Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (May 5, 1907)
r - f o LIFE? '.-SUSTAINED' ON- MAR3 TfiEOUGM THE MEDIUM OF ITS JNCY a company of: Martian laborers, , imported f r o m their distant planet to dig the Panama Canal. How the dirt would fly Digging suck a little ditch would be a matter of merely a few week s exercise. v Each Martian, ac- y, cording to the most recent estimates of . scientists, c o u I d t . , . toss over his shouW. ders two find a half . tons at a snoveijut and thexsufreme ,' achievement of the race is canal digging:' p For the giants of Mars' are canal mak- -ers through stern necessity. lt is not for pur poses of commerce that they have lined and ribbed their- dying planet with a vast sys tern of waterways. Qnly through the most gigantic network of canals conceivable are they able, to keep life in their arid world j and provide sustenance fori themselves. Scientists now declare that the many lines and dark spots on Mars represent ver dure along a most wonderful canal system; which the inhabitants of the planet have constructed for purposes of irrigation. 1 Through these artificial waterways the ' melting snow and ice of the poles are car-. tied to various parts of the planet, and so the Martians are able to raise their crops in season and to stay , for a time, the men- -acing dry decay of their world. , ' SEVERAL of tit greatest present-day astron omersLowell, Pickering, Flammarlon, . Mors and others have practically agreed on the theory fhat Mar contain no river, lake, ocean or any other ourc of water supply than th treat cape of snow on the north, and south pole. .In the ummer time, when the people must pro duco vegetation or starve, the melting snow from those extremities of the sphere Is carefully, system atically coaxed through artificial waterway to the furthermost sections where it is needed, The Martian even make th water run up hllL It la declared, v Among recont contribution to, th leamlnr of aatton on th subject of Mar la th result of thirty four day study of the planet made In th IowaU Obwrratoty at Flagstaff, Art., by Profeor, a B. Mors, member of the American National Academy of -. Bcierwje. -:. ' ":::,. ; , .5, -j, - Of oour; Professor Uorae beUrre that Mar U mhablted. Th astronomer all do. now. It 1 with relation to bow the Inhabitant lire that hi tarwtl ;:. ration are of Tnlnc';-.:;-;' v.;-' "' -:"': V:'J:f'-: ' He goe n the assumption that Mars 1 a rery old planet million of year older than thl earth; that with the gradual flattening of her hill and fill ing In of her valley, combined with seismic disturb ances, b ho retained none .of ber great bodie ei water o necessary to Ufa, And that her people would perish If their Ingenuity did not every year bring "pmter at errtlcaj time from the pole. - ?rr:r- ' ' ' ' In .one Important' matter, Morse disagree with' son of the leading astronomers-Jwith respect to the - weather condition ta''-Kax.:r-:;:-::-i's-;---: Other authorities have stated that the atmosphere there la perfectly placid, ao much ao that, when th weather become cold enough to cause frost and snow, the Bottling of the flakes cannot be considered a storm, only an accumulation.. ' , 3ut Morse is said to have become convinced .that winds sweep over th surface of Marc; that there are" dust storms on It desorts in abort, vtbat It la a world In many respects .like our. ; ' ,. But most tragic pf all the deductions which the astronomer has made from til tltlrty-four nights lathe, observatory is that Mar Is making the greatest fight for existence ever recorded the attempt of a planet to hang on to existence after Its resource lot the aus tenano of life have been exhausted, -And the way in which tbi 1 done 1 the perfect- ' lng of a canal system. v " : The curious marklngs'on theice of Mur which yr now accepted to lie canals were first discovered by i'rofcusor Qiovennl Bchiaparelll, an Itfilian as tronomtr, many years o. Of the rnrent ntTilln to the meaniiiKs of these lines, by far the moet m portant have been mad at the Lowell Observatory, i he 1 linos of Mara are," Frofoasor Morse ays, v" 'almont !iliout exception,' geodeUcallv talgt, su rertat'jrally o-i.rt this is In spite of their leading In : vf--y po. -a.le u reetiou. They invariably begin and end at dvunite piacea." . , , " . ii A tVllZ m"'!,,f t th lines, the scientlat be- . .. T . h"f ''a" PH,,?4 to "how any accivl , ,1 . '""'V'""'1' Unyie. 