Mars and Its Mystery

by Edward Sylvester Morse

As we compare the circular markings on the Moon with our terrestrial craters and fissures, and cracks on its surface with similar fissures on the Earth, so we are forced to compare the markings on the surface of Mars with what seems analogous to them on the surface of our own Earth.

Once proved that the markings of Mars are due to erosion, cracks, encircling meteors big enough to raise ridges by their attractive force, then all that has been written in demonstration of their artificial character goes for naught. The intelligent reader unprejudiced in the matter will, however, judge for himself the merits of our contention and will determine the reasonableness of the comparisons that have been made by Lowell in solving the mystery of Mars.

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[INDEX]

• Algebraic formulæ, [73].
  
• American astronomers, Holden, Pickering, Young, Swift, Comstock, Barnard, Wilson, drew the more conspicuous canals, [65].
  
• Ancient irrigation, [115].
  
• Ants surviving at high altitudes, [157];
  
  • unique intelligence, [156].
• Astronomer's chief work, [74];
  
  • conservatism, [75].
• Astronomers who have seen the canals, [83].
  
• Astronomical subjects remote from Martian studies, [72].
  
• Atmosphere and moisture, Barnard and others, [134], [135];
  
  • Sir Robert Ball, [137].
• Austria's care of water, [117].
  
• Ball, Sir Robert, difficulties of observation, [84];
  
  • life on Mars quite likely, [68], [69];
  • objection to Mars being inhabited, [121].
• Barbour, W. D., with a four inch achromatic, [88].
  
• Barnard's, Dr., description of dark regions, [43].
  
• Bees, wasps, and ants, [156].
  
• Canali supposed to mean canals, [39].
  
• Canals appear double, [41];
  
  • artificiality of, [42];
  • as distinct as engraved lines, [59];
  • chain of reasoning in regard to, [47];
  • double, [41];
  • of Mars, [40];
  • unchangeable in position, [42].
• Cassini, [33].
  
• Chandler's oscillation of pole, [126].
  
• Checkerboard appearance of West, [48].
  
• Clerke's, Agnes M., expressions, [55].
  
• Clouds in Mars, [139];
  
  • in Mars, Sir Norman Lockyer, [136].
• Comments and criticism, [125].
  
• Committee of British Astronomical Association, [126].
  
• Conception of life in other worlds, [17].
  
• Conservatism of astronomers, [185].
  
• Cracks all of the same nature, [108];
  
  • discontinuous, [109];
  • in asphalt pavement, [109].
• Cultivation under cloth, Porto Rico, [50].
  
• Dark regions not seas, [45].
  
• Dawes, remarkable distinctness of vision, [89].
  
• De la Rive, memoir of Faraday, [76].
  
• Denning's, Mr., testimony, [56], [57].
  
• Difficulties of seeing, [79].
  
• Dighton Rock, [97].
  
• Draper, Dr. Henry, "Are other worlds inhabited?" [87];
  
  • difficulties of seeing, [87];
  • high altitudes for telescopes, [88].
• Drawings of Mars by different observers, [98].
  
• Dust storms in Mars, [140].
  
• Earth, a standard, [25], [26], [186];
  
  • early ideas regarding the, [7];
  • improbability of its being unique, [13].
• Earth's distance from the sun, [11];
  
  • temperature above normal, [37].
• Emerson's expressions, [21].
  
• England's unsteady atmosphere, [84].
  
• Epicyclic theory of Ptolemy, [8].
  
• "Evolution of the Solar System," T. J. J. See, [23].
  
• Failure of water in England, [116].
  
• Faraday's, Michael, attitude, [76].
  
• Fauth, Dr. Phil., [63];
  
  • drawings of Mars, [63].
• First look at Mars, [80].
  
• Fison's, Mr., comments, [97].
  
• Flammarion's picture of the Earth from Mars, [169];
  
  • work on Mars, [51].
• Fruit trees, Santa Clara Valley, [49].
  
• Gill's, Sir David, testimony, [90].
  
