Sunday morning globe., 1901-08-25
Say you, smoke Carolina BrIgbts
SIGNALS TO MARS.
An Unique Proposition to Set Fire
to Lake Superior.

1t was the remark Of the great Sir
William Her5chel tnat the resemblance
of Mars to this earth is one of the most
striking features in the solar system.
The observations of the planet which
have been made since the time Of this
incompatible observer have tended to
illustrate the truth which he then laid
down. Mars is not SO large as the
eartu, of course, but like our earth,
Mars rs surrounded by an atmosphere.
At the poles of Mars are vast white
tracts which become greatly extended
during winter on the planet, but which
shrink again during the ensuing sum
mer. TO deny Juat Jhesu white rracts
on Mars consist of ice or snow now
seems to me o supposltiOn so fantastic
that | think we need not seriously dis
cuss it, IL has been proved by recent
observations that me large dark OBJ
jects ON Mars believed to be open
oceans, can no longer be 80 described.
BY the excellent telescopes now avail
able, these dark tracts have been
shown to be traversed by marks Of
nature so permanent as to be wholly
incompatible with the supposition that
we are looking at sheets Of liquid. For
the demonstration Of this point we are
indebted to the labors Of many astron-
omers. but we must specially mention
Mr.. Perciyal Lowell, who has devoted
consummate skill and assiduity to the
study of this planet With the help
of a powerful telescope at his obsery-
atory I'm Flagstaff, Arizona Mr. Lowell
al nI l.
edge of the canals discovered many
years ago by Schiaparelh. Mr. Lowell
has given us some excellent reasons for
his belief that these so-called canals
do indeed mark the courses along
which water is conducted from the
melting SHOWS at the poles Of Mars to
the more arid parts of the planet,
When, upon certain occasions, which
do not recur very frequently Mars
comes nearest the earth the distance
of the planet from the globe rs still
about $4,000 900 miles. Now, what can
a telescope show at the distance Of 3d.,
600. 900 miles? 1t requires a very good
telescope to reduce the apparent dis.
lance OF an object to a thouandth part,
That is to say, 1t is a very good tele-
scope which will show an object as
clearly as we could see 1t with the un-
aided eyes IL it were at a thousandth
part OF its distance and If we dis
pensed with the assistance Of tele-
scope. It is, therefore, impossible TO
hope for any signalling to Mars unless
the signals were on a scale sufficiently
great to be visible to the unaided eye
even at a distance as great as 35,OOO,OOO
miles. This consideration sufflces to
prove the utter fuulity Of human en-
deavor to make any demonstrations on
a sufficiently large scale to be percept
ible to the inhabitants OF Mars. The
very largest city that this earth has
ever known would be altogether too
small to be visible to being dwelling
on the planet Mars, even IL that being
were endeavoring to see IL with a tele-
scope as powerful as the greatest and
most perfect instrument in any observ-
atory on this globe If the whole eX-
tent of Lake Superior was covered
with petroleum, and If that petroleum
was set on fire. then 1 think we may
admit that an inhabitant Of Mars, who
was furnished with telescope as good
as that which Mr. Percival Lowell uses
at Flagstaff might be able to see that
something had happened But we must
not suppose that the mighty conhagra-
tion would appear to the Martian as a
very conspicuous object IL would
rather be a very small feature, but
still I think Il would not be beyond
the reach Of n practised observer I'm
that planet On the other hand. If an
area the size of Lake Superior On Mars
was TO be flooded with petroleum and
that petroleum was % De Nndlod, we
should expectto witness tho ventfrom
here not as a great and striking CON
aagration, but as tiny little point
of Just discernible light The disc Of
Mars rs not a large object. and the CON
nagration would not extend over the
30Oth part Of that disc. lt is sufficient
to state these facts TO show that the
possibility Of sim9illng 10 Mars Is en-
trely beyond the Of human re-
sources.