LIFE ON MARS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 24, 23 October 1907, Page 10

LIFE ON MARS.

LATEST RESEARCHES.

is there life on Mars? Is our noighbour planet inhabited by intelligent-boings ? Professor i'ereival Lowell (says tho "Daily Telegraph") answers those quostions decisively iii a communication to'."Naturo," , headed "Mars in 1907. Observations at tho Lowell Observatory." It is well known that tho plauet has of late beon'in a highly favourable , position for observation, and tho Anierican observatory is admirably situated for the pur-

pose, .jv.- .■"'. :;■'•.' -.■;-.i-. , / <'"•.■ < ■ ■>■ First of all comes tho Question'of tho icesaps. Since tho time of Sir William Herschcll it known that there were caps of ice or snowbound tho poles of Mars, which extended or contracted; according , to tho season. When it was summer in a hemisphere of Mars the cap.diminished,in size; in winter the polar cap expanded:', So do. our own'terrostrial polar caps, but hardly to the relative extent of those on .Mars, which is a much smaller body. In tlie present opposition the Lowoll observors caught tho planet when its southern cap was at its maximum and the northern at its minimum extent. Professor Lowell writes:— '

"The moment was more propitious than has over been tho caso before.when the planet' has been observed, because it was then upon an oven keel as regards the earth, the equator lying nearly in tho piano of sight.' The southern cap strotched across 95deg. of lati-' tude, counting from ono side of it to the other, the. northern only over Bdcg:".' , : This i 3 as if we should find on earth the polar snows in winter coming down to about the south of France. In Europe this would be startling, but in North America it actually happens'.. Jt; is no uncommon occurrence for Canada and the: Northern S( »tes to be covered 1 with show in the dopth of winter as far south as 40deg. N.—about tho latitude of New York. ':. -.•■■

But by far the most remarkable of this Bories of observations are-those on, "the;development of the canal system in,the,Antarctic and.south temperate zones" of Mars. Nearly all'the discussion about . Mars turns on these alleged canals or channels, the markings of which wore first discovered by Schioparclli in 1877. Astronomers have doubted whether they wero actualities, and still more whether they wore the work of intelligent agents—more,or less liko ourselves, —fas M. Camillo Flammarion and Professor. Lowell believe ' They'"aro not, as Ncwcornh says, "well-defined features on .an otherwise uniform surface." At present,'.; howevor, the objectivo reality of the "canalo" of Schiaparolli is generally admitted. But in the clear air of Flagstaff, Arizona, Lowell; has found far more ■ markings than the Italian astronomer. His map indicates'fifty"four regions, 392 canals, and'l72'oases.. And now:. he conies to the most recent observations'arid , their startling'lesson—according to; Lowell.■ He'says:— ■ . '''■'■ ■ ■■■ •

"After the melting of ; tho South Polar, cap. had got well under way, canals began to make thoir appearanco about it, running thenco round the disc. These canals left its edge and joined tho rest of the system in lower latitudes The ..region lying around the Solis.'Lacus/or Lake of the Siin, first showed symptoms of awaking activity. Thp Solis Lacus stood composed of two portions, a,largo oval.patch on the cast and a smaller round one to tho-west, from both of which canals ran into the; dark areas. Those, on the south, such as Ambrosia and Bathys. wero darker and more pronounced than those running north, the Tithonius, for example, which showed evidence "of being in : its dead or skeleton condition, while'the;former.weije, in full. tide.of' dQvfelopmeii.t.^MpanwKiloyith'e 1 - equatorial canals 'were s toridily ; fa ding -put;"'' It is desirahta tp.qubto in detail this some-, ■what technical observation, to show tho con-' fidenco with, which many of the Martian observers—by no means all—map out its topography. Of these dctails4thebne ; -qn" which all observers agreo-is ■-th'oV'L'acus'-SolisTTa changing but- on the whole permanent feature, shown on all good drawings. And now comes Professor Lowell's momentous deduction from these phenomena :— "The procossj of evolution was in..ikodtjinig with tho method of development found here tor tho northern '.canals, -.in- 1903.: The fact is of the naturo of .a ■prophecy: fulfilled, and not only supports thp /previous observations, but provos tho theory .deduced from them tohave been correct. It js a direct sequitur" from this that the planet is at present-the abode of. intelligent, constructive lifo." ■Toj this, ; declaration' < Professor' . LoweJl Silds:—. . ;' '"'.■' . '•.

"I may say in-:this'connection- that: the theory of suclv life upon Mars was in noway en a priori hypothesis on my-part, • but the deduced outcome of observation, and"'that my observations since .■ have fully - confirmed it. Wo other supposition, is consonant with all the facts observed here."

Another result of the recent Clearness,, of ■Mars to tho dnrth, when .tho planet' showed, its face to us in reflected sunlight—like a full moon—has been the securing of excellent photographs. Mr. Lowell reports :— "Plates have been ..taken 'Mr. Lampland and myself; v aiid the amount of de-. tail they show may bo judged from the fact that I have already counted fifty-six canals on my plate, that/the',twin Gihon has been: photdgraphed double, and that such' delicate markings as tho Fons Juvontae and.tho-lit-tle canals leading to it appear unmistakably in the prints." • - ;

".Nature" gives nn illustration of three of these photographs. On October 11, 1906, Dr. AV. J. S. Lockyer published an account of tho earlier researches at Lowell Obser.vatory, with diagrams of Mars showing various features m . detail. Mr. Percival Lowell has recorded ;obsqr,vatiohs of the opposition of Mars iij -ilgpi; 1806/-1898; J9OU, IUO3. In part ■Mγ. Lowell's niost recent db-' sorvations aro confirmed by M. Jarry-Des-loges, who ■■.has'.'/rqportbcl.- to • the' Astronomical ..Bulletin. 7 He says:— '/ ■' '■■■••:' "The faint canals wore difficult to observe but the Ganges was seen to bo very broad end appeared double, the two points wliere-it Emerges from the; Aurorae Sinus boingiseen quite sharply ;V-but '.this observation -necife confirming."..- , ,■: ./'%T'■?■/.,",..';"■ _ The great difficulties' astronomers .havei'felt in tho way of .admitting thp-.VHttoHHialifcv-.6f Mars have been- the oxtremo'-ranty" -or 'itsatmosphere, the fact that this.--atmosphere Bccms to hold littlo aqueous.-■vanour.'-'and the presumably ,lo\v temperaturo,vK'df ithe pjanet. It has been stated that Mars shows no clouds, but,in fact mist appears to have been Further,■ it has.been' suggested that the Pole caps could ndtV.bo snow, bemuso there was not water:■enough in tho Martian atmosphere to produce so much Jiiow, and some these elects v/ero caused by the congelation antrnielting of carbonic acid. If snow there be it must-be at a very small quantity, hut in that case what can bo -. the uso ■ of• tho

hA" T al A iffic,l,t y. is the cold, which it has been thought must exist 01. 2lars. TalJininto consideration the planet's distance from' tlio-sun ami Ins rare atmosphere, it was computed that Mars' mean -.temperature.- the year round would he minus ; F or as TLW My 'i 6 ° fleg ' of fr "st. Professor Lowell has endeavoured to remove this-ob-stacle. Ho-computes that, other things bev.ould bo .only two-ninths as much as the same space of p-.ir world, and it would weigh only onc-twolfth as;mucL • For these* reasons Tvator on Mars would, boil-at Hldecr F »,' against tho earth's boiljng . po i nt) 212deg'