- 1 /■%* ' 

 V. ' 



THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 



MONTHLY 



DECEMBER, 1909 

 THE PLANET VENUS 1 



By Dk. PERCIVAL LOWELL 



FLAGSTAFF, ARIZ. 



THE special object of the observatory which I have the honor to 

 represent is the study of planets of our solar system, beginning 

 with their present state and passing thence to their evolutionary his- 

 tory. So extended to-day is the astronomic field that to do good work 

 one must specialize his endeavor, restricting himself to one particular 

 branch of it and incidentally refraining, we may add, from discussing 

 that of which he has not expert knowledge. Now research on the 

 planets constitutes one such division, making as it were an entity in 

 itself. For diverse as the planets are to-day, they are all the result of 

 one particular evolutionary process and knowledge of each member 

 throws light upon the development, past or present, of the others. 



It is popularly imagined that our gaze is concentrated on Mars, to 

 the exclusion of much else, and that we are particularly concerned with 

 its habitability. That this is a popular fallacy I shall show you to- 

 night. For we shall contemplate together another planet in the light 

 that study of the past thirteen years at the Lowell Observatory casts 

 upon it, and we shall see not only that such a study has indicated it 

 not to be habitable, but that the question of habitability has not in the 

 least affected our research. In short, to us habitation by organic life 

 or non-habitation is merely an incident in the study of a planet's his- 

 tory, which we view with as strict scientific impartiality as we do the 

 presence or absence of water-vapor in its air. We are concerned solely 

 with the facts, a romantic enough revelation in themselves. 



Venus, I need not remind you, is the planet which stands orbitally 

 next inside the earth in the solar family. To us she is by far the most 

 brilliant star in the firmament, excelling Sirius some sixteenfold and 



'An evening lecture at the vicennial of Clark University. 



vol lxxv. — 35. 



