Are the Planets Inhabited?

or habitation. The Sun by its vastness, its intolerable heat and the violence of its changes, has to be rejected

er offers us on such occasions equal facilities for their examination. But of Mars it has been asserted not only that it is inhabited, but that we know it to be

come incredulity. And when we consider how puny are men as we see them on this our planet, how minute their greatest works, how superhuman any undertaking would be which could demonstrate our exi

of its orbit; it is best placed for observation, and, therefore, most observed, when in opposition, and oppositions may be favourable or unfavourable. At the most favourable opposition, Mars is 140 times as distant as the Moon; at the least favourable, 260 times; so that on such occasions its apparent size varies from 1?70th of the diameter of the Moon to 1?130th. But a telescope with a magnifying power

, the identification of one or two of his spots is unmistakable. Seven years later, in 1666, both Cassini and Hooke made a number of sketches, and those by Hooke have been repeatedly used in modern determinations of the rotation period of the planet. The next great advance was made by Sir William Herschel, who, during the oppositions of 1777, 1779, 1781, and 1783, determined the inclination of the axis of Mars to the plane

ularly by Mr. J. N. Lockyer in 1862, and the Rev. W. R. Dawes in 1864. In 1877, the late Mr. N. E. Green, drawing-master to Queen Victoria, and a distinguished painter in water colours, made a series of sketches of the planet from a station in the island of Madeira 2000 feet above sea-level. When the opposition was over, Mr. Green collected together a large number of drawings, and formed a chart of the planet, much richer in detail than any that had preceded it, and from his skill, experience and training as an artist he reproduced the appearance of the planet with a fidelity that had never been equalled before and has never been surpassed since. At this time it was generally assumed that Mars was a miniature of our own world. The brighter districts of its surface wer

ished some months later the first of a magnificent series of Memoirs, bringing to light what appeared to be a new feature. His drawings not only showed the "lands" and "seas," that is to say the bright and dark areas, that Green and his predecessors had drawn, but also a number of fine, narrow, dark lines crossing the "lands" in every direction. These narrow lines are the markings which have since been so celebrated as the "canals of Mars," and the discussion as to the real

quence best seen, but as the planet goes away the canals come out. The fact is that the orbital position and the seasonal epoch conspire to a masking of the phenomena." This was the chief reason why Schiaparelli's discoveries seemed at first to stand so entirely without corroboration; the "canals" did not become conspicuous until after most observers had desisted from following the planet. Another reason was that, in 1877, Mars was low down in the sky for northern observatories, and good definition is an essential for their recognition. But the careful examination of drawings made in earlier oppositions, especially those made by Dawes and Green, afforded confirmation of not a few of Schiaparelli's "canals"; even in

is to say "channels," but without intending to convey the idea of artificial construction. Indeed, he himself was careful to point out that these designations "were not intended to prejudge the nature of the spot, and were nothing but an artifice for helping the memory and for shortening descriptions." And he added, "We speak in the same way of the lunar seas, although we well know that there are no true seas on the Moon."

und dots, termed by him "oases," at the junctions of the "canals"; and the demonstration that the "canals" and certain of the dusky regions are subject to strictly seasonal change, as really as the polar caps themselves. In addition, he has formed the conclusion, which he has supported with much ingenuity and skill, that the regularity of the "canals" and "oases"

ientific Review, "Scientia," in January, 191

here, it must be chiefly dependent on the semi-annual unlocking of the polar snows for its supply, inasmuch as there are no surface bodies of

be very curiously meshed by a

precisely the aspect which an artificial irrigating system, dependent upon the melting of the polar snows, would assume. Since water is only to be had at the time it is there unlocked, and since for any organic life it must be got, it would be

ee resembles the yearly inundation of the Nile, of which to a spectator in space the river itself might be too narrow to be seen, and only the verdured country on its banks be visible. This is what we suppose to be the case with Mars. However the water be conducted, wh

o the assiduity of the astronomer he adds the missionary's zeal and eagerness for converts as he pleads most skilfully for the acceptance of his chosen doctrine of the presence of men on Mars. In the last of the three books mentioned, he deals directly with "Proofs of Life on Mars." The presence of vegetation may be inferred from seasonal

dy goes on, with their non-natural look. So uncommonly regular are they, and on such a

ng to do with the lines: in their surprising straightness, their amazing unifo

sms upon it will share in its development. They must evolve with it, indeed, or perish. At first they change only, as environment offers opportunity, in a lowly, unconscious way. But, as brain develops, they rise superior to such occasioning.... The last stage in the expression of life upon a planet's surface

e satisfactory than strange this; for in no other way could the habitation of the planet have been revealed. It simply shows again the supremacy of mind.... Thus, not only do the observations we ha

s upon its surface. But it is of the utmost significance to note that the whole question turns upon the presence of water-of water in the liquid state, of water in a sufficient quantity; and the final decision, for Mr. Lowell's contention, or against it, must turn on that one point. The search for Life on Mars is essentially a search for Water; a search for wat