The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-02-21

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21.--While some
other world is supposed to be trying to
send us wireless messages, some OF our
professors and scientists plan commu-
nication from our end. One astronomer
is going up in a balloon to observe the
planets more closely, and study ways
of letting other worlds know that the
earth is inhabited.
Another professor has invented a
multipe-charge rocket which will ex-
pode at various points in its flight,
thus providing additional motive power
at each explosion. With this rocket
he believes that he can test the char
acter of the air 200 miles above the
earth; while a similar rocket built on
a giant scale, to weigh say 1,200 pounds,
would if properly directed. reach the
moon
Some wireless experts believe that we
shall soon be able to exchange wireless
messages with such planets as may be
populated Five minutes was once set
by an electrical authority as rea-
sonable length of time for a radio i'm
pulse to flash between the earth and
Mars. Compare this five minutes with
the ,amqM of time it would take an
airplaneN XYreaCh our nearest neighbor-
ing plansE, A plane travelling steadily
at 200 miles an hour could 60 almost
5000 miles in "a hours, and could cover
a million miles in 200 days. Venus is
at its nearest approach $4,000, 600 miles
from us, and Mars is 100000 miles,
This gives some idea of the distance
of space, and also of the speed of a
wireless that, it is estimated, could
cross the void in five minutes.
Whether some other world has mas
tered radio to a greater extent than the
geniuses of the earth is the mereSt
guesswork, But this is not the first
time that mysterious signals have been
received by wireless operators. Sig
nor Marconi reported unaccountable
years before that another electrical ex-
pert had a similar experience.
That these wireless disturbances
might possibly come from the planet
Venus is the opinion expressed by DR..
Charles G. Abbott of the Smithsonian
Institution,
we have not yet proved the exist
ence of life on Venus" says Dr. Abb
bolt, but conditions there are more
favorable for life than on any Of the
other worlds except our own.
Mars he maintains, rs absolutely
incapable of supporting life, and there
fore could not be the outside party try
ing to signal the earth"
Students of radio have tried to eX-
plain the queer sounds coming from
some great distance as messages from
another planet, AS Mars has repeatedly
been peOpled by scientists and fiction
writer's, ii is usually selected as the
planet most likely to be paging the
earth This idea is all wrong, accord
ing to DIR. Abbott
Mars" he states, lis as dry as any
desert in the world In fact, the Sa-
hara would be quite damp in compari-
son with the fields Of Mars. AS water
is essential to human existence, this
precludes the possibility Of life there.
Thy drynrss of Mars is concluded
from the fact that there are no clouds
surrounding it to create vapOr, That
there are no seas or rivers on the dying
planet was long ago decided by as
trunOmerS.
The idea Of life on the planet was
advocated through the discovery of the
so-callcd canals of Mars, in 1871 Some
astronomers Immediately deducnd that
the network of straight lines discovered
was a gigantic irrigation sy' tenn by
which an ingenious race of MartianS
supplied their fields with moisture in
"A last stand for existence,
The source of the water supply ac-
cording to this theory, is the snow and
| ice fields at the poles. White circles
are plainly visible at the poles Of Mars
at times, hut astronomers differ as to
| their character Some say that they
are deposits of frozen carbonic hci
| gas which idea spells entirely tne the
! DRY of a polar water supply. Others
! thinl, that the white Watches may b.
! ice but even SO, there may be only
! thin skim like frost for it is believe
! that y layer y quarter OF an inch thick
would wake the surface appear perfect
| ly white.
| Whether seas OF ice form at the poles
! Of Mars or not, Il is difficult to con-
/ Ceiv, of sufficient water being oh.
! tanned TO irrigate 609 canals, stretching
over thousands of miles. Imagine ca
| rails fvo or ten miles wide dug fro a
/ Boston to Mexico City, and from Seat
| tie to Atlanta. and then with this as a
! scale, imagine coo such eng neerin,
projects, and YOU have a vague idea
! of what Won must believe If you aC-
cent the Marian canal theory
/ Astronomers who rerute the cana
story say that the lines seen are op-
| teal Illusions CCCul SITS make various
! experiments to show that at rtair
angles or distances crooked lines an
/ r,pq1. yt,airht ~ % ~n"ies Of short lines
seem to b. one continuous line. Some.
. thing Of 'his eort may he the "NOlana.
tiun Of the Marian canals, At time
the surface OF the planet APPEAR
roalkcd only with numerous Shor
lros can b" seen.
Sn~,e IT tNosc ovrlana ions are mer
thrury. but Or Campbell, Of Lick OBJ
/ ScrVatorY. rae" two convincing test
, to pr0Ve the absolute dryNeSS OF MATS
Tho c""eral id"0 vas that " the spec
tum the vaDor Of the earth's atmoS'
IN re shows dark lines Dr. Camp
hcll went IN on Mount whitney auf
fcu, d that there was not enough wate'
,Nauor on Mars 70 produce any effect or
the spectrum,
Dr. Abbott has weighed all this an
other data relative t. Mars and state
that the only reasonable conclusion !
that Mars is cold and barren world
.'.,- N ITO ctho~ hand. may b,
regarded as favorable place for hahl
t. lon he thinks. Venus Is younr
planet Just coming into its own, and l
there is ANYTHING in the bel et thai
woylds were made to live IN, Nenu'
should be tenanted. The only trouble