Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1907-01-16

New interest has been aroused in
the planet Mars by the fresh and
more positive declaration of Prof. Per-
cival Lowell that that far-off heavenly
body is inhabited by a race of intelli-
gent beings, akin to the human race
on this earth. Prof. Lowell at his OBJ
servatory at Flagstaff, Ariz., where the
high elevation and the clear atmos-
phere give him peculiar Advantages
in studying the planet, has spent his
nights in watching and his days in
thinking and figuring, until he is con-
vinced beyond any shadow of doubt
that Mars is inhabited. He has dis
covered $50 canals on the planets sur.
face in addition to the 104 larger and
more plainly marked canals charted
by the astronomer Schiaparelli, and
he declares that this legion of canals,
forming as they undoubtedly do a CO.
lossal and wisely planned system OF
irrigating bitches to make the vast
deserts of the planet blossom as the
rose, are an unanswerable argument
for the existence of conscious, intel
ligent life there.
In the beginning of his work Prof
Lowell encountered three phases OF
dissent from the canal theory. The
first was the diplopic-that the focus
ing of Schiaparelli's observations was
not exact; the second, the theory
known as Interference phenomena
that of the doubling in consequence
of the circular aperture of the instru-
ment, and the third, the very natural
and common objection of illusion. If
the proportion of the blind and deaf
were that of the majority of the pop
ulation, all sight and hearing would
be largely rejected by the masses as
being merely phenomena of illusion.
The observations began with the
visibility of the phenomena to be OBJ
served. The southern hemisphere
was in opposition, and the changes in
the polar cap and on the surface, the
canals, the GASES and the terminal de-
signs were the matters to be studied
If these lines were canals, what was
there to prove the presence on Mars
of the intelligent designer? In other
words, is Mars the abode of life, and
might the astronomer pluck out the
heart of the mystery?
AS the Marian season advanced the
polar cap dwindled. This implied the
pressure of an atmospheric was
unmistakable evidence of atmospheric
development. AS the polar cap dwin
died it was bordered by dark band,
which retreated with it, the band be-
ing blue and widest. at the maximum
of the melting. Again it polarlzed
the incident light. Now, only one
known substance could be white as a
solid, blue as liquid, and co-existent
in both states, and this substance is
water. Therefore Prof. Lowell's OBJ
servations brought him to these-the
proofs of the existence of the funda
mental conditions for organic life
air and water.
An observation made on November
10, 1894, on which occasion the ali
was exceptionally free from vibration
revealed two canals that showed them
Nselves with the clearness of copper
plate, cor as if each, had been the
twin rails of railway, so regular and
absolutely equidistant from each
other, and these remained visible dur
ing succeeding days." The connection
between the cases embraced by the
dark canals began then to dawn upon
Prof. Lowell. Further observation
disclosed that each canal has it's owl
times and seasons, its entrances and
it's exits; that they differ entirely
from each other in these, and that the
canal which, at one time and under
unfavorable conditions, will stand ou1
plainly, at another, under favorable
conditions, does not appear under the
most careful scrutiny.
Now, what does this indicate.
Nothing less than that this visibility de
ponds on the planets peculiar state
and only Indirectly on the seasonal
law. The double canals are realities
and consist of perfectly parallel line.
| inclosing such part of the surface O
the planet as may lie within a few
~3f~s~~7crss~~I1t~s~QN~s~G
PLUM PUDDING ALL RIGHT.