THE PLANET MARS: IS IT INHABITED? 119 



of considerable size, are easily visible in a good telescope, five or 

 six feet in length. 



The first recorded drawing of Mars is one by Huyghens, 

 November 28th, 1659, and is faithful enough to be now recognised 

 as the Syrtis Major. In recent years, many drawings of the planet 

 have been made (some of which appeared in the Transactions of 

 the Leeds Astronomical Society for 1894, one showing the dark line 

 bordering the snow-cap, which Mr. Lowell comments upon at 

 length, named the " South Polar Sea"), but not until the astrono- 

 mers named, with whom we must associate the Italian, Secchi, 

 concentrated their unwearied energies upon the question, Did 

 Mars divulge, what appears to many, the life secret of its end 

 and destiny? 



The three principal features upon Mars, its snowy caps and 

 light and dark areas, had long been observed, studied, and 

 commented upon. Many strange discrepancies, however, were 

 noted. Light and dark areas were seen at one time, and not at 

 another. The colours assigned to them also varied. To Hum- 

 boldt they were a puzzle ; Secchi says, " bluish, owing to absorp- 

 tion ; and orange, sometimes dotted with red, brown, and greenish 

 points " ; Beer and Madler, " dull grey green " ; Proctor and 

 Parkes, "ruddy and greenish"; Lockyer, "reddish and greenish"; 

 Guillemin, " reddish and dark bluish." These observations we 

 now know to have been just and accurate ; but the cause of these 

 differences, partly one of personal equation, has now, as will 

 appear hereafter, received an explanation which harmonises well 

 with other recorded facts and theories. 



To the three prominent features above named, the Italian and 

 American astronomers, undoubtedly favoured by the purity and 

 transparency of their local atmospheres, have added two more of 

 absorbing interest. Scores of fine delicate lines have been seen 

 and located. Out of one hundred and eighty three so-called 

 " canals," nine have been seen once, seventy-nine two to nine 

 times each, and ninety-four from ten to one hundred and twenty- 

 seven times each. Sixty-four spots, some circular and some oval, 

 have also been located. Very significantly, the lines seem, with 

 scarcely an exception, to be prolonged from spot to spot, each 

 spot being the junction or centre whence radiate from two to nine 

 of the " canals." 



