Evening star., 1908-01-10
THE NEWS FROM MARS
Facts Brought Out by Prof.
Todd's Photographs.
STAR SNAPPED MANY TIMES
Theories Regarding Vegetation Be
lieved to Be Established.
DOUBLE CANALS EXPLAINED
Length of Days, Seasons and Years
Known-Evidence of Animate
Life on the Planet.
DOUBLE CANALS EXPLAINED
RY WILLIAM f. CTRTIS.

/ BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
| Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
Prof David Todd the eminent astron-
omer of Amherst College. delivered a lee
ture of absorbing interest in Washington
the other day. and related his expert
ences during the last summer. which he
spent on the desert of Tarapaca. Chile
observing the planet Mars and making
photographs of what his telescope dis
closed.
Mars is 30 600 600 miles away from the
earth" said Prof. Todd. the other day.
but in his-I speak of the War Star in
the masculine gender-revolutions around
the sun he sometimes comes within b.
00o.G00 miles Of u.s. Venus is still nearer
The Star of Love comes with 2bopooo
miles of the earth occasionally. but that
is of comparatively little satisfaction. be
cause she is between us and the sun. ana
we cannot see anything of her. Eros. one
of the asteroids. i'll its travels. comes
within 13 GOo.OO0 miles of the earth. but IS
of no particular interest. because we
cannot raise a disc We can see but a
lpoint-although Eros is of great value 10
Astronomy for the reason that IT aiIords
us a standard of measurement or the
suns distance. The moon IS our nearest
neighbor and is only about a3S.ooO miles
away 1t varies a few thousand mics IN
it's distance during the seasons, bul Is
quite regular. and we are rather Weli dc-
quainted with the moon. we hho" 10"
big she is and that her surface Is Gov
erred with mountains and craters There
is practically no water on the moon. ana
almost no atmosphere-very lttle. II any
and no evidence has ever been discovered
I,,l, tod k
ering of Harvard thinks he has found
some little signs of vegetation. sparse
remnants of what might have Deen lores,s
and other botanical growth. but ms op-
servations have not peen comm ineu @ ~
other astronomers and science requires
at Ieast two witnesses TO estaDllsn d
theory.
Under Scrutiny for Centuries.
Mars has beeh under investigation
since 1866 and is now the most popular
object of interest in the heavens 1t mas
| excited more scientific discussion ana
more general curiosity than any other OF
the planets. and the theories which nave
| been advanced concerning conditions
there bv our progressive astronomers
will probably occupy attention for gener-
| ations. as they may gradually be develop
| ed During the past summer Mars came
| within thrty-nine million miles OF the
earth-nearer BY four million miles than
he has been for a long time-Sso that 1t
was a very favorable opportunity to make
observations OF which the astronomers
of the world very generally took advan-
tage Percival Lowell of Flagstaff. AriZ.
| the leading authority on Mars because of
his exhaustive studies and successful in
| vestigations, probably did more TO utilize
the occasion than .any other astronomer
/ and under his auspices | took the new
eighteerI-inch Clark telescope from the
observatory at Amherst packed it up
and carried it. to Chile. where il was set
up in the elevated desert of Tarapaca
4 where our supply of nitrate of soda comes
from That situation is especially favor
| able for observation because 1t is 1000
| feet above the sea and the atmosphere
is remarkably pure. There is no moisture
| whatever: it has not rained there for
a quarter of a century; there is absolute
freedom from clouds. from winds, from
atmospheric waves and other forms of
motion.
and camped out around it. Our party
consisted of Mrs. Todd. Mr.. A. G.. Ilse.
the expert mechanic of Alvan Clark &
Sons, the telescope makers: Mr.. +. C.
Sipher. photographer who has been
especially trained by Mr.. Lowell for such
work. and Mr. Eaglesfield a student of
| Amherst We Wee III the desert for two
months. making continuous observations
and photographs by semi-automatic cam
| eraS. which gave us record of every
| phenomenon. of every phase and every
feature and every change Of the sur
| face of the planet il revolved upon its
| axis. We made more than 10000 photo
graphs. which now being arranged
| fo- more careful and more thorough
study. Similar photographs were taken
| In Europe by various astronomers at the
| same time. but We have not vet received
the results of the observations
Theories of Double Canals.
1.-The net result of my observations was
| the absolute confirmation of Mr.. Iowelrs
theories concerning the double canals
| which appear upon the surface of the
planet and which have been subject of
discussion for thirty years. These canals
| have been observed to have certain pecu-
| liarities. As the summer advances in
| Mars they appear in parallels-two canals
| running side by side. but several astrono-
| mers have refused to accept that as a
| fact. They have doubted the accuracy
OF the observations until now. during our
recent stay In South America. il has been
absolutely demonstrated. We have pho
| tosraphs which prove the existence of the
double canals beyond a question
What are these canals?" / asked.
Il wish | could tell you. answered
Prof. Todd. 4 wish / knew absolutely
but they are still Il subject of contro-
versy. Some astronomers think that they
are volcanic cracks in the crust of the
planet. Mr.. Lowells theory however
| recent observations, is that their periodi-
cal change of appearance. sometimes be-
ing very plain and at other times quite
indistinct. is caused by the development
| of vegetation-vegetation presumably like
ours. trees. shrubs and plants. which by
their growth and decay bring out the
phenomenon more clearly at one time
than at another The existence of that
| vegetation means d soil. an atmosphere
moisture and temperature in Mars SINH
lar to those of the earth. which conditions
| will permit of human habit tation That
conclusion follows logically. for men may
live wherever vegetation exists: animal
and vegeta BILE life are naturally synony-
| nous
Changes in Vegetation.
/ I'VE can distinguish not only the vege-
tation upon the surface of Mars but we
| can observe changes that occur WIN the
successive seasons. just they occur
upon the earth around us: and if the
canals were merely volcanic cracks in a
lifeleSs crust, such phenomena would not
exist
DO you mean 10 say that you can see
the growth and the decay of vegetation
on the surface Of the planet?'' | asked
| Certainly. and by these signs we know
the beginnings and the ends of the sew
eral seasons of the year the planet
Mars accurately as you know them
here IN the city of Washington, and we
| can predict with just much accuracy
| as the almanacs the seed time and the
harvest of rhe inha bitantS of our interest
! ing neighbor. The seasons in Mars cor