The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-01-31
Elixir of Life is Discovered and an Expedition Into Space is Made.

pointing downward These were discharg ed against the surface of Mars and the ship was shot into space with the speed of thought. The fur A~r away the yes- sel travelled from Mars the heavier were the charges until it had passed entirely without all gravitational attraction. Sim ilarly when the ship came within the att traction of some other heavenly body which the navigators did not desire to visit it's influence was resisted success i fully with the chemical guns. The ques- ton of air for respiration was early solv- ed for the Martians and already learned to make their own atmosphere of vary ing destines.
 The Martians soon learned that they could not wander about in space at will. The best they could do was to aim one of their ships at planet and shoot themselves toward it with incredi- ble rapidity, breaking their fall when landing by the repusive power of the chemical guns.
 The only disadvantage was the fact that at first 1t was extremely difficult to call culate the discharge necessary to send the ship certain distance in space but the Martians soon overcame this difficulty by careful experiments and measurements, and as they knew the exact distances of all the heavenly bodies they were able at length to estimate their charges to nicety and many successful trips were made to the two satellites of Mars.
 The first expedition was directed to Phobos, that tiny satellite of the planet which revolves about it in about six hours and is hardly more than twelve or sixteen miles in diameter. It was a novel experience for the Martians when they landed for the first time on this bit of cosmic dust and behld their planet whrl- ing along beneath them spread out in all its vasteness and grandeur The revolu- tions of Phobos were so rapid that the vis- itors found it difficult to retain their footing and the speed with which the little world encompassed Mars was so great as to almost make them dizzy.
 A glorious panorama was spread out beneath the feet of the dazed and aston ished Martians. As the stattellite spun around Mars they beheld rapidly chang ing picture of the world which they in- habited, with its vast stretches of dreary plains and lowlands where there now sparkled the summer sea. They were just far enough away to render their glasses effective and the stupendous pie ture revealed to them surpassed anything they had ever conceived of in space. Even the twelve cities could be distin- guished as they passed in review and the desolate fields about the south pole where the warlike Phobians once held sway It was inexpressibly solemn as well as beau tfful and when darkness settled down for brief space of time on Phobos the gran deur of Mars was intensified.
 The Martians remained on Phobos for two revolutions of that body about Mars, or about twelve hours, and then launch ed themselves into space again in the di- rection of their planet, descending safely on the plains near Huilpi.
 After this memorable trip the Martians paid frequent visits to Phobos as we'll as to the other satellite and found there many stones and other substances with which they were familiar. As yet they dared not venture further into space but confined their expeditions to the two sa- tellites. The time was not yet come when they should astonish earth dwellers by their achievements as warriors and scientists. Ht Hs
 The reign of xire drew to a close with out further events of importance and when that monarch started out across the plains for the Field of Death he was nearing the end of his thousand years of life. He was succeeded by xare. a ruler who gave promise of great achieve ments