Part 12

MAY 19

MAY 22 Snow fell May 19

JUNE 5

JUNE 9-10

JUNE 13

JUNE 11-13

DRAWINGS OF CANALS OF MARS BY THE AUTHOR]

The expression "poor seeing" in the above notes must be taken in a comparative sense with relation to the usual conditions of the atmosphere of Flagstaff. Poor seeing, therefore, at Flagstaff would be equal, if not superior, to the best seeing at much lower levels. An astronomer who resigned his position in a western observatory for duties at Mount Wilson, California, told me that for thirty consecutive nights the seeing was superior to the best nights he had observed in at his former post.

WHAT THE MARTIANS MIGHT SAY OF US

O wad some power the giftie gie us, To see oursels as others see us!

ROBERT BURNS.

For every single perplexity of interpretation we encounter in our study of the surface markings of Mars, the Martian would encounter a dozen perplexities in interpreting the various features on the surface of the Earth.

Admitting the conclusions of Lowell of the existence of intelligence in Mars, and that that intelligence has been associated for ages with a planet having only slight elevations of land, a tenuous atmosphere, a scarcity of water which has been utilized for ages through artificial channels, as we have done in various parts of the world since prehistoric times, having vast tracts of sterile plains, and, within these sterile tracts large oases fed by irrigating canals, regions of sparse vegetation, and no large bodies of water; with these conditions going beyond the history of these intelligences, what must be the Martian interpretation of the surface features of this world? It is a perfectly fair inquiry, for by such means we may appreciate the attitude of some of our interpreters of Mars.

In examining the Earth, then, as we have examined Mars, the Martian would find large yellow and reddish areas, extensive greenish areas, and, besides, large regions of varying shades of blue, possibly, occupying three-fourths of the Earth's surface. The yellow areas he would interpret as desert land, the greenish areas he might consider vegetation, but what would he make out of the larger regions of blue? This would certainly puzzle him, because, unfamiliar with oceans, he could not believe that such vast tracts could really be water. He would easily interpret the polar snow caps, and the waters at their edges, but the oceans would be impossible to solve. The suggestion, by some audacious interpreter, that this vast blue area was water, would be answered by showing that these so-called bodies of water bordered vast tracts of sandy deserts with no canals running into them for irrigation or navigation purposes. Even the polar snow caps would be doubted, because they seemed to extend far down into temperate latitudes; and on their recedence in summer, there would be seen no dark, bordering seas as the result of their melting. The vegetation, instead of unfolding at the north and gradually extending southward, would unfold in a contrary direction, appearing first in south temperate latitudes and developing northward. The perennial character of the vegetation in the tropics would puzzle him. Even if he recognized oases in the deserts of America and Africa, the results of Artesian wells or springs, he could not believe them to be vegetation; for he would detect no irrigating canals running into them. He would come to the conclusion that no creature could possibly exist on the Earth, as the tremendous force of gravitation with great atmospheric pressure would forbid the existence of any organic forms. The immense clouds veiling the surface must at times suffer condensation, and the impact of raindrops would, from their velocity and weight, smash everything in the way of life. Life, if it existed in forms supported by appendages, must have legs of iron to sustain its weight, and a crust like a turtle to be impervious to raindrops, and this would be contrary to all Martian analogy. The courses of rivers, if detected, would puzzle him from their irregularity, unless he dared to suggest that these long sinuous channels extending for thousands of miles were identical to the little rivulets he had studied near his own poles.

In fact, about the only feature outside the polar snow caps that he would instantly recognize, would be the great ice cap of the Himalayas. India, that vast region extending from latitude 35° nearly to the equator, with its great plains and sterile regions, with its overpowering heat, and a dense population, depends for the sustenance of many of its millions upon the thousands of miles of irrigating canals, fed from the melting snow caps of the Himalayas. India has no great lakes, but in the northern plains great rivers course their way to the sea. The Ganges and the Indus and their tributaries derive their waters from the melting glaciers, and from these, a most extensive irrigating system of canals and reservoirs draw their waters. As the heat increases the ice melts more rapidly, and so more water is supplied at just the time when it is most needed. The whole scheme is on so vast a scale that a Martian would recognize its meaning, though he would wonder at the tortuous outlines of the larger canals.

