The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1896-05-15
MARS AND ITS INHABITANTS,
Probably IA winged Race More intein.
gent and More Highly Developed
Than Thut Of Earth

The we'll known French astronomer,
| Camille Flammarion, in the May mum
| Der of the North American Review at
| tempts to answer the question whether
Mars is inhabited and to tell from tn G
scientific data at hand what sort OF
| beings its inhabitants are. So FAR as
meteorological and geographical conui'
tions are concerned, there is no reason
why organic life of the highest type
should not have been evolved upon the
planet and from all tn thoroughly yer.
flied data relating to temperature and
the distribution of water, M. Flam-
marion draws the conclusion that the
world of Mars teens with organic life
The mechanism by which water is dis
tributed is different from that with
which we are familiar Here the solar
heat continually raises from the sur
face of the seas great quantity OF
water in the state of vapor to a GER
tain height, where it condenses into
clouds which, transported by winds
over the continents, are resolved into
rain or snow, and thus give rise to
streams and rivers In the Marian
atmosphere, on the other hand, clouds
and rivers are rarely observed. The
quantity of solar heat received by
Mars, it should be noted is only about
half as much as is received upon the
earth The seasons, however, are about
twice as long, and direct observation
proves that the snow sheet formed
around the poles during the long win
ter melts almost entirely during the
long summer 1t is this fusion of the
snow which regulates the water circu'
lation. NJ clouds, no rain, no springs,
no streams, no rivers carry back pre-
scipitated water to the sea: but the
melting OF the SHOWS produces exten-
sive foundations. and q system of so,
called canals. perhaps natural, per
haps artificial, distributes these snow
waters over the whole surface of the
continent. 1t is this network Of canals
which constitutes the principal. if not
the only, mechanism by which water,
and with it organic life, can be
diffused over the planets surface.
The attraction of gravitation is much
less powerful upon the surface of Mars
than il is upon the surface of the
earth. The exact proportion is $40 to
|. 600; that is To say, man weighing
100 pounds upon the earth would
weigh only 60 pounds upon the surface
of our neighboring globe There is,
therefore, nothing unreasonable from
the scientific point of view in the
hypoth esis that the remarkable light
ness of bodies ON the surface of Mars
may have developed winged beings
more highly than the earth cleaving |
creatures, and that consequently on
that planet the superior race, or human |
race. possesses the power of flight. |
which would, unquestonatly, have
given it great advant age in the |
struggle for existence. 1t does not fol
low that the inhabitants Of Mars must |
necessarily have the form Of birds, for
the bat which is mammal, can fly. |
He is convinced that Mars, being older
than the earth in chronological order,
and having been more quickly cooled
IN account of its lesser volume, has
much longer time for the
processes of evolution, and is at pres.
ant inhabited by beings more intelli
gent and less imperfect than we.