New-York tribune., 1901-03-03
MARS STILL A BIG PUZZLE.
THE PRESENT OPPOSITION MAY HELP
TO SOLVE 1T.
ASTRONOMERS PERPLEXED OVER THE CANALS
TOPOGRAPHY. POLAR CAPS AND
OTHER FEATURES.

The planet Mars has been conspicuous object
IN the evening skies fer several months and mas
row reached its maximum brightness. 1t was
in opposition to tha sun last Friday. Two or
taree months hence owing to increasing dis
tance. it will cease to force itself upon public
attention, and Will practically disappear for two
Years. lnasmuch as the r}ntre around which
ilars describes its orbit is net very close to the
sun the interval between its path and the
tarth's is not uniform In place they are
cnly :i5000o00 miles apart. and in another fully
c0e0oUGo miles Ii is al the latter point
that We now passing the Tuddy planet. A
February Opposition is never so favorable to
u study of Martian gcOErarhy - an August
Opposition therefore. though some of the
most striking discoveries have been made at
this time Of year.
Without doubt the greatest problems which
this planet presents t. the astronomers relate to
the nature of the so-called canals. Percival
Lowell believes them tc be streaks OF dark
vegetation. following the course of a system OF
irrigating ditches. He does imagine that
these channels forty. fifty and hundred
miles wide. but that branches extend lateraily
from the main watercourses, SO as TO feed belts
of that width. At no time. according to his
view. d. the canals themselves become visible
Iut Mir. Lowelrs conjeCtures. fascinating
they are. have not yet been backed III by
demonstrations, and are not entertained by
astronomers who are trained in the art of weigh
ing evidences and who carefully distinguish be
tween hypothesis and fact Another suppo-
sition regarding these strange markings is that
they mere fissures in the crust Of Mars. \
third way of dealing with them is 10 consider
them an optical illusion. Schiaparel their
discoveEer. and Flammaron. one OF the highest
living authorities the subject, however. in
sist on the genuineness of the phenomena. al
though refraining from any positive declaration
To their nature.
The mystery OF the canals is stl further
Heightened by the assertion that at times they
ippear double. Schiaparel the first To
nounce this popularity. He Inclined To
pect that in some way or other the duplication
related to change Of seas ms 1t first
observed at about the time of tn" v";nh clui-
nox on Mars The amount of corroboratIye evi-
cence in support Of the occurrence Of Femina-
ton thus far presented is great and al
though time astronomers were inclined
t. regard the question settled ailirmativcly.
there has since been a slight reaction in their
faith Antoniadi. for instance. insists that tn.
fleet of doubling can bc produced In any tc!c-
scope 10y slight inaccuracy in focusing This
: explanation has not been received with uniyer-
sal favor. Indeed, il proves too much. Some
times Schiaparelli. Lowell ard others relort only
two or three canals doubled. and som tru,s
score, but at the same time 4 fcyy other canals
appear single. Now Antoniadis theory seems To
require that all shall appear double all single
As the matter stands. theref r.. there is "A
Ireat need OF further observation with special
reference to gcmination and though th- dis
tance Of Mars "a, the present opposition is IN
favorable To- such study Yet the season is al
Land when, according To Schiaparclli. thu phc-
Hmenon ought to be- expected
PuZzling the canals are though they have
V"gun 10 revolutioniZe scientific notions regard
ing the distribution of land and water On Mars
Formerly the orange and pink ar as were called
Continental, and the gray, green and blue
-ceanic At first the canals. which are norally
iiay, were only detected what were consid-
led land areas. but subsequently they were
perceived on what had been regarded as seas
thus they have suggested the probability that
tie differences i'm tint the planet have been
wrongly interpreted. number Of cunsidcra-
tons lead To- the belief that Mars has very little
"ater anyhow. From year tn year the outlines of
me of the large gre, II and gray areas are modi-
rod too. Hence il is not at all unlikely that
practically all OF the visible surface is land and
tat some of il is covered with forests or other
vegetation, while some Of il is bare
The appc arance and disa ppearance of certain
Nhite patches in the polar regions of Mars long
30 sufge ested the possibility that ice and snow
formed there at one season. and melted at an