The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1894-05-25
MARS RINGING Us UP.
SCIENTISTS THINK COMMUNICATION
MAY BE ESTABLISHED.

Within the Next Few Years.
Can we open up electric communica
ton with the inhabitants Of Mars? That
Is question recently considered at a
meeting of the Society of Arts in Lon
don, where Mr.. W. II. Preece, engineer
to the telegraphs department of the
British postofice, read a paper on ''Elec-
trio Signaling Without Wires" Mr..
Preece explained how he had recently
demonstrated that wires were not at all
necessary to establish telephone COM
municatiOn.
Under the supervision of royal COM
mission appointed to inquire into elec-
trio communication between the shores
and lighthouses, he had conducted a
series Of experiments which amply dem
onstrated this fact. There was no diff
Guilty in speaking between the shore and
Flat Holm, three miles distance from
the place Of experiment. Mr. Preece
then went on to say that strange, mys-
teriOus sounds are heard on all long
telephone lines when the earth is used
as a return, especially in the calm still
ness of the night Earth currents, !"
said he, ''are found in telegraph cir
cults, and the aurora bOrealis lights up
our northern sky when the suns photo
sphere is disturbed by spots. The suns
surface must at such times be violently
disturbed by electrical storms, and if
oscillations are set up and radiated
through space in sympathy with those
required to affect telephones it is not a
wild dream to say that we may hear on
this earth a thunderstorm in the sun. "
After further describing the mysteri-
Gus sounds which had attracted his at
tention in the still watches of the night
Mr.. Preece said: eff 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 if
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 Edi-
son, who has turned Ogden mountain in
New Jersey into a great magnet and
cOiled miles Of wire about it. At the
time of the last opposition Of Mars he
noticed an increase of the seismic NUT
terings, which have recently been so
violent. Mr.. Edison and Mr.. Preece are
only two of the scientists who are now
experimenting along these lines, and
the whole scientific 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 opening up
of communication between the people
of the two planets. This conviction has
been enormously strengthened by the
strange lights seen at the Lick Observa-
tory when Mars was under observation
during its opposition over a year ago.
The three lights We're arranged in tri-
angle. Nightly as the great red orb rose
from her ocean bed to the vault of heav-
EN- the lights flashed out as soon as dark
ness had set in, and III the immense lens
of the Lick telescope they glOwed with
steady and continued effUIgence. Was
this an effort of the inhabitants Of Mars
to attract the attention Of those on
earth?
Such had been the opinion of Flam-
marion, who had argued in favor of
earth signaling back with a triangle Of
lights 30 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 III
any first class telescope, for Mars is now
to be observed in the morning about 80
degrees west and IA 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
having cold winter. The canal theory
of Schiaparelli has likewise many be-
levers, who assert that the strange
straight lines ON Mars are canals built
by its highly civilized inhabitants
Mr.. Preece says he has kept a record
Of the strange, mysterious sounds which
have attracted his attention while Edi-
son has done likewise. These will re-
quire much study to decipher if they
are messages from Mars. The Preece
discovery, On the other hand. puts it in
the power of the people of earth to send
direct electrical currents to Mars, whose
inhabitants are so much in advance of
ourselves that they may be able 20 help
Us out in the work Of opening up con-
verse. A pantomimic electrical inter
change will be necessary for some time,
but what will be the emotions of the
scientific world when the message is
sent out that communication has been
established?
There are those who firmly assert that
this is an experience of the immediate
future, that electricity is the universal
force and the one whereby the planets
will come into communication with
each other, if they ever do. The mys-
terry of electricity is the strange fluctua-
tions is undergOes. If it were an earth
property solely, it would be steady, as
it would be were it common TO all the
universe and not interfered with. But