• Hebraic conceptions, astronomers imbued with, [21].
  
• Hebraic conceptions of the universe, [8].
  
• Herschel, Sir John, on snow caps, [76].
  
• High altitudes favorable to health, [152].
  
• Holden, E. S., on nebula of Orion, [96].
  
• Howe's, Herbert A., remarks, [65], [66].
  
• Huxley's estimate of mathematicians, [74].
  
• Huyghens, [32].
  
• Ice caps of Himalaya, [115].
  
• Iles, George, illustration of cooling bodies, [25].
  
• Illusions, supposes, [59].
  
• Irrelevant criticism, [126].
  
• Irrigation, ancient in Arizona, in Egypt, in India, [145];
  
  • marvels of, [143];
  • notes on, [141].
• Joly's, Dr. J., theory, [100].
  
• Keeler's definition of astrophysics, [77].
  
• Lampland, photographs of Mars, [32].
  
• Ledger's, Rev. E., canals of Mars, [131].
  
• Liberal attitude of naturalists, [185].
  
• Life at high altitudes, [150];
  
  • in other worlds, Garrett P. Serviss, [148];
  • under atmospheric pressure, [153].
• Lindsay's, Thomas, expressions, [55].
  
• Lines of artificial character, [112].
  
• Lockyer, Sir Norman, saw clouds in Mars, [136].
  
• Lockyer's, W. J., testimony, [89].
  
• Lowell, Percival, brief sketch of, [174];
  
  • different telescopes used by, [82];
  • gives reason why canals cannot always be seen, [93];
  • his acute eyesight, [85], [86];
  • his book on Mars, [31];
  • his various publications, [31];
  • long practice in observing, [85];
  • snow caps prove atmosphere, [135];
  • on life on Mars, [32], [67];
  • on twilight atmosphere in Mars, [34].
• Lung capacity, [155];
  
  • at high altitudes, [152].
• Macpherson, Hector, Jr., agrees with Lowell, [68].
  
• Mars, appearance of Earth from, [118];
  
  • beginning of life in, [16];
  • canals, [40];
  • canals continuous, [109];
  • dark regions change with the season, [38];
  • dark regions not seas, [37];
  • desert lands, [39];
  • detached fields of snow, [37];
  • disappearance of southern snow cap, [37];
  • distance from sun, [12];
  • double canals, [45], [46];
  • drawings of, coincided, [81];
  • glints of brilliant light, [37];
  • has it water? [35];
  • has life appeared in? [15];
  • life in, from analogy, [15];
  • much like the world, [16];
  • nearest approach to earth, [32];
  • oases, [44];
  • seasonal changes in, [34];
  • seasons, [33];
  • rarefaction of atmosphere in, [35];
  • rotation of, Cassini, [33];
  • temperature of, [35];
  • terminator of, Douglass, [35];
  • those who see and those who do not see, [85];
  • tilt of axis, [33];
  • white polar caps, [33].
• Maunder, director of committee, [126].
  
• Maunders's, E. W., comments, [103].
  
• Maunier, Stanislaus, on canal doubling, [119].
  
• Maxwell, Clerk, on mathematicians, [74].
  
• Mediæval attitude of some astronomers, [181].
  
• Michel, Louise, teaching children, [73].
  
• Morehouse, George W., believes Mars is inhabited, [67], [68].
  
• My own work, [158].
  
• Newcomb's, Professor, opinion, [24];
  
  • other worlds inhabited, [28];
  • "Reminiscences," [27].
• Number of acres under irrigation, [122].
  
• Observations of Mars, 1st period, [51];
  
  • 2d period, [52];
  • 3d period, [53];
  • 4th period, Lowell's work, [54].
• Orr's, J., theory, [102].
  
• Parallel case of interpretation, [181].
  
• Patterson's, John A., expressions, [56].
  
• Perrotin, brief sketch of, [177].
  
• Perrotin and Janssen describes the canals, [63];
  
  • and Thollon, [58].
• Perrotin's painstaking care, [63], [64].
  
• Phillips', Rev. Theo. E. R., drawing, [62].
  
