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SURS MUST BE INHABITED.Prof. Peroivl Lowell Has Hade Startling Discoveries From Flagstaff Observatory.The Teloeeope ItoveaU Hiranfa Facta Xaccr Before Known to Aitronomf and There Are SiroD* Erldeacee That the Planet la Inhabited by a Highly ClTtllaed Race of Men.Prof. Percival Lowell hu made soma startling astronomical discoveries since the establishment oI the observatory on the heights overlooking Flagstaff, and students of the heavens are now I.Hiking forward with eagerness to tiie more detailed report of bis work last summer in the observation of Kars, to which he and his asdstants confined themselves exclusively during the whole period of its apposition.The facts collected by Prof. Lowell liear directly upon the question whether or not Mars ia inhabited by a highly civilized race of men. The evidence, instead of showing that Mars is an uninhabited planet, almost destroys such a theory. Engineering schemea if colossal magnitude have been plainly seen at Flagstaff. A aeries of canais more elaborate than was ever dreamed ■f by Schiaparelli has been discovered. Mr. Lowell is convinced that these snnl«. whose number and character have astonished him. are artiSclal. He sars that they caonot lie accounted for by any sort of natural phenomena known to science. There ia no phase of world-building, no phase of planet-making that would produce such appearances. Mars has been found to lie unlike the earth, la that it has no big mountain ranges. It is almost completely round like an orange. The irregularities in its surface are very slight. At the same time there is a singular rise aud tall of tides upon Mar*, and water seems to flow all over its surf nee in shallow seas, somewhere only a few feet deep.Sens have been observed from Flagstaff to appear and disappear ou Mars. The ground under the sea lias been seen, showing that the water was but a foiv feet deep. The melting of the polar cap* lias been observed with the advance of the summer, aud what looked like fields have changed color, as if with rotating crops.In short. Mars, it has been found, is like Holland. Its inhabitants appear in have drained nearly the whole of its surface as a measure of protection ataiust encroaching wa’ers. which threaten an invasion w en Mta heat melts the polar ice and snow.Mr. Lowell, moreover, lias dis-envervd extraordinary alterations in the planet's surface. He tells in detail the strange things ha has seen, using the names of Martian seas and continents accepted by astronomers, and he includes in the summary of his work many of the observations made by Mr. M. A. Douglsss. A noteworthy feature of Mr. Lowell’s report is tlie Urge area occupied by the dark regions ou Mars, while those singular, tilted peninsulas that are so generally represented connecting the continents with the islands of the south are conspicuous by their absence. One continuous belt of bluish green stretches unbroken from the Hour-glass sea to the Columns of Hercules.Hes|ieria has reappeared, and it has done this in just the way to show it as land drying off by a sinking of the general water level. Simultaneously the region formerly occupied by the Polar sea mid the region to the north of it, from having been blue, has now become for the most part reddish yeb low.There have uiso been observed on Mars strange irregularities or projections. or small notches. Many people thought them signals to earth. These are now.supposed to be due to mountains, which are of no great height. Plateaus on Mars were observed on two occasions by Prof. Pickering. One of these lies not far from the columns of Hcrcnles. Both plateaus rise abruptly, and they stand at a height of about 8.600 feet. Certain strange whitish patches have been observed on the planet. These were first seen by Prof. Pickering on August 16.Prof. Pickering called them clouds. Mr. Lowell ssys that these appearances were of two kinds. Certain whitish, flucuiar patches not far from the pole might, he thought, be clouds. as they presented a peculiar as pec mot like snow nor like the earth. If they were clouds they prove that Msrs hu an atmosphere.
Newspaper Details
Flagstaff Coconino Weekly Sun
Flagstaff, Arizona, US
Thu, Mar 14, 1895
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Carol B.
USA 28 Jul 2023
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