DR. WALLACE'S THEORY.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13622, 5 January 1910, Page 7

DR. WALLACE'S THEORY.

I)r. llussel Wallace, in his book: "Is Mara Habitable?" combats the contention of Professor Lowell that thc supposed "canals" on Mars are tho work of intelligent beings. In the first place, | Dr. Wallace contends that the climate ot Mars is too cold for animal life. Its njean temperature he pute at 36_deg. Fahrenheit, «> that there are normally more than 63deg. of frost on the planet's surface. Again, he disputes the possibility of water existing on Mars, and thinks that the white caps seen about tho poles in winter are due to frozen carbon dioxide gas. He points out that, if the white caps were snow, under the Martian conditions, where the force of gravity is small, such snow would bo very loosely compacted, and would yield but little water when it melted. Professor Lowell's theory of the canals is that they are irrigation works carried to the poles to drain off the water as it melts, for utilisation in Jigriculture. The total yield, however, has been calculated to be only 2in of water per square mile of Martian territory, supposed to be cultivated, and on this allowance no crops would grow. But what, then, is the explanation of the mysterious canals? Dr. Wallace thinks that the interior of Mars cooled before the exterior, and that the exterior, "contracting upon a previously cold and non-contracting nucleus," produces violent tensions, which could only be relieved by cracks and fissures. These would radiate from the dark spots, or "oases" as Professor Lowell oalls them, though Dr. Wallace prefers to think that they are volcanic craters. The fissures might run regularly, especially if the structure of Mars is of ciystalline nature. The "canals," however, have a peculiar geometrical appearance, which certainly seems to suggest intelligence as their origin and cause.