Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-01-30
H's7 Venus, N0tj a Mars CulIinQ,
 Doctor States
Nobody Home On Former Ce- iestial, Declares AstrO-
 physical Shark

Washington, Jan. 29.--If wireless messages are being received on the earth from some other planet, as suggested by William Marconi it is not Mars sending the signals, but most probably Venus, says Dr. c. P. Abbot, director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical observatory and as sistant secretary of the Smthson- ian institute.
 Dr. Abbot makes no claim that the mysterious wireless signals do come from another plapet, but says if they do Mars is eliminated as a pos sibility because known conditions on that planet probably would not per init the existence of any form of living creature.
 "ln the first place." says Dr. Alp bot" on account of the greater dis tance, nearly two and one half times less radiation from the sun reaches Mars than reaches the earth It is probably nearly 100 per cent colder on the average there than on the earth. Knowing what low tempera- lures occur on this earth in the course of the winter season, it will readily be realized what 100 degrees colder would mean. In the second place, it is definitely known by the investiga ations of Director Campbell of Lick observatory, that there is practically no water vapor in the at mosphere surrounding Mars, which fact crosses out the possibility of that planets supporting any vege- tatiOn or other form of food living creatures.
 Polar Caps Frost
 "The polar caps which are seen on Mars may be either hoar frost from the minute traces of water vapor in the Martian atmosphere, or what is quite as probable, frozen carbonie acid gas. The so-called canals ol Mars are non-existent except as in definite markings, according to such telescopic observers as Barnard Hale and others who have observed with great telescopes under well night perfect conditions"
 "But it is objected, there may be other strange forms of beings which need no water or vegetation of heat This is also reduced to impossibility by the fact that all living things are made up largely of different compounds of carbon. While the stellar spectrum shows that there is carbon on all heavenly bodies, the chemical combinations of this ele- ment such as are required for life mostly require temperatures above freezing to prevent rigidity So the extremely low temperatures on Mars, probably never higher than zero, would not allow the carbon com pounds to exist in condition cult able for originating life.
 Venus Lively.
 "The planet Venus, on the other hand, shows every condition neces- sary for maintaining life. It is near ly the same size as the earth and is even nearer the sun than the earth is. This would apparently make the climate considerably hotter on Venus, except for the fact that the atmosphere surrounding Venus is continually cloudy. This univer- sal cloudiness, by reflecting the radiation from the sun, reduces the temperature to about the same range as that experienced here on the earth. This cloudiness also shows a sufficient amount of water vapor to support vegetation and higher forms of life on the planet Venus. As re- gard the possibility of receiving wire less messages from another planet, Venus at it's nearest approach to the earth is 25 million miles away, where as Mars is at least 250 million.
 From these considerations it may be concluded that if any planet is trying to signal our earth, it is Ven- us and not Mars. It can be definite ly proved that Mars is unsuited for maintaining any form of life, while the conditions prevailing on Venus, there is every reason to believe that planet may be populated by beings fairly similar to ourselves"