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E. WALTER MAUNDEE^ F.R.A.S., ON THE 



from a considerable width near the head (or source of supply) to a 

 very narrow strip at the end of the channel where the water has 

 all been used up above. And again, for the reason mentioned 

 before, the length of such a strip of cultivation will vary from year 

 to year. In a year of abundant supply the water will suffice for 

 cultivation further down the banks of the channel than in a year of 

 short supply, so that such a strip of cultivation will shrink, in length 

 as well as in width, from year to year. 



This also is not in accordance with the observed behaviour of the 



canals " of Mars. 



I think, therefore, that the explanation of these markings as a 

 strip of cultivation (or vegetation) due to the channel water does 

 not at all fit the observed facts. 



Mr. Martin Rouse said : With illustrations as ample and con- 

 vincing as they were beautiful and with the very clearest logic Mr. 

 Maunder has proved that men and animals with organization and 

 natural functions like those we know upon the Earth cannot exist 

 in Mars. And yet the objection arises, for what purpose have Mars 

 and other planets been provided with satellites and other devices 

 which must supplement the light that they receive from the sun, 

 and perhaps equalize the heat also, and which appear to do so all the 

 more as their distance from the sun is greater. Understanding that 

 Mercury had a cloudier atmosphere than Venus (though to-day's 

 lecture has rendered me a little doubtful of this), I have seen a 

 complete and beautiful gradation thus : next to the sun comes 

 Mercury with a very cloudy atmosphere, then Venus with a clearer 

 atmosphere but no moon, then the Earth with a still clearer atmos- 

 phere (as we learn to-day) and with one moon, then further out Mars 

 with a thin atmosphere (as we learn) and two moons, then far, far 

 out Jupiter with eight moons, and then Saturn with ten moons 

 and a vast luminous ring besides. As for Uranus and Neptune they 

 are probably too far away and minute in appearances for astronomers 

 to have yet discovered how many satellites or rings they may have. 



Surely this supplementation of light and probably of heat also 

 cannot have occurred by mere chance ; and if the planets are not 

 already habitable may they not have been intended to become so 

 at a time yet future 1 



Mr. J. T. Matthews said : I came to this meeting hoping that 

 Mr. Maunder would tell us something about life upon other worlds, 



