Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-31
GIVES BASIS OF HIS BELIEF
Argues Presence of Atmosphere,
Heat and Water on Planet.
HIS SUBSEQUENT CONCLUSIONS
If Vegetable Life There, Why Not
Animal Life?-Why Not
Human Lifep

This was the impression which tn.
audience at the Belasco Theater yester'
day afternoon gathered from the Illus
trated lecture on our neighboring planet
by DR.. David Todd, professor Of as.
tronomy at Amherst College. DR.. Todd
headed the recent Lowell expedition to
the Andes to take observations and
photographs of Mars, and some of the
results Of that work were embodied in
the lecture
DR.. Todd's line Of reasoning to proba-
bility was as follows: For the existence
of life on Mars similar to life on the
earth. similar conditions are necessary
atmosphere. heat and water. The snow
or ice caps on the poles of the planet
prove that water exists there. the water
could not exist there without atmos-
phere: If atmosphere exists it is more
than likely that 1t has. like the earth's
atmosphere. the quality OF selective aD.
sorption-which sees to ii that the heat
of the sun. once penetrating. does not
escape-and this quality may be SO great
that, although but half as much heat
from the sun reaches Mars as reaches
the earth, the amount retained there may
be as great, II not greater. Inc AZ.
mosphertc pressure at sea level is about
equal to ours at highest elevation. The
existence Of vegetable life is virtually
granted by all astronomers. VINO accep'
the theory that the so-cailed canals
VI
are composed Of vegetation, waxing and
waning with the seasons. If vegetable
life exists. why not animal NE! ana
II animal life. why not human life, slml-
lar or superior to ours? This latter. DR..
Todd said, is a question for biologists,
and he expressed the hope that the
biologists of Washington will attack the
problem.
introductory Address.
Mr. Wills l.. Moore, chief of the
weather bureau, introduced the lecturer
with a fifteen-minute address on the moon
and on the dismal future that the earth
must look forward to. adverting to what
he interpreted as the creative design that
life should occupy but small part OF
very few millions of planets
When Mr.. Moore had finished his al
dress Dr. Todd began his lecture by tell
ing OF his first glimpse of Mars through the
telescope of the Naval Observatory. at
Georgetown. thirty years ago, with Profs.
Newcomb. Hall and Hardness; when he
Just missed being the discoverer of the
Phohos. the smaller of the planets moons.
Since then he said. he had not been par
ticularly interested in Mars until, In dis
cuss,ng the planet with Perceval Lowell.
an expedition to the andes. where the
planet might be observed in the zenith. II
Dr. Todd would transport there his TO-
inch telescope, then just erected at Am
nerSt. so tNe expedition StdTteu, anu Tic
telescope was put up at Alliance. Peru.
in the nitrate district. 49, 900 feet above the
level of the sea. The instrument was left
in the open. unprotected, since the region
is rainless. and ten thousand photographs
were taken with a long-chambered cam
era. which was substituted for the, eye
piece of the telescope.
DR.. Todd reproduced many of these
photographs on a screen. greatly enlarged
from their original one-sixteenth of an
nfsh httf iva ho Lac
turer explaining that the. enlargement
merged the lines and confused the image.
Yet the canals could be made out. and
considering that the subject of the photo
IA 100000 miles, from the muzzle of the
oNmera. the RESULTS must be considered
nfrvSlous. AL the photographs taken
mp. Todd are in the hands of Dr. Low
enA STAN at his observatory. Flagstaff.
ArizN where the measurements are being
nadA to prepare data for draughting a
new map Of the planet Observations
we're taken ht Flagstaff, where the plane,
vas only thirty degrees above the horizon,
simultaneously with those at Alliance.
/1essfbility Of Life.
SpsSfdng of the possibility of the exist
s-ence of life on Mars. DR.. Todd said: I'VE
know that life can exist under varied con-
tfticns of temperature and pressure
lcieptists dredge from the greatest depths
the ocean creatures that live under an
enormous pressure, and we find life in
great heights OF neutrality-suspicious.
almost rudimentary. but still 1t is life
AWAY up near where we had our telescope
mounted. 14.0oO feet above sea level. one
81 the largest copper mines and smelters
r0|pst natives did constant hard work
nov enduring life in that rare atmos-
pbes3 but enjoying II. They could with
little discomfort have lived at even highe
attitudes. and would not have entertained
for moment the idea of going down to
sea level. Mars has an atmospheric pres
sure and sea level temperature 1t is grant
ed by most astronomers. about equal tothat
on our highest mountains. If life can be
supported in such places In the world, and
in the desert wastes which 1 show you on
the screen. in the Atacama desert OF
Peru. why could 1t not exist under similar
conditions on Mars?
In the middle Of the seventeenth CEN
tury the European astronomers discover
ed the snowy poles on moonless Mars
but no longer moonless-and now virtually
all astronomers agree that these poles are
composed of ice or snow: and how could
the moisture to make that ice or snow be
there II there were no atmosphere? These
caps change in size during the Marian
year-two of our years-extending some
times as far toward the Marian equator
as 20 degrees. and sometimes vanishing.
As the northern ice cap increases the
The caps grow and wane. as II Is winter
or summer. the sea sons being caused in
the same way that they are caused for
US, by the ecliptic, or angle of inciinatio
of the planet TO the plane of its orbit
which is about the same as that of the
earth. When the SHOWS disappear there
is. OF course. a melting. and at the same
time the so-called canals begin to become
visible.
Not Visible in Winter.
These canals arc not visible in winter
but attain their greatest visibility in the
height OF summer. 1t Is now generally
accepted that these channels. or canals
are large masses of vegetation. One
theory holds that these channels are vast
chasms. with vegetation. nourished by
issuing steam. growing on the edges. Blu,
could these chasms double. as the canals
do. for 5000 miles. right across the planet
in few days or hours? ] think the vege-
tation theory the only way to explain
the canals. They may be due to something
else. but ! think il Is the very best so.
luton.
"Nietzsche. whose philosophy Is Jus,
coming into its own. was the first to point
out that every type of life has evolved
some type higher than Its own. In the
life history Of Mars. stretching over hun.
dreds of thousands Of years. may not this
higher type of man have been brought
into existence? They must know more
than we. Although Mars has been deyas.
tated of It's forests. We are devastat ting
our planet. perhaps they have discovered
the method OF utilizing the heat of the
sun. a power which we permit to go Ia
waste almost entirely. I think the Mar.