172 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



as this Italian could see none of them. 

 But what he saw in 1877 was nothing 

 compared with what the opposition 

 two years later, in 1879, brought, the 

 canals which earlier appeared as a 

 single line now were seen to be double, 

 two thin straight lines running for 

 thousands of miles parallel to each 

 other and with no variations. This 

 was really almost too much for the rest 

 of the astronomical world ! Schiapa- 

 relli, however, had a splendid reputa- 

 tion, he had done excellent work in 



not till 1886 that there was a second 

 astronomer who could see them. 



At the favorable opposition of 1892, 

 Mr. Percival Lowell, of Boston, be- 

 came interested in Mars, and obtain- 

 ing a large telescope of 24 inches in 

 diameter, he decided to locate it in the 

 most favorable spot for observation on 

 Mars. This, he determined, was not 

 around the "Hub," but away out in the 

 midst of the arid lands of Arizona, at 

 Flagstaff. Prof. Lowell and his as- 

 sistants there have now been working 



Evening SkyMap for AUGUST 



OUGH 



1THE 

 E BIG DIPPER 

 NORTH 5TAR- 

 EEND OF THE 

 TLE DIPPER 



SOUTH 



other lines of research and his obser- on Mars for seventeen years, they 

 vations on Mars could not be lightly have gone at the investigations with 



splendid scientific spirit, and the as- 



turned aside. Of course the rest of 

 the astronomical world looked upon 

 the doubling of the canals with great 

 derision, for this looked plainly to be 

 a defect of eyesight. But no amount 

 of scorn could alter Schiaprelli's belief 

 in the canals, they were realities for 

 him, and for nine long years he had 

 these visions all to himself, for it was 



tronomical world is greatly indebted 

 to the Lowell observatory for a great 

 mass of most excellent observations on 

 the planet, whether the rest of the as- 

 tronomers agree with him or not. Prof. 

 Lowell is convinced that Mars is in- 

 habited, and the "canali" of Schiapa- 

 relli are canals, artificial waterways 



