The San Francisco call., 1907-01-06
Done OF THE LOWELL
CRS ERNATCRT,
FLAGSTAFF,
AISIZCNAs>

Interchangeable, these show essentially
the same day after day throughout
the year. In hue they range from sand
color to brick red, and it is to the lat
ter that the fiery tint of Mars Is due.
They are unquestiOnably desert areas.
The pale salmon hue. which reproduces
best in drawings. is that which our
this look; still more, it finds its cOun-
terpaFt in the far aspect of the Painted
Desert of Northern Arizona. To one
standing on the SUBMITS of the San
Francisco peaks and gazing of from
that isolated height upon this
other desolation of ariditx the resem-
blance to the telescope Htints of the
Marian globe Is striking.
In other words, the gradual en-
croachment of desert areas on earth
finds a parallel in Mars. excepting that
pitiless as our deserts are, they are but
faint forecasts of the state of things
on Mars today.
From the detection of the main
markings on the planet surface we now
pass to a discovery so unprecedented
that the scientific world was at first
10th to accept it--that Of the canals.
Not everybody can see these delicate
lines at first sight, even when pointed
out to them When viewed under the
best conditions however. the disk OF
the planet takes on a most singular
appearance. It looks as il il had been
cobwebbed all over-a mesh of fine
lines which. with attention, proves TO
compass the globe from one pole 20 the
other.
IT is due wholly 10 the lack of suit.
able conditions that the true form or
the Martian lines is usually missed.
Given the proper prerequisites OF I0ca-
tion or OF eye. and their pencil mark
peculiarly stands forth unmistakabiy
confessed. The sole method OF esti-
mating their width is by comparison
of effect with wire Of known size at a
known distance For this DuFpoge a
telegraph wire was stretched against
the sky at Flagstaff. and the observers.
going back upon the mesa. observed
and recorded its appearance as their.
stations grew remote 1t proved srr-
prising at what great distances A slerr.6
der wire could be made out vines thus
projected against the sky. The wire in
the experiment was but .O72s Of An
inch In diameter and yet could be seen
with certainty at a distance of 1900
feet at which point it's diameter sub
tended only so OF a second OF are How
small this is may be appreciated fror
its taking more than ninety such lines
laid side by side TO make a width divis-
ible by the eye. Theoretically. then a
line three-fourths of a mile wide on
Mars would be visible to us throurh
Odi PNN t~iGSCopcS.
But we will take a mile or two safstx,
as the smallest width for one Of tbe
lines. The greatest was got by COM
pairing what is by far the largest af tbe
canals, the Nilosyrtis. with the mi
crometer thread. From such determin-
alton IL appeared that this canal was
from twenty-five to thirty miles wsdo
while the smallest may be fixed as be-
ing from two to three miles in vvisth
IN the other hand, their length Is rera
lively enormous. Two thousandk r,fla-
IS common while many exceed $500.
and the Eanenides Is 2540 miles from
the point where IL leaves the Phoani~
Lake to the point where II enters fhe
Tfivium Charontis. But what is sttfl
more remarkable IL swerves neither IN
the right nor left Of the great cirolt
joining the two points
Each canal proceeds not only vri4b
absolute diTectHess. but at its terminals
IL meets canals which have come vrith
similar diTectness fsom other Tar
places on the planet. Three. four. ave
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