The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-11-17
IS MARS INHABITED?
4 POPULAR DISCUSSION OF 4 ROOTED SCIENTIFIC QUESTION

E Mars and It's Mystery as Discussed by Edward S. Morse, an Eminent Natu- # raIist of National Reputation, Mem
 ber of the National Academic of Sci-
 ence and Many Other Scientific socie-
 ties.
 # Is Mars inhabited? MT. Morse be- E ieves that it is. He considers that
 he markings on the surface of that
 planet observed by Schiaparelii, Low ell, Perrotin, Tholion and others are of Such regularity as to admit of no other Interpretation than that they are the result of intelligent design. MT. Morse
 8 not an astronomer himself, but he # loes not on that account hold himself the less competent to express his views hnd to form a judgment in such a matter The problem involved, he as- Ferts, is quite outside the ordinary do-
 main of the scientific astronomer, and should be included in @ new branch of Escience, for which he suggests the title pf "planetology' MT. Morse is a traveller and geographer, and he main tains that his experience better quaIi-
 lies him for judging of the significance pf the physical features of Mars than Do the mathematical studies of the pro- r #feSSional explorers of snacp
 His position is sufficiently logical to render his argument worthy of con- bideration, and it is to be regretted Ehat he weakens his cause by intem- berate criticism and sarcastic charac-
 erization of those who presume to
 liffer with him. Doubt has been cast x lpon the correctness of the maps of
 Mans, as drawn by it's most faithful T Etudents, because the lines and cases
 Thereon described have not been seen by some of those who more casually ' observed the planet. The author ex-
 plains this difference in results by E #Btating that the extreme faintness of
 he markings renders a long training VI necessary before they can be definitely & liscerned and plotted. MT. Morse spent
 wo months at the Lowell Observatory
 t Flagstaff, Ariz., nightly studying the 4 planet through the great 24-inch tele- %cope, and 1t was only by the most & sradual degrees that he was able to see
 nything on it's surface What he did
 ee and was able to plot, however, coin-
 ided with lines on the maps, and the Zao iT.s fhaf in oil al tsn-
 pects the observations of those who E lave traced the so-called canals agree sl their main features If the markings
 Ire, as some have claimed, only the
 esults of too vivid imagination or
 f alterations of the lens, it is at least ' furious that precisely the same errors 7 hould have occurred to astronomers
 working in widely separated regions. Y certain divergences in the maps of Ss1ars are reasonably accounted for by Yhe fact that they have been drawn by Sand, and that the ability to draw cor Aectly does not necessarily co-exist With the ability to see correctly
 It is likely, however, that few at
 his day are unwilling to concede that fihe delicate lines called canals do exist vnd have certain discernible charac- deristics The most striking of these lire their length and straightnesls, corre- fiponding to no other physical pheno- nnA1ena observable in nature The . uthor presents a series of comparative
 lates reproducing the lines made by
 lottery crackle, mud cracks, asphalt V tracks earth cracks and moon cracks; Sf railroads, streets, irrigation canals
 nd of the markings on Mars. It is at Y Ance obvious that these last bear no Resemblance whatever to the lines made by the contraction of natural
 ,urfaces, while they do distinctly sug- lest the lines which are the product of human intelligence.
 Arguing from analogy, the author ] holds that the only rational theory in regard to the markings is that they hre in fact artificial canals, constructed Tor the purpose of irrigation, carrying he waters of the melting polar snow eaps through regions and to points
 favorable for cultivation. What we Bee, of course, when the markings be- home visible in the Martian springtime. 'hre not the canals themselves but the verdure springing up for distance of Approximately thirty-five miles to each Sside of the main water courses. What Bort of vegetation this may be or what 6ort of beings there are capable of liv- #ng in the extremely rarefied atmos- Nbhere of our nearest planetary neigh .sbor must remain a matter of con- lecture. We know, at all events that animal and vegetable life exist on the earth under widely varying conditions, that men can work in caissons under Hforty or more of atmosphere pressure t hnd can live at extremely high aitudes; F the principal requisite seems to be that ' they shall be conducted gradually from 2 one condition to another. AS Mars Is a much older planet than the earth, aand at one period probably passed through the same stages of devlopment as the earth, the rarefaction of it's at- ,mosphere has undoubtedly been mat ter of gradual change, to which the fonns of life there existing have had | ample time to conform themselves.
 The author makes an entertaining study of the surface of the earth as it
 must appear to an observer in Mans, ! and thinks that in this manner we may F be led to appreciate the attitude of mind of those who seek to interpret Mars in the light solely of their own experiences, rather than by allowing