The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-25
NAME OF COD on MARS, CANALS
Assurance That Inhabitants on the
Planet Have Been Trying to Conf
munieate with the Earth.
From the New York Herald.

From the New York Herald.
The name Of the Almighty. standing cut
boldly in the original Hebrew characters
on the planet Mars. Shaddai the name o.
God, traced by the Martians on the surface
Of their world by the ingenious arrange
ment OF the canals that have been the sub
ject Of SO much study and speculation. Is
an interesting observation. which is the
result Of the study Of a scientist in the
service at Washington.
Schiaparelli in Italy. Flammarion in
France. and our own Lowell have made
the study OF Mars the especial object OF
their life work They have found on cur
sister planet such signs Of an advanced
civilization that even the most sceptical
have been compelled TO admit the plausi-
bility OF the astronomers statements and
to conoede the possibility of their truth.
Under the nebular theory our entire plan
etary Susceptible sun and all the planets
were at one time a slowly cOndensing
mass OF rareted matter revolving around
a center now occupied by what we call the
sun. In the course of time rings were
thrown Off, which, under well known phys
zeal laws. condensed into smaller glObular
masses revolving around the central mass
and slowly condensing into planets, some
times having first thrown of subsidiary
rings which formed moons. All these
planets, with their moons, continue TO cir
The planets rotate In the following rela-
tive positions Nearest the sun Is Mer-
curry, then follow Venus, the Earth. Mars.
the asteroids. Jupiter. Saturn. Uranus and
Neptune. Consequently. when the earth
stands between Mars and the sun, a posi-
tion known as opposition, the planet Mars,
Is in the most favorable position to be stud
led by earthly observers, 1t appears at
that time to be almost of the size of the
giant Jupiter, and even with small teles-
copes the brilliant white snow caps on the
Marian poles are plainly visible and by
an evident optical delusiOn. appear to pro-
ject from the planet As Mars turns its
axis gradually toward the sun. these snow
caps dwindle In size, until during the Mar
tan summer they almost, II not entirely,
disappear from view. And at the same time
the face of the planet presents most in
teresting spectacle
The larger telescopes, with the advant-
age of favorable location, reveal at this pc
riod dark blush spaces around the poles,
and again spots of like colors In expan-
sions having a light orange tint, together
with other markings having perfectly
straight dark lines, crossing often at right
angles, and forming a perfect network Of
triangles. Wherever the dark lines cross,
large dark spots are visible and the entire
surface looks for all the world like mimi
allure civilization. the dark spaces and
lines representing patches Of the same col
or suggesting islands In the dark oceans.
Sometimes for weeks these islands appear
partly submerged, and appear TO vanish
family visible under a thin dark veil, sug-
gestLng a few feet OF water.
Lowell has observed that after the snow
caps disappear, melting, presumably, the
so-called canals widen out and after few
weeks assume a blush green TINT, as
though vegetation had developed IN them.
The parallel at once suggests itself OF the
Nile valley, which Is inundated from the
Abyssinian SHOWS. then sOaks in the wa
tiers and develops a luxurious vegetation
of maize and grain and vegetables.
One further fact was established in the
astronomical world a few years ago, when
a series Of light flashes were observed com
ing from Mars. Al one time three such
lights appeared simultaneously, forming a
regular triangle II was at once surmised
| that the Martians were attempting 10 sig
nal TO US. Was IL an effort TO say TO US
study to them as they have been-to US, and
! did they seek to tell us that civilization
existed on Mars, a civilization Tar al
vanced because far older than oursf II II
was a signal no answer was ever made,
because Il found our astronomers all un-
prepared. But that these light hashes
eliminating in the triangle was some sig
nal has come to be generally believed,
and II has set all scientists specializing and
eagerly searching for further manifesta-
lions. A few evenings ago a student OF
the Marian phenomena in Washington
was reading an abstract Of Lowell's Bos-
ton lecture on Mars. With the lecture nc
! had a map of the planet, on which the
! canals and artificial lakes had been print
ed somewhat darker than they ordinarily
| appear through the telescope. Remem-
| bering the episode of the triangular lights
! he was led to examine more carefully the
| evidently artificial outlines of the network
| of waterways on the planet. If an at
tempt had been made to communicate by
| three monster lights, which had been Toe
| transitory to evoke response, might
there not be some more lasting EFFORT al
communication. Might 1t not be possible
| to trace out in the canals some giant CT
pher that could be seen and read or
earth? The suggestion of some letter OF
! cipher had hardly occurred when with Y
came the answer. He was an able ORR
| entalist and the first glance OF his eye
| trained to the curious characters OF tht
Oriental languages, showed him the lettei
"daieth" and ''yodh" o., the Hebrew al,
phabet. Before the "daleth" he saw a.
the edge of the hemisphere map what APP
peared to him to be part Of the lettei
"sheen."
| the work of no difficulty TO draw Merca-
| tors projection Of Mars, taking in the ad-
jacent surroundings from the other hem
| isphere To his amazement and JOY there
appeared plainly traced out in the aruh'
| ciaI canals of the sister planet the words
signifying God, the self same word or
dered to be written on the door posts OF
every Israelite There II stood IN Dold
letters. traced beyond question by in
tellgent beings, and traced there, TOO
/ beyond a question by those beings as q
greeting and an overture to the people OF
our earth for mutual study and friend
| ship. ~
This observer was not a devout be
| lever. He was frank agnostic and his
Observable was therefore unbiased by
/ any religious zeal But this discovery
! which subsequent examination only con-
! frmed, Impressed him as most remarka-
Bile. supporting, as it did, the generally ac-
cepted theory that Intelligent beings have
perhaps for ages been seeking TO give US
some sign of recognition.
There Is a wide field for thought and
speculation in this appearance Of the
name of God standing out urimistakably
on the surface of sister planet. True the
magnitude of the work of cutting the ca
nails into the shape OF the name OF God is
at first thought appalling but there are ter
restrial works which to us to-day seem nc
less impossible. Besides tits known that
the difference in gravitation between Mars
and the earth would make 1t easily posi-
Bile to do far more work with far less en-