The Daily News. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14. ANOTHER ILLUSION GONE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 314, 14 February 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14. ANOTHER ILLUSION GONE.

One by one our pet illusions are tie'mg destroyed by the ruthless advance, of scientific knowledge. For years the idea has been pretty generally cherished that on the planet Mars were Some kind of ltumans answering to the men and women of this earth, and that visible signs of their existence could be found in the snaps of huge canals, visible by the aid of powerful telescopes. So strongly held was this belief, even in scientific circles, that schemes) for attempting to open communication with the inhabitants of Mars were seriously discussed, and all sorts of theories put forward as to the mental and physical attributes of the Martians. Some writers actually went so far as to declare, on .the strength of the alleged canals, that the men of Mars were far ahead of the Earth-men in scientific and nteoManioal knowledge, and even put forward the suggestion that some day they might take it into their heads to invade our planet. Out of that idea was horn Mr. H. G. Wells's fantastic romance "The War of the Worlds." Now we aro assured on the word of the most eminent astronomers that ! there are no canals im Mars, and no Martians, and that all the interesting stories written about the planet and its people were so much sensational fudge. The latest photographs of Mars were shown in London at a meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society in the last week of December. They were taken at Mount Wilson Observatory, California, by means of a 60in telescope and are an enormous improvement on any that have been taken previously. But they show no indication of any canals or any other evidence of artificial action on the surface of the planet. Mr. E. W. Maunders, of the Greenwicn Observatory, who showed the photographs, said there never had been any ground for the canal and people theory, and had it not been that the idea was a somewhat sensational one it would never have been heard of. " Yon may sleep peacefully in your beds," he said in conclusion, "without any fear of invasion from Mars."