THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 23 



pleasure," by which he meant not a lie in malice, but any bold 

 statement that was fleeter of foot than evidence. Rigid demon- 

 stration is unpopular, but any astronomer of reputation and 

 ready wit can fill a lecture hall if he proposes to discuss the 

 attitude of the Martian inhabitants, or if he will tell us how to 

 construct some mighty triangle or pentagon on the desert of 

 Sahara, light it up with myriads of electric lights, then watch 

 for results from our neighbor Mars. 



This was exactly what happened with Mr. Lowell, of 

 Flagstaff Observatory. Heintington Hall, at Boston, was filled, 

 every seat and all the standing room, when he gave his four 

 lectures on the planet Mars. He is a very famous astronomer 

 and writes most charmingly in the Atlantic Monthly, and when 

 he speaks he will be listened to eagerly, and what he writes 

 will be read by the magazine-loving public from cottage to 

 boudoir. The great and absorbing question with the Martian 

 people it seems is the water question. There can be no party 

 politics. The acc^ueduct question is the only question, and it is 

 not a national question ; it is more ; it is planet wide. Worlds, 

 like individuals, are not gifted with perpetual youth. They are 

 born, spend a hot and feverish infancy, grow cooler with ad- 

 vancing years, attain an early youthful vigor, and are fitted for 

 the abode of life. As they advance in years higher types of 

 inhabitants are evolved ; they then grow old and commence to 

 droop with icy cold ; soon they reach senility, and then comes 

 decay and death after millions of revolving ages. Mars it seems 

 is far advanced in its life, its mountains are all levelled, its 

 water has nearly all evaporated, its inhabitants are driven to 

 protect themselves by a gigantic international system of irriga- 

 tion. They have dug a net-work of canals and so catch the 

 annual meltings of the Polar ice cap, oases are formed at the 

 junctions, and there the strong minded and mighty limbed 

 Martians most do congregate and admire their ingenious 

 hydrographic system. The silver thread of the actual acque- 

 duct is not visible but what is seen is the broad strip of vegeta- 

 tion growing on the banks. It is proved by strict mathematical 

 reasoning that on account of the small gravitating power of 



