LIFE IN MARS. 1 1 1 



was increasing in lustre, while Jupiter was diminish- 

 ing less markedly, indeed, but still perceptibly. 

 The observer had a good opportunity of comparing 

 the splendour of these planets, the two brightest orbs 

 in the heavens Venus, splendid because so near to us 

 and to the sun, Jupiter less brilliantly illuminated by 

 the solar rays, and lying at a distance from us enor- 

 mously exceeding that of Venus, but enabled, by his 

 vast bulk and by the high reflective power of his 

 surface, to send to us an amount of light only inferior 

 to that which we receive (under the most favourable 

 conditions) from Venus. 



But in the meantime, much farther towards the 

 south, the ruddy planet Mars was conspicuous. He 

 had returned to our neighbourhood, after an absence 

 of two years, and was now about to urge his way east- 

 wards among the stars, over the constellation Leo 

 over the Virgin, outshining the brilliant Spica which 

 marks the wheat-ear in her hand, and thence his 

 lustre waning through the Scales, and past his rival 

 as a red star, Antares, or the Scorpion's Heart. 



It may prove interesting to consider a few of the 

 facts which astronomers have taught us about the 

 Planet of War. For of all the planets, he is the one 

 they can study best. He does not, indeed, come so 

 near to us as Venus, nor does he, in the telescope, 

 present so noble an appearance as Jupiter. Venus out- 

 shines him in the heavens, and Jupiter seems to show 

 more interesting details in the telescopic field. Yet 

 we see Mars, in reality, far better than either of those 



