128 THE PLANET MARS : IS IT INHABITED ? 



which are now being successfully combated by the united energies 

 of an entire world. 



And now, in summing up, as to the meaning of all this. 

 These lines, parallels, and round or oval spots (which exuberant 

 fancy might easily endow with a martial meaning), cannot mean 

 the unconscious working out of nature's laws, such as we see on 

 the rugged surface of our Moon, or in the lonely uninhabited 

 regions of Earth, for in Mars we see order, not disorder ; method, 

 not chance ; arrangement, not confusion. What impressed Mr. 

 Lowell, as he sketched by the side of his telescope, during the 

 still hours of night, was the obvious unity of design and purpose, 

 with the high order of intelligence and skill, which are evident 

 in these enormous works, compared with which our Suez and 

 Manchester Canals are absolutely insignificant. He describes 

 them as " uncanny " in their aspect, such being his impression of 

 their living or life-like origin. Acquiescing then, for the present, 

 in Mr. Lowell's interpretation and verdict, we inquire further — 

 For what purpose all this world-wide expenditure of mental, 

 physical, and mechanical power ? Our answer, whatever it is, 

 must involve a necessity equivalent in urgency to a fight with 

 death. And so it is. An ever-threatening famine of water seems 

 the inevitable lot of our Martian cousins. This is their "struggle 

 for life ; " world-wide as the air they breathe, involving all classes, 

 peoples, and tongues ; and written as with a pen of iron on the 

 face of the planet itself. Like as community of interest tends, 

 where confidence dwells, to harmony and unity in council, so 

 these wonderful structures suggest to us mutual faith and co-opera- 

 tion on a scale of unparallelled grandeur, before which national 

 jealousies must sooner or later sink and disappear. Unification 

 and inter-dependence of the entire canal system become the 

 pledge of universal peace. Thus we see, as of old, " the curse 

 turned into a blessing." Just as a famine of water, made possible 

 at any moment by destruction of the waterways, means death 

 everywhere to vegetation, animal life, and man or his Martian 

 congener ; and just as one touch of sympathy, suffering, and 

 self-sacrifice tends to make divided communities, nations, and 

 even distant worlds, " one kith and kin," so we may hope that 

 strife and bloodshed, with selfishness the bane of life and root of 



