The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-04
INHABITANTS OF MARS
SIGNALING TO Us-PRoFEssoR
 LowELL's ANNOUNCEMENT.
That He Has Observed a Brilliant Projection from the Planets Disk-opinion of Other
 Astronomers.


 who are trying to signal to us?
 This question is again brought to the front by the announcement that Profes sor Lowell-who of all living astrono mers knows most about the Red Planet has just observed a brilliant protection from the edge of its disk. The brillian, imaginations of MT. H. c. Wells have familiarized us all with the possibilities | of life on Mars. and no one who has read The War of the Worlds can helr shuddering slightly when he remembers that just such a projection indicated the commencement of that terrifying inva. | sion. Let us be treasured. Astrono. mers will tell us that, however realistic Mir. Wells story seemed, it is practically impossible that mankind should ever have to fight for its life against Mar tian army. and the hypothesis that what | Professor Lowell saw was the flash caus- ed by the firing of a huge gun at the earth may be put out of court.
 | It is with less certainty, however, that we can decide that the signal theory is equally impossible. Indeed, one can hardly go so far as to say that 1t Is en- tirely inadequate to explain this projec- tion, though the improbability of its be- ing intended for our notice and produc- ed by quasi-human agency is considera- ble. In the first place, astronomers ad- | init that the existence of life somewhat | akin to our own on Mars is highly proba- .ble.
 In the nature of things, there is nc ground for supposing that the earth | should be the only planet on which evo. ! lution has run the course which hap. | pens to have resulted in producing our | noble selves. Setting aside the hypo- thesis of a special creation and a Divine | reason for favoring the earth beyond | and other planet-which may be true but is not amenable to discussion by the light of that ordered reason which we call science-we can all see at once that, If all the planets are but cooled and har- dened portions of the same original nebula, the real marvel would be not that life should exist on other planets. but that 1t should have come into being | on the earth alone
 l Similar causes must be assumed to produce similar effects. though man is too apt to think that an exceptional in- terest and merit attach to the incon- siderable planet that has had the honor of bearing him.
 If. then. we must assume the proba- | bility that there are "other worlds than ours" other sentient beings within the limits of our system, where are we to l look for them?
 Life on Mars.
 Every argument points to Mars as the most likely place. The outer planets are too far from the sun for such life as we know to maintain itself upon them in the remote coldness of Neptune or Uranus only algae or bacteria could live with any comfort, and imagination re- fuses to conceive a civilized society of typhoid germs. Jupiter Is almost cer- tainly still in a state of red heat. and one might as we'll try to live in a Dutch | oven as where Mercury swims in the | sunbeams. The minor planets, those | disjected members of planet that never was" are barred by our knowl- | edge of physics. which tells us that not even the largest of them can possess any vestiges of an atmosphere; while the smaller ones are so ill-provided with grativating force than an ordinary mans jump would take him away into infinite | space. It would be rash, perhaps, to assert that life without an atmosphere is impossible but we cannot conceive 1t.
 There remain. then, only our two nearest neighbors. Mars and Venus, as the possible homes of such life as we can imagine to exist in conditions not too utterly unlike our own.
 There are grave difficulties in the way of studying Venus from this point of view, and attention has been concen- trated on Mars, where some eminent astronomers believe that they have found | evidence for the existence of intelligent beings. The evidence is rather thin, in- deed. consisting mainly in the demon | stration that Mars is suited for the ex- istence of life. In the first place. Mars possesses an atmosphere. much more | rarifed than our own-its pressure ia probably not more than two or three pounds to the square inch. corresponding Ito a barometric reading of five or six | inches of mercury-but still conceivably adequate to support life that had been developed in 1t. though a man trans brought hither would equally be unable to survive without A diving costume.
 What has Been Seen.
 This is proved not only by spectros- sopic observations which have shown the presence of an atmosphere containing water vapor, but by the regular waxing and waning of the white patches of snow that surround the Martian poles. In other physical respects Mars is essential ly similar to the earth and 1t requires no great stretch of imagination to see how the human constitution could be modified to live there
 So far the evidence for life on Mars confines itself to asserting it's possi- bility. Direct evidence of its presence has been sought, and, as some hold, with success. This consists mainly in the l apparently CnanBe or certain features of the planets surface, which is attributed by MT. Lowell and others to the action of intelligent beings. These are the well-known canals" seen in the best telescopes as a network of lines on the Martian surface. which at certain seasons of the year appear to be dupli- l cated.
 Some observers maintain that hey are simply an optical delusion-that the wish to see them is father to the observation. But a litle positive evidence in such matters outweighs much negative; if two or three men have seen a thing, 1t is a poor answer that twenty or thirty have not. Hence we are entitled to consider, at least as a working hypothesis, the | theory that these singular marks are due to some vast engineering or agricultural operations on Mars.
 If then. we assume the probability of | sentient life on Mars. it is an easy step l to communicate with other planets, just as we should dearly like to communi- cate with them. Hence 1t Is often sup posed that any remarkable appearance on Mars may be a signal to our address. The chief difficulties in thus interpret ing such an observation as MT. Lowell has just made are twofold. The first is that the gigantic size of such a signal for us to perceive it seems to bar the possi- bility of it's artificial nature.
 A Flag as Big as Ireland.
 Sir Robert Ball says that signaling from Mars to the earth would need a flag the size of Ireland or an electric