Flammarion has, in a similar manner, presented the arguments of Martian astronomers as to whether life exists anywhere but upon the planet Mars. He says, among other fancies, that the sapient Martian argues that houses could not be built on the Earth, on account of the violence with which building materials, such as bricks, blocks, etc., would drop, and thus endanger life. Believing that Mars is rightly balanced as to temperature, the Earth being so much nearer the Sun, would be too hot for life to exist. The Martian conceives himself to be supremely complete "even to the point that artists wishing to represent God in our sanctuaries have figured Him in the image of a Martian man." The Martian considers our year too short. In his reflections he says: "During the period in which one of us attains the middle age of fifty years those on Earth have become decrepit old men of ninety-four, if, indeed, they are not already dead."

Seriously, if there is an intelligence in Mars, it must have evolved along the same general lines as intelligence has developed on the Earth. Being an older planet, it must have outgrown many of the vagaries and illusions which still hamper man in his progress here. In the dim past, however, we can imagine some Martian astronomer with the enigma of our Earth before him, and the great vault of heaven with its thousands of riddles unanswered, consulting records and covering pages with mathematical formulæ to ascertain the precise spot upon which grew the bean stalk by which a Martian Jack ascended to encounter the giant. Indeed, the imagination can conjure up an infinite number of parallels. If Mars is an older sphere, we trust it has long outgrown the superstitions which still hamper man in his interpretation of the inexorable phenomena of Nature on this little planet. We may hope that they have finally reached that stage when a dictum similar to that of Huxley forms an engraved tablet in their temples of worship. These are his words: "Science is teaching the world that the ultimate court of appeal is observation and experiment, and not authority. She is teaching it to estimate the value of evidence; she is creating a firm and living faith in the existence of immutable moral and physical laws, perfect obedience to which is the highest possible aim of an intelligent being."

XVI

SCHIAPARELLI, LOWELL, PERROTIN, THOLLON

Every age has its problem, by solving which humanity is helped forward.

HEINRICH HEINE.

In previous pages allusion has been made to the distinguished character of the astronomers who have contributed to a knowledge of the surface markings of Mars. Testimony from astronomical sources has been quoted as to their keen-sightedness in this work which, as Sir Robert Ball has said, "indicates one of the utmost refinements of astronomical observation." That the reader may better understand the eminence of some of those whose names will forever be associated with the investigation of the surface features of Mars the following brief records are given.

The two astronomers most widely known in connection with the study of Mars are Professor Giovanni Schiaparelli and Professor Percival Lowell. Lowell had just graduated from Harvard, at the age of twenty-one, when Schiaparelli, at the age of forty-two, made his first great discovery of the canali of Mars. Macpherson, in his valuable history of the "Astronomers of To-day," says of Schiaparelli: "His studies of meteoric astronomy, of Mars, Venus, and Mercury, of double stars and of stellar distribution, have given him a place second to none among living students of the heavens." From the same interesting book we gather the following facts: Schiaparelli was born in Sabigliano, in Piedmont, in 1835. He attended the usual schools in his native town and then entered the University of Turin as a student of mathematics and architecture. Before he was twenty years old he decided to devote himself to the study of astronomy. At the age of twenty-four he was an assistant in the celebrated Observatory of Pulkova. When the kingdom of Italy was organized he became an assistant in the Brera Observatory, Milan. He became suddenly famous at the age of twenty-seven by the discovery of a new asteroid. In 1862 he became Director of the Observatory. Schiaparelli's first great discovery was the relationship between comets and meteoric showers. In 1872 he was accorded the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society for his various astronomical discoveries. Professor Simon Newcomb gives him high praise when he says: "Among the individual observers Schiaparelli may be assigned the first place in view of his long continued study of the planets under a fine Italian sky, the conscientious minuteness of his examinations, and his eminence as an investigator." Schiaparelli's researches into the relation of comets and meteors "were developed in 1873, in his remarkable work 'Le Stelle Cardenti,' which is, according to Sir Norman Lockyer, one of the greatest contributions to astronomical literature which the nineteenth century has produced." Macpherson closes his interesting memoir of Schiaparelli by saying: "His devotion to astronomy, his singularly accurate observations and his wonderful discoveries have secured for him an exalted position among the greatest astronomers of modern times." For a further appreciation of the work of Schiaparelli the reader is referred to Macpherson's "Astronomers of To-day." In this brief sketch the reader may judge of the eminent character of one who insists that the lines in Mars are a persistent feature of its surface, whatever one's interpretation of them may be.

