The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-09-11

an Inter-Planetary Signal Code.
From the New York World.
Mars is coming this way at rapid rate.
and making signals to all smaller plan
cts to look out. Mars will be close to the
earth now in a few weeks. and every
night that goes by brings the red orb
clearer and clearer into the field of vision
of the big telescopes which are pointed at
him. The astronomers are telegraphing
to each other from eligible points about
the discoveries they. are making, and
scientists are wagging their heads wisely
big with thought. They say that we are
upon the eve of astounding discoveries.
but they are reluctant to say what these
discoveries may be.
At the same time the usual phenomena
that manifest themselves during all times
of astronomical excitement are present to
make the situation complete. The astrOn-
omers are Quarreling among themselves
about what they see. A couple of years
AGO, when Biela's comet suddenly APP
peared in the heavens with an enlarged
head and a well-developed tail, astrono-
mers said it was coming this way at the
rate of several million miles a second,
and that there was danger of a collision.
Then up rose a learned man in the Dudley
observatory at Albany who proved that
il was going the other way, at least ID
his own satisfaction. AS if to re
flute the contentious of both schools
of astronomers, the comet stood
still in the heavens for several weeks.
Then it suddenly vanished, as if to prove
that il was in fact Biela's comet. which
has now been PLAYING this sort Of game
for more than century and upsetting
beautiful theories and para bolic curves
IN, ord TO - arfa1 ak uG
One man has said within few weeks
that he has found that Mars has no at
mosphere. Another scientist asserts that
the atmosphere of Mars is so heavy that
it falls TO the ground with a dull thud,
and that the people who live there have
lungs of an entirely different make from
those used on earth. Prof Holden of the
Lick Observatory proceeds to say that
If Mars has an atmosphere" thereby
proving that he IS taking a conservative
course, and prepared to win either way
when the point is finally settled.
But it is no longer TO be denied that
some very strange and mysterious things
are going on on Mars, ana that things
are appearing there which are to be
found in none other of the heavenly
bodies IL is these things which, taken
together, form the basis for the assertion
that Mars is inhabited by highly civil
lied race of people, who are making every
effort to open up communication with the
residents of earth. The phenomena are
TO be accounted for in no other way.
What, for instance, would you think of a
planet that shows a well-developed niche
in its terminator, as seen by Lowell, at
Flagstaff. on July 10 of tins year. and
which only nine days later throws out a
big pro ,ectlon, as seen by the noted as
tronomer, Javelle3 Mr.. Javelle was so
astonished by what he saw two nights in
e1ppaCCiou thar falarrpa
which are now the talk of the astronomi-
cal world
The projection seen by him looked like
the arm of a semaphore thrown out
against the dark background of the sky,
as if to say, Look at met"
1t glowed with a rudy light like the
port lantern of a yacht at sea. 1t hung
out beyond the rim of Mars so that no
body looking in that direction could fail
to see IT, 1t almost looked as if a big
piece had first been sawed out of the rim
of Mars like a slice of mlnce pie, and that
this had then been stuck out beyond the
edge.
AT the same time it has been discovered
that the three strange lights seen on
Mars have disappeared for the time be-
ing But they are being watched for.
These lights are believed to have been a
part of the signal system. They were in
a triangle. One astronomer has asked
the absurd question: Flow could they
be in anything else but triangleln This
has no bearing on the question Three
strange. lights in a triangle do not appear
on the surface of big planet so as to be
seen many millions of miles away, unless
they were put there. Forest fires was Of
fered as one explanation of the lights
and astronomers. ignoring the fact that
some of them had said there was no at
mosphere on Mars, said the lights were
RanGad nv cloud oil
how a cloud could refract when there was
no air, and hence no cloud they did not
stop to explain.
The flashlights had no sooner gone out
with snap one night than Prof Bar
nard Of the Lick Observatory, looking
through big glass, saw with astonish-
ment mysterious shadows fitting about
on the south polar cap. The whole of the
south pole of Mars is surrounded by fields
OF ice ard snow, which approach the
equator in winter, but recede as spring
advances and in the summer of Mars are
comparatively small Square black
marks, streaks and triangles do not 90
wandering about over the froz u surface
Of these fields of snow and ice, unless
there are indeed some very strange an
lmals on Mars. No animal, however,
could be big enough to be seen at such a
distance, even in the Lick telescope.
which has not yet shown anything
smaller imam canals and other artificial
waterways,
What we're these mysterious marks
Signals, says tlammarion, the noted
French astronomer and scientist, who pro
ceeds TO point out what a perfect signal
board is thus arranged. BY some mechan.
ism the black semaphores are rapidly
passed TO ana fro over the white fields OF
snow in an apparent effort to attract the
attention of the inhabitants &C the earth.
A perfect alphabetical system of signal
ing could thus be developed and messages
sent TO and fro from one planet to another
Coincident with these marks was the dis
covery Of the fountain of Youth" as il
was called by one astronomer. This was
big pyramid, apparently of human orr
gin, and possiblymade for SIGNAL purposes
a sort of tower from which lights could be
thrown and where astronomical instru
ments could be mounted for the inspec
ton of earth and the observation of oul
daily lives and movements.
IL will be obse rived that people capa
bic of building the elaborate system OF
canals now known TO exist on Mars, capa
BILE also Of swinging signals around the
south pole, and Of building three great
lights in a triangle, are much further ad
vanced in knowledge Of the physical sci
ences than those Of earth 1t is there
fore not unreasonable 10 suppose thai
people who could do these things would
build telescopes with an object glass per