A MUCH CONTESTED DISCOVERY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 861, 6 July 1910, Page 7

A MUCH CONTESTED DISCOVERY.

LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli will long live in the history of astronomy as the discoverer of the first, and so far the only indication of the .existence of intelligent beings on any of the heavenly bodies. The deceased astronomer was born at Savigliano, Italy, on March 4, 1835, and for, 38 years was director of the Brera Observatory, at Milan. From this position he retired in 1900. :In September,'lß77,'he .noticed that tho "continents," or red-portions, of Mars were cut up by numerous dark lines, and to these he gave the name of* "canali." Astronomers, however, were inclined to be regarding the reality of the discovery. Nevertheless, Schiaparelli continued his observations, and in the end of 1879 he discovered that one of the canals.had become double—that is, a new canal ran parallel to the original one; a discovery which bo, fully confirmed in 1881, when no fewer than 20 canals became double. In the following opposition, Professor Schiaparelli confirmed what he had,seen previously, and in 1888 ■ lie declared that the canals had all the distinctness of an engraving on steel, with tho magical beauty of a coloured painting. Two years later,, owing to imperfect eyesight, he, discontinued his observations on Mars. ■ Professor Lowell, in his recent observations in America, has mapped 350 canals on.Mars. Various theories have been advanced of late years to account for these markings. Proctor regarded them as rivers, and other astronomers suggested that they might be' cracks in the surface, or chains of mountains running over land and sea. Schiaparelli regarded them as waterways lined on either side ■by belts of vegetation. Professor Lowell has adopted this theory, aiid believes that the canals are the work of intelligent beings, who are eking out a scanty rainfall with supplies of water from their planet's polar ice caps. Another theory is that the canals are an optical illusion-, but this has received a severe blow since Professor Lowell succeeded in photographing the markings.