Percival Lowell was born in Boston in 1855. He was graduated from Harvard in 1876, and prepared for his graduating thesis an essay on the Nebular Hypothesis. Lowell is a many-sided man. Early interested in mathematics, he became one of the founders of the Mathematical and Physical Society of Boston. A visit to Japan, where he lived a number of years, resulted in the writing of three interesting books: "The Soul of the Far East," 1886; "Noto," 1891; and "Occult Japan," 1894. During his residence in Japan he was chosen foreign Secretary and adviser to the Korean Special Commission, then about to visit the United States, which he accompanied. On his return to Korea he was the guest of the Korean Government, and this experience prompted him to write "A Korean Coup d' État," 1894, and his well-known volume, "Choson, the Land of the Morning Calm," 1885. On his return to America he undertook an eclipse expedition to Tripoli with Professor Todd. His early interest in astronomical subjects was now fully awakened, and the red planet, which he had observed in boyhood with a small telescope from the roof of his father's house, aroused his interest on account of the heated discussions over Schiaparelli's discoveries. With an impetuosity and enthusiasm which characterizes all his work, he set about to secure a proper region and a sufficient elevation for an observatory site. This was found in northern Arizona at an elevation of over 7,000 feet. Here, then, was established the Lowell Observatory with a twenty-four inch refractor made by Clark especially for this Observatory, the last, and, according to the maker's words, the best telescope he had ever made. Lowell insisted that the location of an observatory was a much more important factor than the size of the instrument, and says: "When this is recognized, as it eventually will be, it will become the fashion to put up observatories where they may see rather than be seen." It may be said with truth that, for the first time in the history of astronomy, an observatory has been erected and fitted for the special purpose of studying the surface features of Mars. During unfavorable oppositions Lowell has turned his attention to the other planets, notably Mercury and Venus, with the result of adding many new and interesting details concerning these bodies. Three volumes of quarto memoirs and many bulletins from the Lowell Observatory attest to his industry. He has been fortunate in securing talented assistants, and their contributions may be found in the various publications of the Observatory. The character and importance of Lowell's work may be understood by stating that the "British Nautical Almanac" is to adopt for the future the value of the position of the axis of Mars, and the tilt of the planet's equator to its ecliptic, which was furnished by Professor Lowell in compliance with a request.

Mr. Lowell is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Member of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain; American Philosophical Society; Société Astronomique de France; American Astronomical and Astrophysical Society; Astronomische Gesellschaft; Société Belge d'Astronomie; Fellow of the American Geographical Society; Honorary Member Sociedad Astronomica de Mexico; and others.

In 1904 he was awarded the Janssen medal of the Astronomical Society of France for his researches on Mars.

Mr. Macpherson, in his memoir on Lowell, says that "Mr. Lowell, by his unwearied devotion to astronomy, has already gained for himself an enduring reputation."

M. Henry Perrotin and his assistant, M. Thollon, have been quoted in previous pages as having markedly confirmed the discoveries of Schiaparelli. Through the courtesy of Professor Lowell I am enabled to present the likenesses of these two astronomers. I am indebted to the exhaustive work of Miss Agnes M. Clerke, entitled the "History of Astronomy during the Nineteenth Century," for the following memoranda of some of the work accomplished by these men. Perrotin made a series of observations on Venus fully confirming Schiaparelli's inference of synchronous rotation and revolution: "A remarkable collection of drawings made by Mr. Lowell in 1896 appeared decisive in favor of the views of Schiaparelli." In other words, Venus, like the Moon, presents the same face to the Sun in its revolution about that luminary. Perrotin has made important observations on the rings of Saturn; his double-star measurements are also considered work of the highest character.