The Portland daily press., 1894-08-11
patience which scientific pursuit devel-

"it We w IL ny HASH l8nC OF nello'
gfaph, or by some means yet to be de-
vlsed by BILE and Ingenious minds? 1t
would probably be deemed impracticabe
TO construct flash light 400, 900 times
more powerful than that to be put on
FIRE Island, because it would have to
pc constructed on even more extensive
lines than Jules Verre's columbiad,
which shot his friends from the earth
to the moon. Even if 1t were practicable
the cost, while it might be less than the
national debt, would be too much to ex-
| pend until we are absolutely certain
that there are human beings on Mars
VINO desire to establish in ter astral COM
| munlcation.
M. F1AMMAR1ON'S THEORY.
M. Camille Flammarion, the distin-
gulshed French astronomer, who has de-
lighted the readers of the Herald by
taking them on excursions into other
worlds than ours, has seriously discussed
TINS question, and finds it fascinating
one. Indeed M. Flammarion and his
French colleagues have financial inter-
| est IN discussing the SD bject, because of
The bequest of 100. coo francs left to the
person IN the Institute of Paris who shall
ma means of communicating with a
planet, and especially with the planet
| Mars
NJ. Flammarion holds that the idea is
less bold than the telephone or 5he phono
| graph, and in arguing out the question
declares that it is by no means proved
that Mars is not signalling to us. Thus
calling on the other fellow who is scepti-
cal to prove the negative. NJ. Flamma-
ron. without attempting to prove the
affirmative, proceeds to show how the
! earth might signal to Mars.
| He thinks that if triangle of luminous
points were TO be traced on level plain
"a triangle, let us say, of 100 miles on
either side-refected in the day time by
solar light and at nightly electricity,
it would probably be visi BILE to the as
tronomers of Mars. OF course NJ. Flam-
marion has to assume that there are as
tronomers on Mars who are interested in
The earth. 10 more surely attract at
tention he would change the formation
OF this enormous electric light display,
after period, into a square, and then
into circle. He argues that if he saw
first huge triangle of light on the sur
face OF our smaller cousin, and then
square and then a circle we should be
satlShed that a geometrician lived on
Mars, and That he suspected us of having
a geometrician among us and desired to
communicate with US.
OLDER THAN WE ARE.
M. Flammarlon boldly expresses the
opinion that Mars is much further in
advance in astral life than we are. 1t
is older, smaller and therefore more east
ly cooled, and while more distant from
the sun and possessing a more severe
climate than the earth, there is no reas-
on why human life should not exist I'M
der much similar conditions prevailing
O nS 70 p,,,
the lawyer astronomer of Denver who
declares that e knows that no man on
Mars Is less than seven feet tall or lives
less than 100 years, but he believes the
chances are in favor of the Planet being
inhabited.
AS to the possibilities of communica-
ton, M. Flammarion thinks it may be
accomplished through interastral mag
netism. He is led to entertain this ex-
pectation by the discoveries in this
connection made by Edison in his
Ogden (N.J. mine. The inventor put IN
telephone, and presently heard sounds
which could have arisen from nothing
but terrestrial magnetism. AT the same
time solar disturbances were frequent
and of great violence, and he did not
hesitate TO co-relate the two orders of
fact. Nj. Flammarlon says that every
solar phenomenon has it's counterpart
in the manifestations of terrestrial mag
netism, despite the great distance of the
sun from the earth, and he thinks by
this gate we may enter an avenue that
is full of sIlrprises-even to getting the
news from. Mars.
BY HUGE MIRRROS.
VI. Flammarion is not the only scien-
tific mind that has considered the posi-
bility of communicating with Mars. Mr..
Francis Cation, FRS, Figs, chair
man in charge of the Kew Observatory
in England, says that beam of sun
shine reflected through a hole 'one-tenth
OF an inch square in plate in front
of mirror would be just as distinctly
seen as a faint CLINT at distance of 10
miles. The amount of fog and haze
which beam of light would traverse
between the earth and Mars, when the
latter is high above the horizon, Mir.
Cation says, could not exceed that a
long an earthly 10-mile bass. Therefore
the same proportion between tie size
of the mirror and the distance holding
true, it follows that the flash from many
mirrors. simultaneously. whose aggregate
width was IS yards, and whose aggre-
gate length, to allow for slope, was. say.
% yards, would be visible in Mars if
looked at though telescope like that
on the Lick Observatory, and the in
naDlCdntS, IL Iney nave eyes and fairly
good telescopes, would speculate con-
corning the beam and would wish to an
sWer.
PROF. PARKHURST A SKEpTIC
But there are doubters and scoffers
Right at home is one in the person of
Prof. Henry Parkhurst whom the read
ers of the Herald have to thank for much
enlightenment about the stars. Prof.
in speaking of some of the
things seen ON Mars which have led TO
the theory that it is inhab ited, has said
" With reference to the way they would
appear to us, and judging from the at.
tempts which have been made to ascribe
all phenomena to efforts to communicate
with the earth, l should not be sur
prised if some writer with vivid imag-
ination should conclude that the whole
surface of Mars--its seas and continents
and canals-were all arranged as they
exist for our instruction."
Prof. Parkhurst, in speaking of the
three bright lights seen on Mars in 1892,
took up the question of what was needed
to make fare which would be visible |
to Mars. Consider, he said, that can
die could be seen mile, which is scarce