July 23, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



117 



Chamberlin or myself. Ordinarily such 

 conduct justifies the use of strong terms in 

 characterizing it, but in the present case I 

 believe astronomers and others who are famil- 

 iar with the situation will fully agree with 

 me that these aberrations are more deserving 

 of pity than of censure. F. E. Moulton 

 June 10, 1909 



COMMUNICATING -WITH MARS 



To THE Editor of Science: In view of the 

 recent proposals for opening communication 

 with the planet Mars, as reproduced by the 

 European press from American newspapers 

 (with accompanying portraits), no truly patri- 

 otic American can fail to feel a thrill of pride 

 and exultation at the thought that it his 

 country that is solving this great cosmic prob- 

 lem. It is time to sound the alarm, however, 

 for there are indications that an attempt will 

 be made to rob us of the honor after all. A 

 distinguished French astronomer has recently 

 published a letter on the subject, in which, 

 while giving a small measure of approval to 

 the American projects, he broadly intimates 

 that the last word has not been said. The 

 Germans are keeping very quiet, but it is 

 rumored that Count Zeppelin is thinking, and 

 in commercial and manufacturing circles 

 there is great though silent activity in the 

 direction of trying to ascertain in advance 

 just what articles now " made in Germany " 

 are likely to be most in demand among the in- 

 habitants of Mars when once communication 

 is opened. Assuming that the planet is cor- 

 rectly named (and it has borne the name for 

 hundreds of years without protest), the great 

 Krupp establishment is looking for a prac- 

 tical monopoly of trade, and to meet the ex- 

 pected emergency it has taken options on all 

 the land adjacent to the present planet. Their 

 engineers are known to entertain the opinion 

 that it will be a comparatively simple matter 

 to send to Mars a 14-inch 70 foot gun, first, of 

 course, hermetically sealing it in the alum- 

 inum cylinder. If it should not reach the 

 exact spot where it is wanted it can readily 

 be transported anywhere by canal boat. 



Having all this information, which has 



only recently come to me, I have decided to 

 protect American interests by making prema- 

 ture publication of my own scheme for signal- 

 ing to our celestial neighbor, which, for 

 efiiciency, simplicity of arrangement and ease 

 of operation altogether surpasses, I think, all 

 will admit, anything hitherto before the pub- 

 lic. It is well known, even among astrono- 

 mers, that as the orbit of the earth lies be- 

 tween the sun and that of the planet Mars, 

 the dark side of the earth must, at regular 

 intervals and for considerable periods of time, 

 be turned toward Mars. 



A hole through the earth would, at this 

 time, allow the passage of a beam of sunlight, 

 the intelligent interruption of which could be 

 made to appear as a series of signals, using 

 the Morse (E. S.) code or any other that 

 might be chosen. 



That is all; the problem is solved in this 

 simple way. 



One can readily understand how the system 

 might be also put in operation on the moon, if 

 the lunatics would only bore a hole through 

 which the sun might shine when the dark 

 side of the moon was toward us and then ar- 

 range a device for cutting off this beam of 

 light at will. For our immediate purpose of 

 wigwagging to Mars such a hole must neces- 

 sarily be several miles in diameter. Although 

 some minor difficulties in the way of the exe- 

 cution of this plan remain to be overcome, 

 many of the details are already settled, in- 

 cluding the selection of the spot where such 

 an opening might best be made in the interests 

 of mankind generally. T. C. M. 



Dresden, Germant, 

 May, 1909 



P. S. I regret that I have no portrait to 

 send with this. 



" typhoid MARY " 



Much has appeared in the press of late con- 

 cerning the unfortunate woman who for two 

 years past has been held a prisoner upon North 

 Brothers Island by order of the board of 

 health. On June 29 she appeared before Su- 

 preme Court Justice Giegerich on a writ of 

 habeas corpus, sued out by her attorney to ob- 

 tain her release. Judging from the evidence. 



