The Portland daily press., 1896-12-02
SIGNALING TO THE STARS.
NJ ethods and Difficu tiles of Communicate
ing With Mars.

(From The London Standard.)
If Mars or the other planets are habit
able or inhabited. is it poss IDLE to estab
lish com m unication with them by means
of signals? This problem is discussed by
Mr.. Francis s.Galton in the November
mum Der of The Fortnightly Review. OBJ
viously, two difficulties have to be faced
that Of transmitting the message from
one planet to the other, and that of I'M
derstanding it when received. For 1.-THE
former purpose, only one method, as far
as our knowledge at present goes, seems
to offer the slightest chance of success
namely, some modification of the system
of flash-signaling, which ia now in COM
mon use on the earth. The second prob
lem is similar to that which is presented
to savants when they endeavor to de-
cipher forgotten language from an un-
known script. The task is extremely diff
cult, but 1t is not impossible. To con-
siderable extent, it is that afforded by
the languages of Assyria and Egypt. 1t
Is yet more nearly the problem which
OOIlTOu W buOeC WI ORC OSlNOavOAA1E w
decipher the Hittlte inscriptions, and to
ascer tain their Significance,
Mr.. Cation supposes the Initiative to
have been taken by the Marian physi-
oists. His idea runs as follows: The at
tention of the astronomers ON our globe
was excited one very clear niRht-when
Mars was in a position exceptionally
favorable for examination, and thus many
telescopes were TUNED upon the splanet-
by peculiar scintillation on its surface.
1t Was as If electric sEarks-though at
that distance they mus5 have been OF
emitted from the disk, or, rather, were
exhi bited for a moment upon 1t. Closer
attention showed that distinction could
be observed between these sparks, and
before long it was evident that there
were three types, the second lasting
| twice as long as the first, and the third
| the double of the second. These, for
simplicity, ars called dot. dash, and line,
| respectively. Between each dash, as 1t
may be called, there was distinct pause
The first step WINS accomplished; they
| were now half way in the task of deoiph-
| ering the alphabet; they had classified
the symbols, though they had not yet
discerned their exact meanings. This,
| then, was the next stage.
On hGuQylng tns rGcoEu VI tUe eigudls,
| 1T was found that they were broken up
by pauses, as though into complete sem
! tenoes, and the arrangements OF the dots,
the dashes, and the lines suggested that
| the message consisted OF n series of MI
merals together with this sym bols which
expressed them, the dash always reourr-
ing in such a position as to suge est that
it bore the meaning IL equal to. - The
astronomers were convinced that they
| had a nf
ton, which. however, was found to have
eight for its basis, not ten. The message
| WAS repeated from that planet in two
| ether forms, which afforded an oppor
tunity of verifying the hypothesis on
which the first had been interpreted. and
the results were satisfactory. Our in
structors on the planet now impaired
further acknowledgement TO COM
lRunicate the mean distances of the
planets from, the sub. MIR. Cation in
dicates how, by a similar kind of signal
| ing, 1t is possible to express the relation
of circle to its diameter, and to extend
the system to the perimetera of other
geometrical figures. His method of pic
lure writing by signals is extremely in-
geniOus but 1t cannot be described in
| few words.
! The result, however, of its employ ment
in his imaginary oase-was that, in the
course of about three and a half years.
the terrestrial astronomers had been
taught code which includes the numer
ais the sym bols aafor the sun. and the
principal planets, and those for several
geometrical figures, combinations of
| which obviously can be used as q
method of picture.writing. A goodfdeal,
however, has to be taken for granted.
| Perhaps the Marian folk might not
think OF beginning with lessons in arith-
etio. or some elementary facts in
geometry and. as it is at present doubt
full whether they exist at all. or, if they
do, have any burning desire to communi-
cate with US, our astronomers may rest
in peace till the face of Mars begins to
sparkle.