Perhaps that lonely signal reported to have been seen in the
twilight limb of Mars was the outcome of pride in their splendid
and perishing civilisation. They would leave some memory of it:
they would have us witness how great was that civilisation before
they perish!
I close this dramatic picture with the poor comfort
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that several philanthropic people have suggested signalling to
them as a mark of sympathy. It is said that a fortune was
bequeathed to the French Academy for the purpose of communicating
with the Martians. It has been suggested that we could flash
signals to them by means of gigantic mirrors reflecting the light
of our Sun. Or, again, that we might light bonfires on a
sufficiently large scale. They would have to be about ten miles
in diameter! A writer in the Pall Mall Gazette suggested that
there need really be no difficulty in the matter. With the kind
cooperation of the London Gas Companies (this was before the days
of electric lighting) a signal might be sent without any
additional expense if the gas companies would consent to
simultaneously turn off the gas at intervals of five minutes over
the whole of London, a signal which would be visible to the
astronomers in Mars would result. He adds, naively: "If only
tried for an hour each night some results might be obtained."
II
We have reviewed the theory of the artificial construction of the
Martian lines. The amount of consideration we are disposed to
give to the supposition that there are upon Mars other minds than
ours will—as I have stated—necessarily depend upon whether or not
we can assign a probable explanation of the lines upon purely
physical grounds. If it is apparent that such
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lines would be formed with great probability under certain
conditions, which conditions are themselves probable, then the
argument by exclusion for the existence of civilisation on Mars,
at once breaks down.
{Fig. 10}
As a romance writer is sometimes under the necessity of
transporting his readers to other scenes, so I must now ask you
to consent to be transported some millions