SCIEXCE-GOSSIP. 



candle, they used to watch me (their sight is 

 good enough) from behind boxes and chair legs 

 to see if I dropped any crumbs, and if I did, 

 they made a mental note of the exact spot 

 so as to rush out and secure them as soon as 

 I went out. 



Then there are all the birds, from the solemn old 

 vultures to the perky little mynahs ; also my chief 

 friends, the lizards, the geckoo, or house lizard, 

 on the one hand, and on the other that most 

 splendid reptile, the garden lizard. I caught a 

 "butcha" (= baby) one this morning, about five 

 inches long, in barracks, and put hi m in the breast 

 pocket of my jacket, but when I was (as orderly 

 officer) inspecting the children's school, it climbed 

 out and ran across the room and out at the door. 

 There is a grey zebu cow in my compound, and 

 every now and then a party of water-buffalo come 

 in to eat the grass. 



SCHIAPARELLI'S VIEWS 

 OX MARS. 



'THE following is an abstract of an article 

 by Prof. Schiaparelli, translated by Prof. 

 Pickering in " Astronomy and Astro-Physics," an 

 American journal. 



Among the ear best features of Mars which 

 attracted attention from Astronomers were two 

 brilliant white spots which remained motionless, 

 while other markings were rapidly displaced 

 by the planet's rotation. It was therefore 

 concluded that they must occupy the poles of 

 rotation of the planet, and they are consequently 

 known as the polar caps. And, not without reason, 

 it is conjectured that these represent upon Mars 

 that immense mass of snow and ice which still 

 prevents navigators from reaching the poles of the 

 earth. The southern snow cap of Mars has the 

 peculiarity that its centre does not coincide exactly 

 with the pole, but is nearly 180 miles from it. 

 From this it is concluded that when the area of 

 snow r is shrunk in summer to its smallest extent, 

 the south pole of Mars is uncovered, and therefore 

 the problem of reaching it is perhaps easier than 

 upon the earth. This southern snow is in the 

 middle of a huge dark spot, which with its 

 branches, occupies nearly one-third of the whole 

 surface of Mars, and is supposed to represent its 

 principal ocean. 



The mass of the northern snow cap of Mars is, 

 on the other hand, centred almost exactly upon its 

 pole. It is situated in a region of yellow colour, 

 which we are accustomed to consider as representing 

 the continent of the planet. From this arises a 

 singular phenomenon which has no analogy upon 

 the Earth. At the meltinar of the snows accumu- 



lated at that pole during the long night of ten 

 months and more, the liquid mass produced in that 

 operation is diffused around the circumference of 

 the snowy region, converting a large zone of sur- 

 rounding land into a temporary sea, and filling all 

 the lower regions. This produces a gigantic in- 

 undation, which has led some observers to suppose 

 the existence of another ocean in those parts, which 

 does not really exist — at least, as a permanent sea. 

 The outer part of this zone branches out into dark- 

 lines which occupy all the surrounding region, and 

 seem to be distributary channels (the so-called 

 canals) by which the liquid mass may return to 

 its original position. Something similar would 

 occur upon the Earth, if one of our poles 

 came to be located suddenly in the centre of 

 Asia or Africa. We may find a miniature image 

 of these conditions in the flooding that is ob- 

 served in our streams at the melting of mountain 

 snows. 



Some very small white spots, more or less 

 persistent, are seen in the torrid zone of Mars. 

 Perhaps these may be due to the existence of 

 mountains capable of supporting extensive ice-fields, 

 a supposition borne out by other recently observed 

 facts. The polar snows of Mars seem to prove 

 that this planet, like the Earth, is surrounded by an 

 atmosphere capable of transporting vapour. These 

 snows are in fact precipitations of vapour, con- 

 densed b5 7 the cold and carried with it ; and 

 how carried, if not by atmospheric movement ? 

 The existence of an atmosphere charged with 

 vapour has been confirmed also by spectroscopic 

 observations, principally those of Vogel, according 

 to which the atmosphere must differ little from our 

 own and be rich in aqueous vapour. If this be true, 

 then the temperature of the Arean climate must be 

 of the same order as that of the Earth, since water 

 could not exist in the form of a liquid or vapour at 

 a very low temperature. From the fact that the 

 atmosphere of Mars is nearly perpetually clear, 

 enabling the markings to be seen, Prof. Schiaparelli 

 concludes that it very rarely- rains upon that planet, 

 but that the climate must resemble that of a clear 

 day upon a high mountain. By day a very strong 

 solar radiation hardly mitigated at all by mist or 

 vapour, by night a copious radiation from the 

 soil, and hence marked refrigeration. And as 

 on the Earth at altitudes of 17,000 to 20,000 

 feet, the vapour of the atmosphere is con- 

 densed only into the solid form producing these 

 whitish masses of suspended crystals known as 

 cirrous clouds, so in Mars it would be rarely 

 possible to find collections of cloud capable of 

 producing rain of any consequence. The varia- 

 tion of the temperature from one season to another 

 would be noticeably increased by r their longer 

 duration. 



Alice Everett, Greenwich ; December, 1S94. 



