THE MYSTERY OF MARS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1925, 8 January 1891, Page 31

THE MYSTERY OF MARS.

The planet Mars is perhaps the most interesting of all the heavenly bodies. One of the nearest to that on which we live, Mars possesses also, as far as science has been able to determine, the conditions essential for the existence of creatures resembling those that inhabit our world. If we are to suppose that any of the heavenly bodies are the abodes ot rational beings— let us say human beingsit is more reasonable to suppose that they exist on Mars than on any other planet, for there the conditions of warmth, moisture, and gravitation most nearly approximate those with which we are familiar. More is known of the geography of Mars than of the geography of any other sphere except our own, not excepting the moon, which is the nearest of all.

The surface of Mars is divided into land and water, but there are no great oceans like those of the earth. Water flows in and out between bodies of land, and is usually nearly surrounded by it, something after the manner of the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, the Baltic, and the Red Seas. Some of the seas appear to be almost entirely closed, like the Black Sea and the great lakes of America.

Astronomers have for some years thought that they could detect evidences of the existence of a highly cultured race of beings on Mars. Some of the seas appear to be connected across strips of intervening land by lines which arc thought to be canals. They are as straight as arrows, and continued in some cases for hundreds of miles, so that it is difficult, in fact impossible, to suppose them to be natural channels of water. Sometimes they radiate from a central spot, like the spokes of a wheel, and in that case we may suppose the central spot or hub to be a great city, having need of extensive waterways. Often the supposed canals are in pairs and parallel. This would seem to be a needless expenditure of energy, but no more so than the parallel railroads we have on earth.

Two things, however, rather disiurb the faith of those who hold that these straight lines are canals which prove the existence either of man or of some other highly developed being. The first is their enormous size. To say nothing of their length, they must be many miles in width. If they are canals they far surpass in magnitude any wen!'? over yttempced or. this gl^be of ourb. CouiiKircd wiih them the Panama Canal of l">e Lesseps would be a roadside ditch. Only a race of giants could need such canals, and an eugineering skill immeasurably in advance of anything known on earth would be needed to construct them. The second objection is that the canals do not grow gradually, as if they were the fruits of some titanic labour. While they are usually stable, new ones do sometimes appear all at once, as if they sprung into existence by magic. It has been suggested by conservatives that they maybe merely an optical illusion caused by refraction of light, but in

view of their general mixed character, welldefined geographical relations and occasional queer antics, that seems improbable. It has also been suggested that they may be some kind of magic-lantern device whicrrthe inhabitants of Mars use purposely to attract tbe attention of the astronomers of this earth, in the hope of getting a return signal and satisfying the Martial astronomers whether our planet is or is not the abode of enlightened beings.

A valuable addition to the stock of information on this most interesting subject has been recently contributed by the astronomer Schiaparelli of the Milan University, as we learn through the cable reports of the # New York Herald. One of the Martial seas, in size and shape something like our Black Sea, has been observed by this astronomer to be cut in two by what he describes as " a yellow band," which divides it into two unequal parts. Is this a bridge ? In the same way a lake lias been discovered to be Disected, and " five immense canals were also divided into two parts by two straight lines absolutely parallel to each other in the same manner that a certain number of enigmatic canals were noticed to have been divided some years ago."

What these lines can be, what the explanation of tbeir mathematical exactitude, forms one of the most absorbing mysteries of modern astronomy. The next favourable opportunity for viewing the planet occurs in 1892, and then we shall perhaps know more about it.