• Pickering, W. H., canals seen by, [63];
  
  • shows importance of steady atmosphere, [87];
  • observations in Jamaica by, [88];
  • polariscope observations by, [36]–[38];
  • theory of, [105].
• Planetology, [77].
  
• Plurality of worlds, astronomer's belief in, [18];
  
  • Edward Hitchcock's views of the, [21];
  • Flammarion's views of the, [19];
  • Newcomb's attitude in regard to the, [28];
  • Newcomb's belief in the, [29];
  • O. M. Mitchell's views in regard to the, [19];
  • Sir David Brewster's views of the, [17];
  • Sir Richard Owen's views in regard to the, [19];
  • Tyndall's views of the, [22].
• Polar snow cap, proof deduced from Lowell, Douglass, and Pickering, [135].
  
• Profound changes by man, [123].
  
• Railroads in Iowa and Texas, [142].
  
• Review of Lowell's book, [66].
  
• Rift in Southern Africa, [112].
  
• Schiaparelli, abstemiousness when observing, [84];
  
  • brief sketch of, [172];
  • canals artificial, [62];
  • canali natural, [60];
  • discovery, [57];
  • discovery of canals, [39];
  • does not deny intelligence in Mars, [60];
  • suggestion as to doubling, [120].
• Sea, so-called, land areas, [39].
  
• Seasonal changes, [136].
  
• Snow storms in Mars, W. H. Pickering, [138].
  
• Solar system a standard for universe, [26].
  
• Stars, bright points of light, [7];
  
  • similar to our sun, [9].
• Stetefeldt's, C. A., views, [129].
  
• Study of planetary markings, [70].
  
• Sun and planets reduced to minute scale, [11].
  
• Temperature under which man exists, [149].
  
• Terby, Dr., identifies many canals, [64].
  
• Theories regarding canals, [100].
  
• Thollon, brief sketch of, [178].
  
• Titles of papers in astronomical journals, [71].
  
• Todd, Professor, says canals result of design, [68].
  
• Turner, H. H., "Astronomical Discovery," [78];
  
  • on the difficulties of seeing, [91].
• Tycho Brahe, [8].
  
• Tyndall on imagination, [77].
  
• Tyndall's expressions on the Nebular Theory, [15];
  
  • reference to Nebular Theory, [24].
• Unfolding of plant life on the earth, [45].
  
• Variation in drawings by different observers, [94], [95];
  
  • of Milky Way, [95];
  • of Nebula of Orion, [95];
  • of Solar Corona, [95], [96].
• Variety of conditions under which life exists, [147].
  
• Vastness of the universe, [10].
  
• Wallace, Alfred Russel, human paradox, [29];
  
  • review of, in London "Nature," [18].
• Water vapor, no spectroscopic proof of, Campbell, [135].
  
• Webb's, Rev. T. W., difficulties of seeing, [91], [92].
  
• What the Martians might say of us, [166].
  
• White spots in equatorial regions of Mars, [48].
  
• White weed in New England, [49].
  
• Williams, A. Stanley, difficulty in observation, [82].
  
• Would the work of man show in Mars? [122].
  
• Young, C. A., on snow caps, [76], [126];
  
  • on Schiaparelli's discovery, [183].

[FOOTNOTES]

[1] Some of our readers may not know that light travels, in round numbers, at the rate of 186,000 miles a second.

[2] The terminator represents the limit of light on that side of the planet in the shade, in other words, where the light terminates. In viewing the Moon, when at quarter or half, the terminator is seen very ragged on account of the illumination of higher points on the surface. If the Moon was as smooth as a billiard ball the terminator would be clear cut.

[3] The world in its ignorance of Italian assumed that the word meant exclusively canals, and, if canals, then dug by shovels. What! a canal thirty miles wide and two thousand miles long dug in the snap of the finger? Impossible conception, you say. We shall see later the sober utterances of a member of the British Astronomical Society on this gratuitous assumption, and an equally serious comment by the chief assistant of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich (E. S. M.).