The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1922-01-14

v~eniently gathered together In a re-
cen publication on the subject by
Professor william H. Pickering, who
has charge Of the Harvard astronom-
zeal station in Jamaica, and who has
devoted much of his time to looking
at Mars through a telescope and spec
ulating about conditions on the sister
planet.
Like most strictly scientific revela-
lions. what Professor Pickering has
to say is somewhat disillusioning to
the layman. Mars has held high place
in the popular imagination for a long
time. 1t has been generally assumed
that Mars is inhabited by intelligent
beings, something like men. How
these beings differ from Us and how
they resemble us. whether we can
hope ever to communicate with them
these questions fire even the dullest
Imagination. All sorts Of fantasies
have been based on imagined visits
of Martians to the world, or of inhab-
itants of the world to Mars.
Whether Mars is Inhabited by in
telligent beings is a highly debatable
question, as Professor Pickering
shows, but it is extremely probable
that life in some form exists on Mars.
That alone is enough to keep human
curiosity about it at the highest pitch.
Men have been squirting at Mars for
centuries, finding out nor and more
about it as their instruments i'm
proved. There Is now an association
Of Marian observers who look at the
planet from all different parts Of the
earth and exchange observations and
opinions. Professor Pickering him
self has worked out in theory a giant
heliograph by means Of which 1t
would be possible to signal the in
habitants of Mars, provided they are
as intelligent beings with as much
power Of sight as we have.
A TRIP TO MARS
The time may yet come when we
will get daily communications from
Mars. After all, at times 1t is only
35,000.000 miles away. Should a
means of travelling through interstel-
lar space with a supply of canned OK
ygen ever be perfected, as 1t well
might, an expedition to Mars would
doubtless be launched. An ae%roplane
travelling at the rate of 100 miles an
hour might reach Mars in about for
ty years. provided it set out at the
right time. The chief Of the expedi-
ton, a youth Of TO- would carry with
him a few promising infants of both
sexes, aged about / year. These
would be men and women at the
height of their maturity when Mars
was reached. They would do the OBJ
serving, and their progeny would car
ry the dope back to earth, along with
a delegations of Martians. The en-
tire operation need not consume more
than three generations.
1t is only fair to add that Profess
or Pickering is not responsible for
any of the above speculations. He
did invent the signaling system, 1t is
true, but he does not to be at
all sure that there is any n on Mars
worth corresponding with.
Although the scientists have the
greatest difficulty in ~ascertaining what
kind of life there is on Mars, they are
able to supply a surprising amount OF
information as to living conditions
there. When the Marian expedition
sets said, science will probably not be
able to tell the members what sort OF
creatures they will encounter, but
they will be able to tell them all
| about the climate In Mars, what kind
of underwear they will need, how
many blankets at night and all that
sort of thing.
In the first place, they are able to
compute the size Of Mars with great
accuracy. 1t is 4200 miles In diam.
eter, which means that 1t is only
about twelve per cent as great as the
earth in bulk-quite a small place
as stars go, a sort Of gopher prairie
among the habitable planets.
AS a result of being such a light
weight world. Mars enjoys an ex-
tremely low force of gravity. At the
surface of Mars the force Of gravity
is only about two-fifths of hat at the
surface of the earth. This means that
If you weigh $50 pounds here on
earth. and you went to Mars, you
would weigh but sixty pounds, though
you would still have the same
strength. You could jump more than
twice as high. and In general you
4 Unrld have a u.4ot unxa,oY It-Ak-~zx