234 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 86. 



writes: "Inconsequence of a rapid process, 

 which certainly lasts at most a few days, or 

 even perhaps only a few hours, * * * a given 

 canal changes its appearance, and is found 

 transformed through all its length into two 

 lines or uniform stripes, more or less parallel to 

 one another, and which run straight and equal 

 with the exact geometrical precision of the rails 

 of a railroad. * * * One of these is often 

 superposed as exactly as possible upon the 

 former line, the other being drawn anew. * * * 

 But it also happens that both the lines may 

 occupy opposite sides of the former canal and 

 be located upon entirely new ground. The 

 distance between the two lines differs in differ- 

 ent geminations, and varies from 360 miles and 

 more, down to the smallest limit at which two 

 lines may appear separated in large visual tele- 

 scopes — less than an interval of 30 miles." 

 Schiaparelli explains that the variations might 

 be the result of ' ' extensive agricultural labor 

 and irrigation upon a large scale. Let us add 

 further that the intervention of intelligent be- 

 ings might explain the geometrical appearance 

 of the gemination, but it is not at all necessary 

 for such a purpose. The geometry of nature is 

 manifested in many other facts, from which are 

 excluded the idea of any artificial labor what- 

 ever. * * * It would be far more easy if we 

 were willing to introduce the forces pertaining 

 to organic nature. Here the field of plausible 

 supposition is immense, being capable of mak- 

 ing an infinite number of combinations, capable 

 of satisfying the appearances even with the 

 smallest and simplest means. Changes of vege- 

 tation over a vast area * * * may well be 

 rendered visible at such a distance. * * * For 

 us, who know so little of the physical state of 

 Mars and nothing of its organic life, the great 

 liberty of possible supposition renders arbitrary 

 all explanations of this sort, and constitutes 

 the gravest obstacle to the acquisition of well 

 founded notions. ' ' 



Such, in effect, is all that Schiaparelli has 

 written by way of explanation of his remark- 

 able discoveries, and he who runs may read his 

 scientific mind. 



Mr. Lowell's book contains a beautiful map 

 of the portion of Mars lying between 70° south 

 and 40° north latitude (on Mercator's projec- 



tion). It represents the ensemble of the indi- 

 vidual sketches made by Messrs. Lowell, Pick- 

 ering and Douglass at Flagstaff" in November, 

 1894. It contains 183 canals, lying both in the 

 light and dark regions of the planet. Of those 

 lying in the light reddish regions, 63 appear to 

 be identical with those discovered by Schiapa- 

 relli and his predecessors, and 72 appear to be 

 new. Mr. Douglass is credited with the dis- 

 covery of 44 canals in the dark regions of the 

 planet. I infer from Mr. Lowell's book that 

 the canals in the dark regions were not seen 

 and confirmed by either Mr. Lowell or Prof. 

 Pickering, though they were observing Mars at 

 the same time and place. Evidently, then, 

 these observations at Flagstaff" were difficult, 

 and Mr. Lowell considers them to be new, 

 though they are not new. In 1892 Prof. 

 Schaeberle observed them, and wrote that 

 ' ' Crossing the darker areas are still darker 

 streaks which often extend hundreds of miles 

 in nearly straight lines. One end of a given 

 streak usually terminates in the equatorial 

 region at a point where the dark area pro- 

 trudes into the bright area, and the so-called 

 canals seem to be continuations of the streaks ' ' 

 (Publications Ast. Soc. Pacific, iv., 197). It was 

 often noticed in 1894 by the writer and other 

 Lick observers that the dark areas on Mars 

 were composed of a mass of details so complex 

 as to defy the draughtsman's skill ; but I think 

 Mr. Douglass, at Flagstaff, is the only observer 

 who has verified Prof. Schaeberle's 1892 obser- 

 vations that these markings were arranged in 

 nearly straight lines. If the observations by 

 Messrs. Schaeberle and Douglass are to extend 

 the canal system over the dark areas, just as 

 Schiaparelli' s extend them over the bright 

 areas, they constitute a most important ad- 

 vance in Martian work. The recent observa- 

 tions of canals or other details within the dark 

 areas, the recent spectroscopic and polariscopic 

 observations, all strongly oppose the favorite 

 theory that the dark areas are seas, but support 

 the common theory that the bright areas are 

 land. 



Mr. Lowell observed a few double canals, 

 probably a fourth as many as Schiaparelli saw. 



At the exact point where two or more canals 

 cross each other the observers noticed that 



