The New York herald., 1921-10-02
Mars, Where the Dryness Is Great
Misty Canals, Furious Tempests and Trying Climate OF
Planet Whose People May Be Signalling to Us.
By JACQUES w. REDwAY.

w. REDWAY.
caused the rock layers Of the earth ana
the moon to wrinkle and fault. thereby
forming mountain ranges. the same may
be assumed of Mars. And Just as wind.
water and other forms OF weatherlns
due to temperature and chemical action
have worn down the high spots OF the
earth's rock folds. 1t Is reasonable 10
assume that the same degradation mas
occurred on Mars. And since Mars is
much older than the earth 1t may be
assumed that tho process Of degradation
has progressed to q much greater "e-
gree than on the earth.
It may or may not be that Mars, when
time. possessed about the same propor-
tions of air and water; certain It Is
now that the proportions are very mucn
smaller. The water may have been
absorbed by the chemical changes which
rock undergoes; much Of it may be
held physically In suspension in sedi-
mentary rock, as in the case OF the
earth. where loss Of water Is still going
on. Desiccation OF the earth has oc-
Cured to a measurable degree even
within the period of historic times.
All observations indicate that desic-
cation has progressed on Mars to far
greater degree than on the earth. 1t
may be assumed that free water has
been lost both by chemical and by
physical absorption. Still another way
in which free water disappears is
possible.
Martian winters are very cold and very
dry. They are also about twice as long
as winters on the earth. Surface waters
caught in winter cold wave are not
apt to melt, still less TO evaporate meas
urably for half a year. The fierce dust
storms Of Mars at times cover q large
part Of visible hemisphere. To be
visible from the earth such dust storm
must carry a very great volume ofsrock
waste, and when a sheet OF Ice Is COW
cred with the accumulation Of dozen
| or more dust storms 1t Is anchored
in stu for all time. Even If the warmth
of a succeeding summer Is sufficient to
melt It., a small portion only Is re-
turned to the air by evaporation. Sue
| ceeding dust storms merely bury 1t
deeper and it is lost as surface water.
! All observations indicate that the total
amount Of free water on Mars is small
compared with that Of the earth. There
| are no oceans and the Accommodations at
the ends Of the ice caps are Of the ma
ture Of playa lakes; they are shallow
and temporary. The polar Ice caps are
the great Martian reservoirs.
L lxtn Tia Am
edge of gray becomes wider and wider
until thousands Of square miles are GOV,
cred. Lowell and Pickering-the latter
from his observatory in the Peruvian
Andes-both express an unqualified
opinion that the ,darkening Of the areas
is due to the filing Of shallow basins
From one Of the ice caps Pickering OBJ
served the gathering Of the melting ice
In three main depressions. Evaporation
from these bodies Of water, In Picker
ing's opinion, Is the beginning of tn
greater atmospheric circulation Of water
vapor. and because Of the high degree
of insulation during the summer da.
and the low temperature at night du
to extreme radiation his assumption
that rainfall occurs mainly at night J
reasonable.
In a monograph 1.-THE Destiny of tn
Planets" Arrhenius has compared tn
desiccation of Mars with the process
now going on In the desert regions Q
: the earth. He likens the surface o.
Mars In general to those Of the Kavil
Persia's desert. He might as well hav
compared 1t with the region which sur
rounds the block ranges which forr
long streaks through Nevada, for tn
two regions are as alike as peas In tn
same pod.
The dark regions Of depression OF
! Mars may be compared with old LAX
La Hontan. now reminiscent in the fe'
fragments Of which Humboldt and Car
\ con Sinks are examples. All over tn
q region are marshes and playa lakes
:. thin films of black muck In the tim
: of rains; frosted with q thin skin {
a Ice in winter and swept by furior
5 Washoe zephyrs at all times. Arrh'
}. MUS believes the canals of Mars to
. long lines Of playa lakes and marsh'
), lying in the angles Of block range
Pickering has expressed a guarded opil
= Ion that they are marshes fed IN pa,
: by the water vapor of the meltin
o polar caps. Lowell believes them
9 be irrigated lands watered by artifici'
! canals. Who knows?
9 Is Mars the habitation OF intelligel
0 beings? All that can be said with ce
tainty is that If life exists there 1t mu
l. be adjusted to temperature chang
: greater than those on the earth,
It moisture conditions that are differe
10 and to gravitation influences that all
e are different. But II the spirit whit
h animates and controls Intelligent b
Is ings IL immortal, 1t IL indestructible.
l. or necessity 1t need not be confln
d to body whose chemical structure
10 based on carbon and water. 1t can 5u
as we'll animate a body whose skelet'
,f possesses the resistance OF aluminic o
10 ide whose feshy parts have silicon !
r stead of carbon for basis. and who
le nutrition is conveyed through arteri
B. of platin-fridium by streams Of molt
ly metal. II the intelligence assumed
3 exist on Mars is real, will Martian b
g. ngs transmit their message to the ear
by means of Hertzian electric wave
rs 1t certainly is not beyond the range
Il possibility. But human knowledge,