The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1896-08-20

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subject OF Mars. This planet will be in
opposition Dec. TO-" he said. land we
shall have much better opportunity
to study 1t than had two years ago,
when 1t was In opposition Oct. 20. It
was little nearer to US then, but lower
down in the heavens. and its south pole
was tipped toward US. so that the north
ern part Of the planet was obscured.
This year it will be higher. so there will
be less bad air between us. and 1t will
be more on an even keel 80 we can
study the whole planet to greater adj
vantage. The curious points in Marian
geography-the canals the bright por-
tons of the planet and the portion
around its north pole-come out better
in the autumn than in the spring and
summer, so the lateness of its opposition
is an advantage. We shall study 1t be-
Tore and after as infinitely as possible.
With the splendid glass Mr.. Clark has
made for US. We should be able to get
more detail than was able to get two
years ago."
When Mr.. Lowell is asked about pos
sible life and vegetation on Mars he
becomes eloquent. All astronomers do
not agree with his conclusions. he adj
mits, but he holds to them tenaciously.
He has studied everything that was
ever written about Mars, and compiled
the discoveries of all other observers in
q book on that planet, and since has
taken up a rigid examination Of the
planet on his own account.
Il have no doubt" he SAYS. that
there Is life and intelligence on Mars.
No creatures resembling us are there.
Local conditions such as the thinness
OF the atmosphere. which is probably not
more than one-seventh OF our atmos-
phere. forbid it. but there are creatures
which have intelligence. The canals
seem to me to be Enthusiastically Of arti-
hcial origin. They are geometrically
regular. running from center to center.
Ahey exhibit none Of the unevenness Of
cracks or assures. Natural theories do
not explain them.
4 am sure there Is vegetation on
mars Two years ago plainly saw IL
sprout and grow green and fade awav
as the season advanced. The red nor.
lions on the planet-and red is the pre-
dominant color-are deserts, as take
1t. They look much like our prea,
southwestern deserts. Mars ia a most
beautifully colored planet, like notbinv
80 much as fire opal. It is a great mass
OF beautiful orange red, through which
there Is a play Of greenish-blue color
The greenish- blue, believe. comes from,
the vegetation.
oceans? None. There are no nor.
tions OF the planet which look like large
bodies Of water. Each pole of the nlanat
is covered by white cap, which we
believe to be snow. and. by the wav
although such a cap had been observed
surrounding the, north pole, none had
been seen around the south pole until
! discovered 1t two years ago. and these
caps decrease appreciably in size during
the Marian summer. as IL the snow
were melting.
| Last season was a very hot one on
Mars. and the north pole cap entirely
disappeared. AS the cap around the
south pole lessened in size during nv
former observations, there was narrow
line developed which looked like water
from the melting snow. That was all
the scheme for watering the planet I
was able to discover. It seemed as n
there was a flow from the melting snow
at the north toward the south pole and
back again when the season changed.
They may have rains there. although
1t seems more probable that moisture is
deposited very quickly as dew AT times
portions of the planet look white, as IL
covered with boar frost.
There are many things we do NOT
know about Mars, but when two years
have passed we expect to know much
more"
Profs. Barnard and Burnham hone
for excellent results from this expedi-
ton. 1t is on larger scale, they say.
and better equipped than any before at
tempted.