The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1901-02-02

would seem possible under the circum
stances. The year lasts eS7 days and the
Seasons are nearly twice as long as here
During tie lorg winter season a great
mass Of snow and ice collects at tho
polar regions. At any rate the polar
+ caps of Mars really seem to be ma ses of
ice deposited from vapor in the planet
i atmosphere. ard it appears as if the ice
! melted during the Marian summer
BY this means an immense quantity of
water IS set free. the polar seas overflow
/ and as a result the land is submerged as
far as the tropics. At the same time
= canals begin to make their appearance
4 as faint. dark Ines, growing wider and
! wider, until they are about fifty miles
| across, and then by way Of variety they
/ double, very often within the short inter
! val of twentyfour hours. The twin
/ car ais 7rGn side by side like railroad
tracks, only in this instance the tracks
/! are often separated by a distance of two
! or three hundred miles. .a.>. :
At the junction of the canals round
/ spots have been observed, termed "oases''
by Mr.: Lowell and lakes by the Milan
csc astronomer Schiaparelli. Their aver
age diameter is about 100 miles, but the
largest of ALL known as the Lake of the
Sun is 800 miles long. If we accepted
! the theory that the canals were made by
the inhabitants of Mars, and that mer-
chandise was, or is, conveyed by means
! Of these canals to all parts of that dis
tant world, then the Lake of Mars
/ would seem to be, the place where we
might suppose Marian merchants most
do congregate E T.
The idea, however, that the round spots
| are GASES rather than canals has been
more generally accepted since these spots
have been observed to darken as the spots
increase in size, showing the advance of
the season and the possible growth of
vegetation on their surface. This would
seem to indicate that the canals and GASES
are of artificial construction and may
have been the work in ages past of intel
| ligent beings who once peopled this
planet. IT,.
When we recall the fact that the planet
| is subject TO yearly inunda tions devas-
tating large tracts of land. then if Mars
ever was an inhabited world canals must
nave proved an obvious necessity. In
lact, 1t has been suggested by such au-
thorities as Flammarion and Mr. Lowell
Of the Flagstaff observatory, Arizona,
that the canal system of Mas is I'M
Fdoubtedly the work Of the inhabitants of,
Mars. ~ .-t
These canals are said: to surpass anv
of the great works of a similar kind car
| RED out by the orders of the emperors
OF China Or the kings of Egypt Accord
zig to a. calculation made some wears
ago by J. Orr of the British Astronomical
association it would require an army of
2JoO00 men. working for 1000 years. TO
construct the canal system now outlined
on Mars. Nevertheless, owing to tho
tessened force Of gravity on this planet.
The men might attain a strength and
stature greater than ours without being
burdened by their own weight, and deal
ing as they would have to with material
asl1ys a. little more thai :third as heavy
as here their work would be grea more
| effective. ~.4. "& =. 3, - -
Ii we could be transplanted to- tho
planet Mars we would be surprised # the
l'ierence IN the weight of objects in that
little world. The smaller the mass of ,
planet the smaller it's attractive mower
An OBJECT that would weigh 100 pounds
! on the earth would weigh only thirtv-
eight pounds on Mars. Prof. Young tells
us that "a man who here weighs 100
! pounds would weigh only sixty pounds ON
Mars If we were able tn hmm +o. ,
height of five feet on the earth he con,d
jump thirteen feet there with the oreatest
ease SO far as this condition goes q
Marian elephant might be as agile as
terrestrial deer
Mars is considerably smaller than the
Earth. being only 1900 miles in diameter
While the earth is 1913 If the Substance
III the earth were made into seven balls
each ball would be as large as the p,anet
Mars, its volume being only one-seventh
that OF the earth. Gould Mars and the
! earth he weighed in a gigantic pair of
| scales, 1t would take nine globes welsh.
ing as much as Mars to make the scales
| even, the mass of Mars being one-nintb
| that of the GARTH 49,.
1t seems strange that we are able +o
| teN the weight Of a planet millions of
miles distant but the power of attra elton
eAerted by Mars on it's own little moons
gives the secret away Knowing the size
CT TT e mo ms of Mars and the attractive
power thati must be exerted by Mars to
Keep them from wandering away from his
guardianship, we can tell how great is
| tnat power and the mass or quantity of
matter me planet Contains. The weight
| OF "a body is the force with which # is
attracted by the mass of a planet.
| If a baseball club could Journey to N.,s
and, despite the atmospheric peculiarities
of the planet play a game. the distinc-
ton between mass and weight would be
very forcibly illustrated The ball would
be drawn toward Mars by only one-third
Of the force that the earth draws it. and
| 1T would be nearly as light as a rubber
ball. 1t would stay long in the air when
batted and home runs wou d be made all
| the time.
| If the planet Mars ever has been or is
inhabited it must be by a race Of beings
| not constituted as we are According to
iroi 1oung, II Intelligent beings exist
there the probabilities are strong that
they are very different from us in ways
! which we can hardly conjecture. since the
ulllerence between the earth and Mars in
physical conditions must almost neces
sarlly nave determined different lines of
development on the two planets. IT NAV
be said with confidence. however that on
| Mars the conditiorIs, diff erent rs they
must pc from our own, are still more
| near.y earthlike than on any other Of the
heavenly podleS which we can see with
our present telescopes
As to the so-called signals from Mars.
the same authority assures us that there
/ is not the slightest propaunity s
any instrument we Low posses we could
distinguish any signals Trey could MAKE
And, sucposing they couic. Wso weu.d Ds
able 70 read their meanirg?
In sregaru TO TIE eviyaa Of interest il
plans for S gnaling Mars, it IS rather curl
Gus to note that the time las about ex-