The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-05-12
Signaling to Mars.


Not since those historic flashes
from Mars were received, some years
ago, which were probably caused by
the reflection of sunlight falling on
snow-covered surfaces, and which
were promptly interpreted by Tesla
and some exuberantly imaginative
astronomers as attempts on the part
of a hypothetical race of Martians to
communicate with this earth of ours,
has so much excitement been created
as Professor chickering's proposal to
build a system of mirrors, by means
of which light can be rhythmically
flashed to Mars. According to Pro-
lessor Pickering, a system of reflect
ing surfaces of adequate area could
be constructed at a cost of SO, 000,-
900.
Would it be worth while to carry
out the idea? To us it seems that
if the experiment proved failure,
and no answering signal were re-
ceived from Mars in a reasonable
time. the matter would not be con-
clusively settled. Knowing practic-
ally nothing of the conditions on
Mars, it would naturally be unsafe to
conclude from a failure that the plan
ct is uninhabited, for which reason
the Availability of Mars would still
engross Flammarion. Lowell, and the
host of newspapers that accept their
the other hand, if an answering sig
nal should be received, it would be
safe to say that the event would
transcend in human interest and inn
pOrtance the most stirring occurrence
in the history Of the earth, and would
inaugurate a new era in the progress
of the human race.
Even in the face of this tremen-
dously alluring but exceedingly re-
mote possibility. it seems to us that
the $1O,O0O.000 stipulated by Pro-
fessor Pickering, and the smaller
indeterminate sum required by Pro-
fessor Wood, could be more worthily
expended, particularly so when we
examine the evidence on which the
theory of Marian Availability is
basedbased.
To the interchangeable studies of Pro-
fessor Lowell we owe whatever facts
have been gathered that bear at all
on the question But Professor Low
ellis arguments have been riddled by
the inexorable logic of biologists, as
tronomers and physicists. He is we'd
dei to the Laplacean theory of plane
tary evolution, although that theory
is considered inadequate by many as
tronomers in the light of recent cell
estial observations He assumes that
the history of the earth is the history
of Mars. He advances the theory that
Mars is a planet which has shriveled
m during the course of ages; that its
surface is one vast parched desert,
with the exception of the snow that
gathers each winter about the poles;
and that the chief concern of the in
habitants, if inhabitants there be. is
70 conserve this paltry supply Of wa
ter. and to conduct it, as the snow
melts in the spring, to those regions
in the equatorial and temperate zones
which would still blossom if they
were watered. Evidence of this gi-
gantic irrigation system, which
dwarfs anything of the kind that we
have ever attempted. Lowell finds
in that network of lines which Schi-
aparelli first discovered, and which
were called by him canals" for want
of a. better name AS spring and sum-
mer approach, the line slowly creeps
down from the poles toward the equa-
tor. and the dull red or orange of the
supposed desert region changes to-