The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1894-07-28


attention in the still watches of the
night, Mr.. Preece said: ''If any of these
planets be populated with beings like
ourselves, having the gift of language
and the knowledge to adapt the great
forces of nature to their wants, then il
they could oscillate immense stores OF
electrical energy to and fro in tele-
graphic order, it would be possible for
us to hold commune by telephone with
the people of Mars"
These mysterious sounds which SO
puzzle Mr.. Preece seem to correspond
! with those noticed by Thomas A.
Edison, who has turned Ogden noun
tain, in New Jersey, into great mag
net and coiled miles of wire about it.
At the time of the last opposition of
Mars he noticed an increase of the
seismic mutterings, which have recent
ly been SO violent. Mr.. Edison and Mr..
Preece are the only two of the sci
entists who are now experimenting
along these lines, and the whole scien-
tific world is watching the progress
being made. Neither Mr.. Edison nor
Mr.. Preece has been so bold as to say
that the strange sounds referred to are
messages sent by the inhabitants of
Mars to those of earth, but they have
not otherwise explained them.
On the other hand there are many
scientists firm in the belief that the
next few years will witness the OPEN
ing up of communication between
the people of the two planets. This
conviction has been enormously
strengthened by the strange lights
seen at the Lick observatory when
Mars was under observation during its
opposition little over a year ago.
The three lights were arranged in q
triangle, flashed out as soon as dark
ness had set in and in the immense
lens of the Lick telescope they glowed
with steady and continued effulgence.
Was this an effort Of the inhabitants
Of Mars to attract the attention of
those of earth?
Such had been the opinion of Flam-
marion, who had argued in favor of
earth signaling back with triangle of
lights thirty miles across. 1t was
shown that the conditions of Mars
were more nearly those of earth than
OF any other planet. Both of the snow
caps could be plainly seen and may be
seen now in any first-class telescope,
for Mars is now to be observed in the
morning about thirty degrees west and
fourteen degrees south from Venus in
the constellation Capricorn. The we'll
defined atmosphere of Mars is also
plainly visible, and astronomers can
tell by the increase or decrease of its
snow caps and its position in regard to
the sun the progress of its seasons and
whether or not the Marsians are hay
ing cold winter. The canal theory
of Schiapparelli has likewise many be-
levers, who assert that the strange
straight lines on Mars are canals
which have been built by its highly
civilized inhabitants.
Mr.. Preece says he has kept record
of the strange, mysterious sounds
which have attracted his attention,
while Edison has done likewise. These
will require much study to decipher, if
they are messages from Mars. The
Precce discovery, on the other hand,
PA I'D ~ al OAAC ROWC1 "a tu0 HCOUlC Oh
earth to send direct electrical currents
to Mars, whose inhabitants are SO much
in advance of ourselves that they NAV
be able to help us out in the work Of
opening up converse. A pantoraimic
electrical interchange will be necessary
for some time, but what will be the
emotions Of the scientific world when
the message is sent out that c,mmuni-
cation has been established?
There are those who firmly assert
that this is an experience of the imme-
date future; that electricity is the
universal force and the one whereby
The planets win come into com-
with each other II they
ever do. The mystery Of electricity Is
The strange fluctuations it undergoes
# it were an earth property solely it
would be steady, as II would be were it
common to all the universe and not in
,erfered with. But its strange goings
md comings, its apparent relations to I
he sun, and yet its known sympathy
With other heavenly bodies, seem to
how that somebody somewhere is
'ooling With the dynamo and cutting
~ and turnin6 on the current.