'u,',,, cr"',k' " her suffice; ...I1;' '? he ,h,nf P''ily i"aoimble to jpl ' ur dusijfiicd for a dellnlt purpose- ; I. IlM TWO I V . J if'! I to conduct water from those region where water la , found for th purpose ef Irrigation. : ' lie admits that. he had not been a believer in the idoa of canals on Mara when he began his study! he desired- to acquire all hi Information relating ta f th aubjact at first hand, - ' , , ' . "Aa to- the existence of water," he ay, "on haa only to consider the polar ncwcprttf the height of -t '. the southern winter the anowcap measure more than , 2000 mile acre, covering: 5 degrees of latitude vn brokenly, Aa the spring advance the now begins to .melt, disappearing rapidly a summer comes on. It place being taken by dark patches of water.""' . 1 ' u, Some time ago actual photograph of the Martian canal wore taken at the Lowoll Observatory by C. 0., Iampland. ,i,Thla waa a : wonderful accomplishment, ' considering that the nearest point of Mars is 35,050,000 miles from the earth, and even when tho atmosphere is clear enough to permit a view of the fine lines, the -dancing ray of nebulous light make it almost im- ; possible to see With distinctness. - ; The photographs in themselves were small erd of ' little4 worth pictorialiy, but it has been possible from them to make a chart -of . the Martian canals, which ' ' may be accepted as practically correct. But even when the atmosphere Is perfectly clear, -tho canals are not visible all the year round. In fact; -.they appear and disappear with seasonal regularity. Some critic ..have used this fact as argument against the line being really canals for, they said. '' - If It be assumed that a finite power dog the canals -how can we account for that power's loolishly tilling !" . them up again? , ' 1 , -This, Profec-.if Perclvs.! Lowell, non-resident pro- ' feofor of '-m-. mv at the MassachusetU Institute of -Technoieg . s In a novel way. Tha Mri - h we see, says Prcfeswr Lowell,' . are not reahy iuo Lanal. but are strips of vegetation ( I -1 1 r'Ml - L - .f ,: i mm? J ' ' ; 1 fcjtf" " niji mil' an .1 i THE OHEGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, - rOHTLArTDl ' SUIJDAY W1 IT PAM A ?r, . which spring up along f the canal when the great sluice are full of water, and are not visible at other time. , And this he apparently substantiate by Baying that tho green strips deepen In -color as the days pass. just a foliag deeen In hue with the advance of tho . . season,..- ...'.. -. t " Another "argument The . photograph ' show that -cne or two of the canal show double line, while the othere.are in single line. This might indicate that 'the double-lined ones are the main. canals the feeders v which, are so much wider than the others that the . vegetation on both sides may' be distinguished, whilo in the narrower one it seems so great is the dia : tance like a single line. " .-- On Mars, not only do two and' three lines run through a' common point, but as many as seventeen 'line may be chservod running through a common en' '" 77i '' r' -Ft 7 v ! c ' K 4 i ll ' v I.IC.::. - r , t r 1 b tr. Buoh exceptional accuracy of form point id a . ml&d which directed . the . power that wrought the. change. . - Ordinarily leaving-the lines out of the question the surface of Mara, a revealed by the telescope, con-' 1st of apace of two different colors some orange, . other . blue-green. . , - A few year back the blue -green spaces were con sidered seas, and were christened by various name. " The orange pa rt,t on the other hani ' were presumed . to be controenta.;Y',v,' ;( ' Changed are these old physical geography notions. Now the blue-green spaces are practically , known fto be the vegetation created by the annual Inundation from the canals," while the orange apace are called deserts. ; ,--v;7 y;y- ?, r:-.'