May 4, 1882] 



NATURE 



RECENT DISCOVERIES IN THE PLANET 

 MARS 



AN intended article, of which an announcement ap- 

 peared in Nature a few weeks back, on the topo- 

 graphy of Mars as delineated for the second time by Prof. 

 Schiaparelli at Milan during the opposition of 1S79-S0, 

 has been anticipated and in part superseded by informa- 

 tion which has been received relative to the more recent 

 discoveries made by him in the beginning of the present 

 year. Pending the preparation of a fuller and more 

 detailed memoir, he has published a preliminary notice, 

 read before the Academia dei Lincei on March 5, and 

 accompanied by a photographed drawing of the planet's 

 surface. The results are of a very remarkable and unex- 

 pected character ; and as through the courtesy of this 

 distinguished observer, the notice and photograph have 

 been placed in my hands, I am induced to reproduce 

 the latter, which, though not pretending to minute 

 accuracy (the original, in fact, is only a provisional 

 sketch), will give a sufficient idea of the marvellous 

 duplication of the so-called "canals," which, between 



January 19 and February 24, in about twenty instances, 

 unfolded itself progressively under the observer's eye. 

 The discussion which took place at the late meeting of 

 the Astronomical Society, so far as my information 

 extends, substantiated strongly by independent evidence 

 the existence of these long, narrow streaks, some of them 

 even in positions where they have not been delineated 

 by Schiaparelli ; but their duplication by similar and 

 parallel lines does not seem to have been elsewhere 

 noticed. Some difference of opinion may possibly be 

 expected concerning these strange appearances ; and the 

 consequent enfeebling (to say the least of it) of the long- 

 admitted terrestrial analogy may be, to some minds, 

 unacceptable ; but the established reputation of the 

 observer demands at any rate a respectful attention 

 to his statements. It may be preferable to suspend 

 a more detailed account till we receive a full elucida- 

 tion of the subject in the memoir, of which we possess 

 only a preliminary notice ; for the present it may suffice 

 to mention that he found the atmosphere of Mars 

 apparently clearer than in 1877, and was thus enabled to 

 recover the markings then detected more satisfactorily 



even than in 1879-S0, and to confirm the general accuracy 

 of his two earlier charts ; while the concise, but very clear 

 intimations that he has given, as to the variable bright- 

 ness of some great regions, the progressive enlargement 

 on one side since 1879 of the "Kaiser Sea" (his Syrtis 

 Magna), the brightening of certain supposed continents 

 or islands towards the limbs, the confirmed existence of 

 "blique white streaks, the unfolding of minute labyrinthine 

 detail, and the continuous development already mentioned, 

 day after day, of the collateral lines which double the so- 

 called " canals," and extend with them ordinarily along 

 great circles of the sphere — all these and similar announce- 

 ments make us anxiously desire a more extended and 

 detailed communication. For some of these most remark- 

 able appearances parallels may be to a certain extent 

 produced from the results of earlier observers ; but, so far 

 as at present appears, the duplication stands alone. The 

 discoverer is disposed to infer a connection between these 

 progressive developments and the seasons of the planet, 

 and on that account hopes that, owing to the position of 

 the axis at the ensuing opposition at the opening of 18S4, 

 notwithstanding the diminished diameter (only i2" - o,), 

 confirmation of his announcements may be obtained from 



other observers. We sincerely trust that a report which 

 has reached us may be verified as to the erection of a 

 much larger telescope in the Royal Observatory at Milan, 

 and that the extraordinary talent and diligence of the 

 director may be richly rewarded, not only by the confir- 

 mation but the extension of results which must so mate- 

 rially influence our conclusions as to the physical condition 

 of this peculiarly interesting planet. T. W. Webb 



THE CA USE OF TUBERCULOSIS 

 '"pHE first step in the rational treatment of every 

 -*- malady is obviously the recognition of its cause, 

 and it is this recognition which enables medical men to 

 do battle against disease. It is a truism to say that as 

 regards infectious maladies the knowledge of their cause 

 is an essential step in preventing their spread and arrest- 

 ing their ravages. The malady known as tuberculosis, 

 and generally characterised by constitutional disturbance 

 associated with the production of minute nodular new- 

 growths in the various organs, especially the lungs, spleen, 

 lymphatic glands, serous membranes, the membranes of 

 the brain, liver, &c— [at first greyish and transparent, but 



