354 FROM NEBULA TO NEBULA 



could not come into existence from the evaporation of 

 his canals alone. The caps being so extensive, and the 

 solar heat so feeble, there must exist an exceptionally 

 large evaporating surface. He might have reasoned 

 further that the vapors from the canals wouldn't extend 

 his theory the courtesy of proceeding intact back to the 

 poles, but would, after the manner of atmospheric humid- 

 ity, spread in all directions, and come down in rain or 

 snow indiscriminately over the whole surface. His 

 snow eggs are laid without the aid of the mothering 

 ocean. 



5. On a planet where warmth is surely as much of a 

 desideratum as water, we should expect to find settle- 

 ments only in the very warmest belts. The hypersophis- 

 ticated Martians, however, have proportionately as many 

 canals and oases in the very heart of the arctics as in the 

 best favored regions, and, marvel of marvels, under- 

 neath the very snow caps themselves! For proof, con- 

 sult Mr. Lowell's published maps. 



6. Since these canals appear to be feasible every- 

 where, why did it not occur to the Solons of the planet to 

 surround the snow supply with a belt line", and thus save 

 themselves the manifestly superfluous task of boring a 

 multiplicity of canals through countless miles of what 

 must be hard-frozen soil? 



THE AUTHOR'S VIEWS ON MARS 



Analogy teaches us to expect seas on Mars, and un- 

 til better proofs are brought forth than have yet been ad- 

 vanced in rebuttal of this reasonable presumption, we 

 are logically bound to favor it against highly speculative 

 hypotheses such as that of Lowell's. It must be con- 

 fessed that there is something wonderfully fascinating, 

 to myself as well as to the Lowellians, in the idea that on 

 the planet so near us there may be a race of supermen 

 with whom future earth-born generations may one day 

 hope to communicate, if only by signals; but let us not 

 allow this fancy to cloud our sober judgments. Those of 



