Septembers, 1892] 



NATURE 



447 



parti of the planet which had been regarded by myself 

 and others as the land surfaces, instead of being wanting 

 in detail, as they had been seen, were really riddled by 

 streaks, many of them very long and very straight, but in 

 every case running towards a water surface, and in many 

 cases connecting two water surfaces. These streaks he 

 called fa«a//, which in Italian, Siscanah's in Latin, means 

 either a channel, a canal, or a pipe. Unfortunately, 

 however, whenever it has been translated into English 

 the word canal has been used, which of course with us 

 suggests human labour. We have already seen what this 

 has led to. 



As a result of this minute inquiry rendered possible by 

 his fine instrument (8| in. Merz) and perfect observing 

 weather, a complete map of the planet with these 

 channels.was made.^ But this was but the beginning of 

 marvels. During the opposition of 1881-82 the work was 

 continued, and now Schiaparelli, besides endorsing all 

 the discoveries of 1880-81, found that in at least twenty 

 cases the channels were doubled and consisted of two 

 streaks 200 or 400 miles apart, instead of one. I append 



Not only was this wonderful change noted, but here 

 and there bright spots (previously noted by Green in- 

 1877, and recalling Dawns' "snow island," ?een in 

 1865), were recorded. / 



In the doubling of these water channels £^6p, and in 

 these snow-tipped hills,, we have ^he origin of the " canal 

 digging" and "fire sigpal^ '' p( which we have lately 

 heard so much. '\' : ; , / 



It will thus be seen tbit tJie widespread Aotions of the", 

 signals from Mars rest only on a mistranslation and upoa 

 the popular imagination ruaning riot among the startling 

 revelations of modern observers, among whom in this 

 special line of work Schip-p^fplli, mi»st be acknowledged 

 zs facile princeps. , , , ,, , . 



The observations which engendered invention in one; 

 class of minds engendered dpubts in others, but the work 

 of Perrotin and Thollon at Nice in 1886 with the 15- 

 inch refractor has completely endorsed the main points 

 advanced by Schiaparelli with regard to the existence of 

 the channels or straits. Two or three references to 

 their published papers will s,h9wc]qarly. what tfieir view 



Fig. 5. Doubling of the channels, observe J by Schiaparelli 



a copy of the sketch map he gave in his preliminary 

 communication to the Academy of the Lincei.-' 



He distinctly stated that the doubling of these chan- 

 nels seemed to be connected with the time of the planet's 

 year, and to occur simultaneously over the superficies of 

 the planet which is supposed to represent land. When 

 the opposition took place in August, that is in the full winter 

 of the northern hemisphere, no trace of the doubling 

 was visible which is precisely what we should expect 

 if the doubling depended m any way upon inun- 

 dations caused by the melting of the northern snows, 

 the north pole being turned away from the sun. The 

 vernal equinox took place on December 18, 1881, and 

 the opposition took place in the same month. The 

 doubling of 17 of these channels was observed be- 

 tween January 19 and February 19— that is, in the late 

 spring of the northern hemisphere, which again is pre-- 

 cisely what we should expect if they were connected 

 with inundations. 



• Oiservationi astronomiche e fisiche suU' asse di rotationie e tulla 

 topografia del pianeta Marte. R. Aecad. dei Lincei, 1880 81 



Memorie della Soc. Spettroscopisti Italian!, vol. ix. Dis. 6, p. 25. 



NO. 1 193, VOL. 46] • . 



of the relation of them to the variously-tinted parts of the 

 planet really is : — 



" The triangular continent, somewhat larger . than 

 France (the Lybia of S:hiaparelli's map), which at that 

 time stretched along both sides of the equator, and which 

 was bounded south and west by a sea, north and east by 

 channels, has disappeared. The place where it st.ood, as 

 indicated by the reddish-white tint of land, now shows 

 the black, or rather deep-blue, colour of the seas of Mars. 

 The Lake Moeris, situated on one, of the channels, has 

 also vanished, and a new channel, about 20' long and i ' 

 or i°'5 broad, is now visible,' running parallel with, the 

 equator to the north of the vanished continent. This 

 channel forms a direct continuation of a previously exist- 

 ing double channel, which it how connects with the sea. 

 Another change is the unexpected appearance about the 

 north pole of another passage, which seems to connect 

 two neighbouring seas through the polar ice." ^ • . 



A short time afterwards M. Perrotin stated that this 

 same district of Libya, had undergone a further change, 

 the " sea" which had so recently covered it havin.jj retreated 

 > ABstract in Nati;rk May 21, 1888. 



