Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-11-14
MARS AND ITS PEOPLE.

! professor BoWcll seems 70 nave ar
rived at the conclusion that. 20 assert
that the planet Mars is Inhabited by in-
telligcnt beings is no longer to risk ones
reputation as matter Of fact scientist.
when the guess first was voutured that
the markings known as"canals revealed
an intelligent plan, II was thought to
be too fanciful for serious consdera-
ton, but that view has gradually Civ
en- way, and Il is now pretty well es-
tabllshed that no other theory so far
suggested, accounts for the Martial
phenomena as satisfactory as the theory
Of the presence on the planet Of intel
ligent beings
In a series Of lectures IN Huntington
Hall. Boston. Mr.. Lowell Interestingly
explained what Is known Of our neigh
boring planet and drew some deduc-
tons which seem irrefutable. He point
ed out that there are no oceans on
Mars and that five-eighths OF its sur
water. since It has It's polar cans Of
snow and Ice. Then, coming TO the
| question OF canals he maintained that
their unnatural regularity, their amaz-
ing uniformity, their great length and
| their adherence to the great circle, are
traits OF artificIallty. These traits. in
stead of disappearing on closer ac-
quaintance, have come out always with
! tgea a Of
the canals, the relations which they
bear 10 one another, the way In which
they are attended by the GASES, all Of
these matters disclose an orderllness
that we cannot refer to nature. They
cannot, the lecturer said, be rivers, nor
can they be cracks IN the surface of the
orb. He quoted the following data that
have been confirmed by careful obser-
walton;
THE threads Of the worldwide net
work Of canals. stand connected with
the dark blue, patches at the edge OF
one OF the other of the polar caps But
they are not always visible. In the
winter season they fail to show. Not
TIL the cap begins to melt do they APP
pear, and then they come out dark
and strong From their poleward orr
gin the lines begin to darken down the
disc. One after the other takes up the
thread of visibility 10 hand II on to the
next place. a flow IN here apparent
journeying with measured progress
over the surfact of tpe 9srae. Is te
tainly, the mental ear detects the sound
of water flowing down the ATTITUDES.
Water, then must be the word OF the
enigma the clew that will lead us TO
the unloosng Of the riddle"
As for the motive OF drawing such a
net OF canals over the surface OF the
planet, Mr.. Lowell found il iu tlo
prevalent scarcity OF water. and the
necessity Of conducting II from the po-
lar regions, where 1t is being stored up
In the form of snow and ice. We are
Justified, he said, in believing that we
have unearthed the cause, and our con-
clusion is that We have In these
strange features witnessed that life,
and life OF no mean order, at present
inhabits the planet Mars. And he add
ed: mot only do the observations
lead us to the conclusion that Mars is
at this moment inhabited. but they
land us at the further one that these
denizens are of an order whose ac-
Quaintance is worth the making, The
fact that they exist IL the important
one, made all the more so by their pre-
cedence Of US In the path Of evolu-
ton
Mars Is supposed to be much older
planet than the earth. and In Its pres
ent state 1t Is said TO forecast the
fate of our own world. The drying up OF
the planet, we are told, must continue
until every drop of moisture is gone and
life there, as we know It's forms. will
be thing Of the past. And when the
last fame OF life has fickered out, tho
planet will toat about IN space dead
world. until. through some cosmic ca
tastrophe, It may be reduced to frag-
ments to be used, perhaps, In future
cons in the construction OF a new |
world.
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