526 



SCIENTIFIC RECREATIONS. 



sphere surrounding Mars we learn from spectroscopic observation and 

 analysis, and in fine we may look upon Mars as similar to our earth. 

 Respecting the question of its habitation we take the liberty to quote 

 Mr. Richard Proctor : 



" I fear my own conclusion about Mars is that his present condition is 

 very desolate. I look on the ruddiness of tint to which I have referred as 

 one of the signs that the planet of war has long since passed its prime. 

 There are lands and seas in Mars, the vapour of water is present in his air, 

 clouds form, rains and snows fall upon his surface, and doubtless brooks and 

 rivers irrigate his soil, and carry down the moisture collected on his wide 

 continents to the seas whence the clouds had originally been formed. But 

 I do not think there is much vegetation on Mars, or that many living 

 creatures of the higher types of Martian life as it once existed still remain. 



LONGITUDE. o 



LONGITUDE .350 



EQUATOR- 



-EQUATOR 



Fig. 583. CHART OF MARS (Names according to Proctor and Green). 



A Peer Continent. B Herschel Continent. C Fontana Land. D Secchi Continent, East. E Secchi Continent, 

 Central. F Secchi Continent, West. G Madler Continent. H Leverrier Land. i Herschel Strait. 



2 Dawes Ocean. 3 Maraldi Sea. 4 Oudemans Sea. 5 Trouvelot Bay. 6 Funchal Bay. 7 Campani Sea. 

 8 De la Rue Ocean. 



All that is known about the planet tends to show that the time when it 

 attained that stage of planetary existence through which our earth is now 

 passing must be set millions of years, perhaps hundreds of millions of years 

 ago. He has not yet, indeed, reached that airless and waterless condition, that 

 extremity of internal cold, or in fact that utter unfitness to support any kind 

 of life, which would seem to prevail in the moon. -The planet of war in 

 some respects resembles a desolate battle-field, and I fancy that there is not 

 a single region of the earth now inhabited by man which is not infinitely 

 more comfortable as an abode of life than the most favoured regions of Mars 

 at the present time would be for creatures like ourselves." 



THE MOONS OF MARS. 



We must devote a few lines to the satellites of Mars, which during the 

 last four years have proved a very interesting study for the astronomers, 

 and some very interesting facts have been ascertained concerning the ruddy 

 planet, which is now proved not to be "moonless Mars," as the poet declared. 



There are two satellites, which, in consequence of their distance from 



