August 21, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



233 



(and with it organic life) may be diffused over 

 the arid surface of the planet; because on Mars 

 it rains very rarely, and perhaps even it does 

 not rain at all. * * * Such a state of things 

 does not cease until the snow, reduced to a 

 minimum area, ceases to melt. Then the 

 breadth of the canals diminishes, the temporary 

 sea disappears, and the yellow region again 

 returns to its former condition. The different 

 phases of these vast phenomena ai'e renewed 

 at each return of the seasons, and we have 

 iseen able to observe them in all their particu- 

 lars very easily during the oppositions of 1882, 

 1884 and 1886, when the planet presented its 

 northern pole to terrestrial spectators. The 

 m^ost natural and most simple interpretation is 

 that to which we have referred, of a great inun- 

 dation produced by the melting of the snows. 

 * * * We conclude, therefore, that the canals are 

 such in fact, and not only in name. * * * that 

 the lines called canals are truly great furrows 

 or depressions in the surface of the planet, des- 

 tined for the passage of the liquid mass and 

 constituting for it a true hydrographic system. "* 

 At the 1894 opposition the axis, of Mars was 

 tilted so that the region between the south pole 

 and 40° north latitude was presented to terres- 

 trial observers, the north polar region being 

 hidden from sight. Mr. Lowell's observations 

 covered one-fourth of the Martian year, from 

 May 1st to August 1st, Martian time. His book 

 pays special attention to the melting of the 

 south polar cap, and to what he considers to be 

 the train of related phenomena ; since around 

 and upon those phenomena he builds his argu- 

 ment for intelligent life on that planet. On 

 May 1st, Martian time, the south cap was ' ' in 

 rapid process of melting. * * * As it melted, 

 a dark band appeared surrounding it on all 

 sides. Except, as I have since learned, at Are- 

 quipa, this band has never, I believe, been dis- 

 tinctively noted or commented on before, which 

 is singular, considering how conspicuous it was 

 at Flagstaff." (This last sentence is indeed 

 surprising, as scores of drawings published in 

 1892 and earlier show this dark band very con- 

 spicuously ; it is well known to all observers 



* For this and other passages from Schiaparelli's 

 Italian papers I am indebted to Professor Pickering's 

 translation in Astronomy and Astro- Physics, 1894. 



of Mars, and Schiaparelli's description of the 

 same phenomena at the melting of the north 

 polar cap is very familiar.) "As the snows 

 dwindled, the blue band shrunk in width to 

 correspond," and finally, when the cap had en- 

 tirely disappeared, its encircling dark band had 

 also vanished. Mr. Lowell believes the dark 

 band was water, and that it disappeared by 

 flowing away from the pole towards the equator 

 in canals, circulating through the planet's arid 

 regions. In proof thereof he submits that he 

 has observed a slow wave of dark area to ad- 

 vance equator-ward from the poles ; that the 

 canals nearest the south pole grew dark and 

 thereby became visible first ; then those nearer 

 the equator ; then those at the equator ; and 

 finally those north of the equator ; in other 

 words, in the order that water flowing from the 

 south pole would reach different parts of the 

 planet. 



It will be seen that the Flagstaff" observations 

 upon the melting of the south polar cap and the 

 flow of water therefrom are identical with those 

 made (and published) by Schiaparelli in the case 

 of the north polar cap in 1882, 1884 and 1886 ; 

 but these observations by Schiaparelli are not 

 mentioned in Mr. Lowell's book. The Flag- 

 staff* observations in a measure confirm Schia- 

 parelli's general results and extend them to 

 . the region of the south pole. 



Of the origin of the canal system Schiapa- 

 relli writes entertainingly: "Their singular 

 aspect, and their being drawn with absolute 

 geometrical precision, as if they were the work 

 of rule or compass, has led some to see in them 

 the work of intelligent beings, inhabitants of 

 the planet. I am very careful not to combat 

 this theory, which includes nothing impossible. 

 * * * The network formed by these was prob- 

 ably determined in its origin in the geological 

 state of the planet, and has come to be slowly 

 elaborated in the course of centuries. It is not 

 necessary to suppose them the work of intelli- 

 gent beings ; and notwithstanding the almost 

 geometrical appearance of all of their system, 

 we are now inclined to believe them to be pro- 

 duced by the evolution of the planet, just as on 

 the Earth we have the English Channel and 

 the Channel of Mozambique." 



Of the gemination of the canals Schiaparelli 



