Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1896-09-24
MARCH ON MARS.
Discoveries Inaugurated by Prof. Hall
Supplemented by Prof Lowell


Supplemented by Prof Lowell
The expedition in charge Of Astron-
omer Lowell OF Boston, now on its way
TO Flagstaff, Ariz., for the purpose of
making advantageous observations OF
the planet Mars, took its cue from the
discoveries Of Prof. Hall of the national
observatory, which we're given to the
world in 1889-90, and attracted marked
attention from scientists everywhere
Prof. Hall announces that ne had little
doubt that Mars is perhaps
by human beings Ike ourselves. Con
ditions there, he ayerred, are suitable
to such life, and strongly resemble
those on earth. The more eccentric
orbit of the planet takes it at times in
it's journey around the sun fur.ler
away from that great source OF heat,
so that it's winters must be more se-
we're, but cold is modified by atmos-
phere, and it is known that Mars has
an atmosphere, because clouds are fire.
quently seen obscuring its surface.
The planet, the diameter Of which is
one-half that of tue earth, is about
equally divided as to its area between
land and water. Its poles are capped
with ice and snow, and those white
caps, plainly visible through the tele-
scope, increase in size In winter and
diminish in the Marian summer.
Professor Hall has no difnculty y
he mi fnlaCpnnp
at the observatory the wonderful ca
nails" mapped out by Schiaparella, the
Milan astronomer, upon the surface Of
Mars These canals, so-called because
they do not look like anything else in
particular, and also because they
seem invariably to connect sea with
sea, intersecting in many unusual
ways, must be several miles in width
as we'll as thousands of miles in length.
Whether they are great roads, canals,
or bridges or other sorts of public
works, there is certainly nothing APP
preaching them in this world. But
Prof. Hall does not think they are ar
tihcial Though entirely at a loss to
explain them, he supposes they are
natural markings on the planet.
Ever since Prof. Hall made his ia
nous discoveries on the Star of war
Prof. Lowell has made careful study
of Mars, and it is said he soon expects
to make public collection of facts re-
lating to that planetary neighbor which
will add the most interesting chapter
- > fn CT f,J1oip m
knowledge. Just what these facts will
comprise has not transpired, but Ii is
supposed they will materially strength
en- the views Of those scientists who
believe that Mars s inhabited by a
progressive and intelligent people, The
general question of habitable condi-
tions in this connection Is always in
teresting 1t is certain that the four
greater outer planets, Jupiter. Saturn,
Uranus and Neptune cannot support
animal life. Their density is small
and their consistency more less liquid
and gaseous Jupiter, largest of the
planets in our system, the diameter Of
which is more than ten times that of
the earth, is a sun not yet quite eXtin-
guished, and even now giving out heat.
From time to time a spot appears on its
surface-a black hole in the midst Of
the fire large enough TO drop the
earth into Saturn is also hot, wnile
Neptune and Uranus are so far off that
little about them can be ascertained
beyond the fact that Uranus has four
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There may be life on Venus and
Mercury, though 1t must be warm, in
asmuch as Venus is third nearer the
sun than the earth. and Mercury is not
half so far away. All these planets,
together with the sun, around which
they revolve. are travelling with We
locity inconceivable directly toward
the constellation Hercules. Doubtless
the solar system on this mighty jour
ney is pursuing the path Of a vast orbit
around some central point unknown.
Once it was thought this point was
Sirius, and again that it was Alcyone
in the Pleiades, but neither is true,
Our sun and its system are but a small
affair, however What we call the orb
OF day is only one-eighth the size of
Sirius, and even this latter giant is far
surpassed in magnitude by millions of
other suns that are whrling through
the heavens with their attendant con-
stellations in plain sight! To make
them more beautiful these suns are of
different colors. Vega. in the constel-
lation of the Tyre, has large sun of
an exquisite blue tint. Sirius Is white,
and Alpha, one Of the several gigantic
suns in Orion, is a blazing red
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