The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-09-01
Study of Mars.

In the September Harper" Charles
| Dudley Warner furnishes a good deal
of information concerning the red
planet in which there has always been
so much interest. Mars has been quite
thoroughly explored. and has come to
be, through the lens of the telescope.
near neighbor to the earth. AT certain
seasons he Is only about S5,000,0OO miles
away from us. 1t has been proved that
Mars has an atmosphere probably about
half the density of the air of the earth
at the height of the Himalayas, but it
has nothing of what we call "weath-
err" it is a serene world. There can
be little or nothing of a rainfall, and
dew and frost must be the common
precipitation. So far as appears, the
only water Of the planet comes from
the annual melting of the polar SHOWS,
and it lives wholly by irrigation. The
discovery which confirms this view.
which was startling, as indicating the
work of intelligent beings. was that
made years ago of the canals, which
cover the land, and intersect each other
at various points, one of the artificial
waterways being $500 miles long. Lat
er Investigations seem to demonstrate
that the canals. which have an average
breadth of about thirty miles. are real
ly strips of verdure through which run
slender streams of water that cannot
be seen, but these strips, visible when
the snow melts, change color, from
darker, and finally fade into invisible
ity. following the process of green,
ripening and decaying vegetation.
If Mars has sentient inhabitants,
they must be different in form and con-
struction from the lords of our crea
tion. 1t is suggested that they may be
larger in size than earth men, because
the force of gravity at the surface of
Mars is 3S-1OO that of the earth, and a
man Weighing $50 pounds here would
weigh only IS pounds there, but Mr.
Warner inclines to the opinion that the
Marian, if he exists, is not a gigantic
form, but delicate and petite and
highly organized creature. who may
have, instead Of five senses, a dozen,
and among them common sense. The
conception that Mars is inhabited leads
the genial author into various fields of
speculation and they may be as varied
as the most exuberant imagination can
project, but the serious contemplation
must occur to all intelligent persons
that it We're amazing, indeed, If spirit
upon Mars, and, indeed, upon other
members of the solar system, and upon
the stars as well, which are set in the
infinity of space. They may not, in
deed, correspond in outward semblance
to men, and may be under the govern
ment of physical laws very different
from those which obtain on this planet,
but 1t We're a narrow idea of the uni
verse and of its Creator that would
limit intelligence to this little spot in
that universe. Indeed, man may he
among the lowest orders of sentient
life. Perhaps. also, there are worlds
that, with mechanical devices of which
our science has not even dreamed, may
witness all that is here going on, and
look at man and his works with the
generous charity born of superior
knowledge. AS we are coming nearer
to Mars. through the revelations that
our science IS making, is it not possible
that the star-gazers from Marian OBJ
servatories, through the glasses they
have perfected, may long have been
oognizant of the structure of our globe.
and of the events that have happened
upon it? All these thoughts are. in
deed, conjectural, but they are quick
ened by the exploits of science. 1t
were a narrow faith. indeed, which
limited the Maker of the universe to
the creation of single race upon a
mere speck in the immensity which He
controls.
1t seems bad enough to steal the