The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-12-21
MARS, HEATED TERM.
visibie Evidences of an Extensivs Southern
 Thaw in that Planet.

 visible Evidences of an Exssnsivs Southern
 rhaw in that Planet.
 From the soientific Amerioan.l
 Among the most interesting observa- tions of Mars during the recent oppo- sition were those relating to the grad ual disappearance of the snow cap sur rounding Its southern pole. The disap- pearance was due of course. to the fact that 1t was summer in the southern hemisphere Of Mars. and tho polar snows melted more rapidly as the sun rose higher upon them. Yet, although the reason was plain and because 1t was plain. one could not watch the process without experiencing a strange feeling that amounted almost to awe. It is quite easy to think dispassionate- ly Of the possibility that some things may go on in other worlds just as they do In this one as long as your eyes have not confirmed what is in your mind; but when, peering through a tel escope. you actually behold such oc- currences. the effect is startling. It Is like suddenly coming In broad daylight upon the scenery of a dream.
 On the list of June the snow around the south pole of Mars was about 2,400 miles across. A snow cap of propor- donate dimension on the earth would, in the northern hemisphere. extend as "a DAt .k.,,- tha |, ern point of Greenland, and Mount St. Elias in Alaska. By the 1st of July the diameter of the snowy area had dimin- ished to about 1,500 miles. On the 1st of August 1t was only HOO miles, and on the 31st of August, the date of the isphere of Mars. the snow cap was but 500 miles across. But heat accumulates in Martian summer after the sun has has begun to decline. just as It does upon the earth, and accordingly the melting of the snows continued after the solstice was passed. At the end of September the diameter of the snow covered region was only about 35O miles, and at the opening of November 1t was less than 200 miles.
 Now comes curious fact. About tie middle of October 1t was reportel that the polar snow cap of Mars had van tshed; some of the most powerful teles- copes failed to reveal trace of 1t! Yet 1t is not probable that it had actually entirely disappeared. The explanation of the apparent disappearance is no doubt to be found in the fact that as the snow area diminished 1t left the pole uncovered by receding to one side; for previous observations have shown that on Mars, as ou the earth. what may be called the pole of cold" does not correspond in location with the planets axis. Schiaparelli's observa- tions. in 1877 and 1879. showed that the centre of the Snow cap during its mini mum in those years was displaced toward that side of the pole corres- bonding to an geographic longitude of about 40 degrees. With the other side Of the planet turned toward the earth the snow cap would have been invisi- ble, being. 50 to speak, hidden behind the pole. This is apparently just what occurred in the middle of October laet: The south pole was then free from ice,. and the center of the snowy region was displaced, as in 1877 and 1879, along the meridian of 40 degrees. But 1t was the other side of the planet which was at that time presented to the earth during the best hours for ob- servation, and consequently no polar snow was seen: not because it had no existence, but because 1t was concealed.
 It Is probable. however, that at its minimum the snow cap was exceed ingly small, perhaps less than 10o miles in diameter. No such rapid and eAten- sive disappearance of snow and ice oc- CUTS upon the earth, although the advo- cates of an open polar sea may find encouragement in the fact .rat the un- coverd south pole of Mars corresponds in color and general appearance with what are believed to be the water areas of the planet, while what remains of the snow cap in such circumstances rests, apparently, upon a. mass of land, perhaps no more than an island. rising out of the polar region.
 Owing to the larger eccentricity of its orbit, the extremes of temperature on Mars are greater than upon the earth, although the total amount of solar heat received by the planet is less than half as much as we get. But more tmpor- tant than these differences is the rarity of Mars atmosphere, which has been so clearly demonstrated by the recent spectroscopic observations of Professor Campbell. It may not be scientific, but 1t is certainly human to ask whether beings resembling ourselves were in- cfuded in the field of view of our teles- copes last autumn. while we watched the southern snows of Mars sparkling to the sun and melting away at his ar- dent touch. If such beings are there, they must exist in an atmosphere less than one-quarter as extensive as the earth's. GARRETT P. SERVES.
 Mining without the Romance.
 [From Hsrper's weekly.1
 There is such a halo of romance sur- rounding mines and miners that if is l