The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-06-28
4 GLIMPSE or MARS.


Gigantic Canals and WHIST the A.
trenoners Have t. SAY Absut
TAen1TAs Planets Atmosphere.
Seen through q fine Telescope, Mars
presents the appearance of miniature
earth floating overhead. the ruddy mark.
ings indicating land. the greenish mark
ings outlining seas and water courses,
while white caps adorn the regions corre-
spending to the polar regions on earth.
The astronomer, In the quiet and ease Of
his observatory, can make q study of
these regions, which may not A. yet have
ever been seen by the inhabitants of
Mars because Of the dangers which pre-
vent access to them. We may well doubt
whether the bravest Marian ever sue
ceeded in reaching either pole of the
planet. Yet our eyes have, rested ON
those polar regions, even on the very
poles themselves.
Mars turns around on its axis just as
the earth does, except that the day lasts
longer than the day on earth. With the
telescope it is possible to follow the
hourly changes that take place on Mars
from sunrise to sunset. We can see the
mists Of morning gradually clearing
away and the gathering Of clouds to-
ward evening, probably to pass from the
skies at night, leaving the stars to shine
with a greater splendor through a rarer
atmosphere. Perhaps one or both Of the
little moons of Mars flor 1t has~two,
named Deimos and Phobos) may be shin
ing in the sky. Deimos rises In the east
like other stars, but the inner moon, Pho
hos, hnrries around Mars three times a
day. For this reason it rises In the west
every night and sets in the east after
about Eve and half hours. Neither OF
the moons gives much light since Phobos
supplies only one-sixtieth Of the amount
Of light given by our moon, while DEMOS
gives only one twelve hundredth. But the
smallness of the Marian moons must be
taken into consideration, since Phobos 10
only seven miles in diameter and Deimos
Eve or six. 80.
Continuing our observation of the plan
ct Mars during its daytime, we see In
imagination the white shore line along
which the murmuring waves ripple or
dash In breakers against rock and prom
ontory. Clouds form and rain falls on
the surface Of Mars, though not on such
an extensive scale a. here. Nevertheless,
during the latter half Of October, 1894,
an area much larger than Europe re-
manned densely obscured. On another oc-
casion Sir Norman Lockyer noticed
great mass Of clouds spreading over q
sea many thousand square miles In ex-
tent. As the hours passed away the
clouds slowly dispersed, either melting on
account of the suns heat or disSolving In
rain.
When Lockyer ceased observing for
the evening-at about half past la
large portion of the sea which had been
concealed gradually came into view. On
this same night Mr.. William Rutter
Dawes, known as "the eagle eyed astron,
omer," was also studying the planet Of
war, keeping it well under observation
until the "wee sma' hours" when he
made an excellent drawing of the planet.
Comparing this with drawing made an
hour earlier by Lockyer, 1t was seen that
the clouds which had concealed the sea
during the earlier part of the evening had
passed entirely away. Referring these
events to Marian time, the cloudy
weather on this occasion apparently oc-
Cured in the forenoon, the midday hour
bringing clear weather, which would
seem to have lasted till the afternoon
was far advanced.
In 1877 Schiaparelli observed some Pc
culiar lines on the surface of the planet
Mars, and he called them canals. For
nine years he was the only astronomer
who could see them, and when in 1881 he
further announced that the canals had
doubled 1t was supposed for time that
the Milanese astronomer was the victim
of an illusion. However, since then the
results of his observations of the canals
Of Mars have been abundantly confirmed
both in Europe and America, especially
at the Lick observatory and the Flag
staff observatory. The observations
made by Mr.. Lowell mt the latter observ-
atory and those already made by Schia-
parelli tend to make us feel very much at
home on planet Mars.
The canals are not visible during the
winter season on Mars, but as spring
time advances they make their appear.
ance as faint, dark lines, growing wider
and wider until they are so miles across,
and then, by way of variety, they double.
In fact, single canals have been known
to double themselves literally at q days
notice, the twin canals running along
side by side like railroad tracks, only in
this instance the railroad tracks are sep.
arated by o distance of over 200 or 300
miles. Some of the canals extend to
distance varying from 800 to upward Of
1000 miles and appear to be as accurate
ly straight us lines can be upon sphere.
The canals seem to meet at number
of small spots or functions, which have
been termed "lakes" by Schiaparelli and
"oases" by Mr.. Lowell. These small
spots are scattered over the ruddy por-
ton of the planets surface, forming
curious network with the canals, the
spots at the junction Of the canals being
as important a feature as the canals
themselves. Mr.. Lowell assumes that the
region intersected by the canals CORE
spends to the desert region on earth and
that the canals were apparently con-
structed for the purpose of fertilizing
this region and the GASES in the midst of
the wilderness. Therefore what we see is
not the canal itself, but vegetation along
its banks. Yet this does not account for
canal doubling itself within "a hours,
for, romance as we may about Mars, we
can scarcely imagine vegetation develop.
ing with such amazing rapidity.
Mr.. Lowell also enters into interesting
speculations as to the canals being of ar
titicial formation, ignoring the rather Sc
rious difficulty as to the temperature of
Mars. He sees evidence Of engineering
skill in the construction Of the canal sys-
TEN, which he attributes to the superior
ability of the Martians. Under the cir
cumstances we can well imagine the
(supposedD inhabitants Of Mars recognize
ing the necessity of such canals as
protection against the destructive effects
Of the annual foundations, but several
years ago Mr.. ]. Orr of the British As
Economical association found on calcula-
ton that the construction of such canals
would require an army of 2OO,OO0,0OO
men working for 1000 years.-Miss
Mary Proctor In st. Nicholas.
Y The wall around the city Of Babylon at
the height of It's prosperity was 30 miles
in length.