The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1911-03-22
planet MARS
NEXT TO Die.
Venus and Mercury Already
Dead Worlds. :.
INSISTS LIFE IS On MARS,

Pereivsl Lowell Says Earth Is the Only
Other Planet nhabited-Jupiter, Sat.
urn, Uranus and Neptune Are Big
Baby Worlds, Too Young to Sustain
Life-Jupiter and Saturn Red Hot.
Mercury and Venus are already dead
and dried up worlds, Mars is rapidly
approaching a state of wrinkled old
age, and the earth is next In the pro-
cession headed toward the extinction
Of all life, according to DR.. Percival
Lowell. head of Lowell observatory.
who recently addressed the New York
Electrical society.
Mars is certainly inhabited by some
character of organized life. DR.. Lowell
said, and the Martians have far greater
reason to deny that there Is life on the
earth than we have that they exist.
DR.. Lowell was sure that there was
no life on any other planets besides
the earth and Mars. all other members
Of the solar system being either al
ready dried up. so that life. animal or
vegetable, cannot exist. or else, like
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
much too young in world evolution and
therefore much too hot from interior
sources to admit of life of any kind.
Assuming the sun to be the source
as well as the center of the solar sys-
tenn, DR.. Lowell began at the outer
vast orbit. working inward. Jupiter
and Saturn. he said. are still actually
red hot. They were gradually cooling
off. however. as the world is now do
ing. Jupiter no longer shines, though
red hot, but its color, glimpsed now
and then through it's clouds. is a bright
cherry red. and DR.. Lowell spoke of it
as q huge baby of world still in its
swaddling clothes.
City Smoke Affects Rainfall.
On Mars. he said. the clearing of the
atmosphere. which had been going on
here since the paleozoic era. had reach
ed perfection. Man. indeed. he said,
must be the source of constant annoy
ance to an orderly Creator. for he was
constantly interfering with the natural
course of events. With city chimneys
always belching forth smoke and max
ing it rain. man. Or. Lowell declared.
was responsible for more than half the
bad weather of which he complains.
On Mars the sky is perpetually clear
from morning till night and from
spring to fall.
while the water on the earth was |
slowly but surely disappearing through |
sublimation into the heavens and sink |
ing into the earth. on IS the seas |
had already disappeared. ugh there
appeared to have been seas ere ages
ago.
In expressing his confidence in the |
existence of organic life ON Mars DR..
Lowell said:
"Only self centered ignorance sus-
tains our self conceit that we are some
thing peculiar in natures scheme.
Our popularity consists in so think
ing. Jupiter. Saturn. Uranus and Nep-
tune are too young yet: Venus and
Mercury. though ostentatiously open,
are too old to have anything to reveal. |
Only we and our next neighbor. Mars,
are in a position TO testify. and the
study of those qualified to give an
opinion is emphatic as to the evidence
of organic life there as here. though
the two are probably quite different.
1T is certainly suggestive that Mar
tians could from the aspect of the
earth make out a much more plausible
case for doubling the existence of the
earthly doubters than these can for
them"