-::-' -, " In other words. Mar is all land 'except that th parts which sometimes show up blue-green have water ,. m them at one season of the year, while the orange mparts are continuous Saharaa ' What are the spot where the canals interlaeeT p7?f1K,or Pickering' polarlscope ha apparently dis pell the idea that they are lakes., . ..-- , , Professor Lowell, who . has located 185 of these spots, is said to be of the opinion that they are oases, and that they are each spring irrigated by the canals, ; ; which approach them from different directions. - "Whatever- constitutes the canals," said Professor J. LoweU recently. ) "it is evident that their development., proceeds from the pole down the difk,. and, furlher- more.-that it advance over the surlace at a fairly ,.: regular rate. - . , t - ' , 1tatartiJat the summer aoletlce; that is, it fo!- low th melang of the polar cap. In consequence of .' ; the water than let loose, the canal come into being," r. ... - j . ,; ;. .. , , . Professor 1a we 11 believe that practically th only ouroe of water upply for the planet la about th pole. So long as the lun remalr.a over h equatoa: there la no water. 't ; - On Mars the vegetation spread from the polea, because the enow must melt and the water flow Into ; , the canals before verdure can grow. .And la. thi oon- : 1 section Professor Lowell ha made one of the most , astounding of all hi statements, Pte says: ' ' "The quickening proceed rapidly, and very nearly. If not quite, uniformly down the disk. It take th : darkening only five days to descend from the evnty , fifth parallel to th equator, a journey of 2800 mile . This mean a speed of fifty-three mile a day, or two and two-tenths rally an hour. And it doea this In, face, or gravity." ' " ' ' la fact, In plain language, th astronomer declares that not only doe human Intelligence in Mar dl( ' . the vast canal thousand (Of mile la length, but that, - ' - by some mysterious method. It causes the water to run' ' up Will - Professor Camilla Flammarion, Who haa mad mi careful v study ? of the planet, ha been for several " . year .watching the snowfalk on Mar. He bellevea that the Martian seasons may De subject to a many - vicissitudes as ours, Instead of being actuated by th ' - exceptional constancy hitherto attributed to them. Ha . grees that, the canal systems ore artificial and were " constructed with a view to Irrigation. . What mannor of people are these who do suoli " remarkable things? Obviously; a quite different kind from the Inhabitants of this" earth. ' ' . ' According 'to the best authorities, founded on th . most recent investigaUons, . the Martina is a creatura ; Immensely more powerful, physically, than earth mor ttils, even earth giants. Thi Is deduced from the lessor. pull of gravity on Mar. . ' ?: A Martian could run ino yards in three or tour eeo onfls, could leap over a high tree, could "kick a foot ; bait a auarter of mfla, ; ,. ' Because of the lesser attraction of sravitv he ma : ' be at leist three or four times as big as the avera , - human being, oerhaos : even much larow than that . ' Another thing which, perhap,add welghf to this belief Is that, on account of the rarefied air cn Mars, a Ityrtlan. must require three times as much lung space as an earth mortal to get enough air to live; and his body most be proportioned aocordltiKly. ' ' " ' Bodies on the planet Mar weigh but a third a , muoh in proportion to sln aa they do here; o U la believed that a Martian laborer could perform as much . work in a given time as iifty or Sixty terrestrial ditch ' dlKgersi that he could handle two and a half tons of dirt at a shovelful. So his annual irrigation ork mav "" not be as difficult as it seems. . K " The K-artlan year is inuoh longer: In fact, nearly ' twice as long as ours. - It takes Mar C87 days to travel .n it orbit around the sun. -.. . , The next few years may see the secret of Mara ' disclosed as never before. It- is conceded that In the clear light of the earth's South Polo teltscoplc obser vations may be made with unprecldented smleess, and ' IXm Phihpe Bevrler, .a wealthy Argentine citlsen is equipping an expedition wtuch, htaded by three Amer- ' -cans, will start toward the South Pole la June with -this end in view. ... .. . . . W4U1,