17. Speculations as to the Martians.
Such audacious control of the resources of our planet is suggested as a possibility, a legitimate hope and aim, by recent observations and speculations as to our neighbour, the planet Mars. I do not venture to express any opinion as to the interpretation of the appearances revealed by the telescope on the surface of the planet Mars, and indeed would take the most sceptical attitude until further information is obtained. But the influence of these statements about Mars on the imagination and hopes of Man seems to me to possess considerable interest. The markings on the surface of the planet Mars, which have been interpreted as a system of canals, have been known and discussed for many years (see [Figs. 7] and [8]). It has recently been observed that these canals undergo a recurrent seasonal change of appearance consistent with the hypothesis that they are periodically filled with water, which is derived from the polar snow-caps of the planet at the season of greatest polar heat. It is suggested that Mars is inhabited by an intelligent population, not necessarily closely similar to mankind, but, on the contrary unlike mankind in proportion as the conditions of Mars are unlike those of the Earth, and that these inhabitants have constructed by their own efforts the enormous irrigation works upon which the fertility and habitability of their planet, at the present time, depend. These speculations lead M. Faguet of the French Academy to further reflections. The Martians who have carried out this vast manipulation of a planet must be not only far in advance of the inhabitants of the Earth in intelligence and mechanical power, as a result of the greater age of their planet and the longer continuance there of the evolution of an intelligent race, but such a vast work and its maintenance would seem to imply a complete unanimity among the Martians, a world-wide peace and common government. Since we can imagine such a result of the prolonged play of forces in Mars, similar to those at work in our own Earth, and even obtain some slight confirmation of the supposition, may we not indulge in the surmise that some such future is in store for Man, that he may be able hereafter to deal with great planetary factors to his own advantage, and not only draw heat from the bowels of the earth for such purposes as are at present within his scope, but even so as to regulate, at some distant day, the climates of the earth’s surface, and the winds and the rain which seem now for ever beyond his control?
Fig. 7.
Drawing of Mars in November with Long. 156° on the meridian, shewing the ‘Mare Sirenum’ (the shaded sickle-shaped area), connected with a network of ‘canals’ shewing ‘spots’ or ‘oases’ at the intersections of the canals and a system of spherical triangles as the form of the mesh-work.—From ‘Mars,’ by Perceval Lowell.
Fig. 8.
Drawing of Mars as seen on November 18th, 1894 (Long. 325° on the meridian) by Mr. Perceval Lowell at the Flagstaff Observatory, Arizona, U.S.A., shewing ‘twin’ or ‘double’ canals, connected northwards with the ‘Mare Icarium.’ The two figures here reproduced only give a small portion of the system of canals, oases and seas of the planet Mars, mapped by Mr. Lowell.