524 



MARS. 



by tbe whole country, and the Democracy of Maine 

 are in favor of their payment by the General Govern- 

 ment. 



ations, 



generous patriotL, .. v --.- 



dent Johnson in the policy which he has avowed, 

 and in all such constitutional measures as he may in- 

 augurate to harmonize the country and restore and 

 cement the Union of the States to enable the States 

 late in revolt to put their Governments in practical 

 operation. 



Resolved, That we congratulate the whole country 

 that among the first acts of President Johnson's ad- 

 ministration we return to the better days of the Repub- 

 lic in his declination to accept volunteered gratuities 

 while holding office, and we regard it as a proof of 

 integrity in marked contrast to the bribery and cor- 

 ruptions which have recently characterized and dis- 

 graced official station. 



The election occurred on September llth, 

 with the following result : 



Governor. No. of Votes. 



Samuel Cony, Republican 53,449 



James Howard, Democrat 81,117 



Majority for Cony 22,332 



This did not include the soldiers' vote, which, 

 it was estimated, would increase Cony's majori- 

 ty to 23,000. 



The Legislature chosen at this election stood : 



Republicans, 81 



Democrats, 



Houu. Joint Ballot 

 136 167 



15 15 



Republican majority,... 81 121 152 



The Legislature of 1865 reflected Hon. W. 

 P. Fessenden United States Senator for the 

 term ending March 4, 1871. 



MARS. This planet has of late been the 

 object of much telescopic research, in which 

 Airy, Dawes, and Lockyer have taken an im- 

 portant part, and of considerable discussion by 

 these explorers, by Phillips, and others. It 

 will be seen that much still remains uncertain 

 in respect to the planet's geography (if we may 

 so speak) and its meteorology ; while to some 

 extent the views held on these points by emi- 

 nent observers are as yet contradictory. 



Prof. Hennessey, before the British Associa- 

 tion, 1864, treated upon the question of the 

 amount of polar compression i. e., the ellipti- 

 city of Mars. He remarked that the physical 

 characters of this planet have attracted much 

 notice on account of its supposed resemblance 

 to our own. If, however, the cllipticity were 

 as great as claimed by some astronomers, the 

 planet would in this particular present a marked 

 contrast with the earth. Now, two eminent 

 observers, Bessel and Johnson, had concluded 

 that the polar flattening of Mars does not vary 

 greatly from that of our globe. And a mathe- 

 matical discussion by Hennessey himself of 

 the conditions of equilibrium of a fluid like 

 water supposing such to exist on the planet 

 had shown that (for the rate of diurnal rota- 

 tion possessed by Mars), if its ellipticity were 

 as great as by many assumed, there should be 

 an equatorial belt of dry land, while the poles 

 should be enveloped in water. Without stat- 

 ing as yet a positive conclusion, he would say, 



especially from an examination of Mr. Lock- 

 yer's drawings, that a predominance of equa- 

 torial land does not characterize the planet. 

 If, then, there be oceans on its surface, it must 

 be concluded that its ellipticity has been gen- 

 erally exaggerated. It may be added, that the 

 general tendency of the most recent astronomi- 

 cal opinion is to the conclusion that the po- 

 lar compression of Mars does not greatly ex- 

 ceed that of the earth. 



At a meeting of the Royal Astronomical So- 

 ciety, March 10, 1865, Mr. J. Joynson read a 

 paper on the " Opposition of Mars," accompa- 

 nying it with drawings selected from a large 

 number taken during the opposition in 1862 

 and that in 1864, and which were so arranged 

 as to show the varying appearances of "the 

 planet's disc through one entire revolution, sup- 

 posing the observer could watch them during 

 the whole of such period. He stated that 

 when Mars was observed in 1862 it was 

 much ruddier to the naked eye than last year ; 

 and Mr. Huggins had in the course of the dis- 

 cussion previously remarked, that in August, 

 1864, the brilliancy of the spectrum of Mars 

 was found to diminish in a remarkable manner 

 at about the line F, a series of strong dark 

 lines making their appearance from this point 

 through to the violet end of the spectrum. 

 This result may have been due to absorption 

 by the dense atmosphere of Mars exerted upon 

 light passing to and reflected from its surface, 

 when that atmosphere was free from clouds. 

 It was to such absorption that Mr. Joynson 

 had long attributed the red color of the 

 planet poetice, "the red planet, Mars" as 

 seen by the naked eye, and Mr. Huggins also 

 admitted that, when the atmosphere of Mars is 

 freest from cloud and fog its light is most 

 ruddy, while at the same time the permanent 

 markings on its surface are most distinctly 

 seen. 



Mr. Dawes presented before the same society, 

 at its June meeting, 1865, a paper on Mars. 

 He argued, on the contrary, that the redness 

 of the planet's light does not arise from any 

 peculiarity in its atmosphere, instancing in 

 proof the circumstance that the color is always 

 deepest in the centre, where the depth of at- 

 mosphere traversed by the light is least. The 

 exterior of the disc being whiter (from what 

 cause not stated), the greenish tinge it shows 

 may be an effect of contrast. He thought 

 that usually Mars has not a very cloudy atmos- 

 phere. 



Prof. John Phillips has, in the Quarterly 

 Journal of Science for July, 1865, a very full 

 and interesting discussion of the appearances 

 of this planet. Its compression he thinks not 

 greater than that of the earth, about 5,'^ part. 

 The apparent (angular) diameter being --", 

 the compression would be but T V of a second, a 

 quantity too small to bo observed with cer- 

 tainty by any but the finest instruments. At 

 the opposition in 1862, the south pole of 

 Mars was visible, being tilted toward the ob- 



