and improved
maps OF the planet, just as surveyors i'll
making new surveys of the State of Ar
kansas, for instance, would do. Enough
material has already been obtained to
considerably improve existing maps.
He says: I'm my opinion the time has
not yet come to even speculate on the
probability of Mars being inhabited, and
it is doubtful if the observations yet made
are sufficient to enable us to pronounce
the planet fit to be inhabited. There is
very little doubt but that science will by
and-by be able to Interpret all, or nearly
all, of the phenomena now seen, and to
arrive at certalntieS. Just now it must
be confessed that only few things are
known about our nearest planetary
neighbor. We have found great changes
in details of the martial surface, while
the main outlines have remained much
the same These changes have seemed to
be so great that it is often difficult to ex-
plain them by terrestrial analogies.
IF there are, indeed, inhabitants to
Mars, l think they might be surprised at
some OF the coniectures which are cur
rent on the earth regarding their sur
roundings. If the white cap at the south
pole OF Mars IS indeed snow and ice it
has been hard winter for the Martial
ESquimauX. If the red areas are land and
the dark ones water, there are now two
lakes where there was one in 1877, and
none in 1879. We are speaking, it must
be remembered, of bodies of water some
hundreds OF square miles in areas. The
facts of the observation are correctly
given, but the explanation is so doubtful
that prefer to simply recite the facts and
reserve the theory. Some time during
the present autumn our observations will
have been finished, and our maps COM
pleted and compared with past maps of
the same soil. 1t is probable that we
can draw conclusions which are certain,
and throw new light on this very obscure
problem.
''If this moderate statement of what
we expect is disappointing, l can only
say that the Lick Observatory possesses
the greatest of telescopes, mounted in
the most favorable situation: that nearly
the whole time of the telescope has been
given TO this research, and that five per-
fectly competent observers have taken
part in the work, and | think | am iusti-
lied IN saying that no more could have
been done than has been done. If at the
end, the results are not definite and final
the reason must he sought in the ex-
treme difficulty of the problem in hand"
NOTHING WORTHY OF NOTE SEEN.
HANOVER On. H. Aug. 3.-Professor
S. c. a. Young of Princeton College and
Professor E. b. Frost of Dartmouth are
closely watching the planet Mars tonight
from the Dartmouth Observatory, but I'D
to late hour nothing worthy OF note had
been seen. Professor Young says that
recently, with his large 25-inch telescope
at Princeton, he observed substantially
the same features as the Lick ObServa-
tory, but was unable to discern the canals
of Schiaparelli, the Italian astronomer.
NO NEW FEATURES.
ROCHESTER, IN. W, Aug. 3.-Henry C.
Main, the well-known astronomer and
''sun shot man." who has been making
close observations of Mars, said tonight:
'Mars presented no new features at mid
night. The workings are comparatively
faint, because of the intense illumination
of the disc. The snow cap is now small.
The western limb from the snow can
northward seems to be more highly il
Illuminated than the eastern. The light of
the western limb appeared to be nearly
white, but not SO white as that reflected
by the snow cap. In the southern hemi-
sphere there was quite distinct greenish
gray streak about 400 from the pole.
OBSERVATIONS UNSATISFACTORY.
NoRTHFIELD (Minn.), Aug. 3.-The
observations taken at Loovel's Observa-
tory have been unsatisfactory, as Mars
has not yet reached its highest altitude.
One of the moons has been visible for
thirty hours, but the other eIudes obser-
vation. No startling discoveries are ex-
pected, although an atmosphere is clearly
visible.
MOONLIGHT TOO STRONG.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 1.-The moonlight
was too strong to night and the atmos-
pheric conditions unsatisfactory to scien-
lists at the Naval Observatory, conse-
quently they could not see the opposition
OF Mars very well. The planet had the
appearance of blazing ball of fire on
account of this disturbance in the atmos-
phere, and no special phenomena was
therefore observed.