The Salt Lake tribune. [volume], October 13, 1912, Magazine Section, Image 31

About The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current

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i c Magazine s'"ZJ Jfljj Half f afe- ptfbtfue isur,octofaw3.i
i , ODD FACTS ABOUT MARS 1
W m fi ARS is the fourth planet from the
sun an nearest to our
I v I earth.
jfi It is called the red planet, and its color
I is thought to be due to vegetation.
i ' Its size and density are less than ours,
Id's and a man weighing 200 pounds here would !
fm only weigh seventy-five pounds there.
Mars has atmosphere, seasons, land,
y!?H water, storms, clouds and mountains.
"H Mars has i-wr. "'o -
H only 3,700 miles awa.y and revolves around
?!i it ni seven and a half 'houvs ? phoot-
fciji': ing star.
h "ie on arB s an nour logger
Swj than ours, and its year contains 687 days.
5l5 Professor Lowell has counted 437
41' "canals" on Mars, and 186 " oases." The
'3K canals vary in length from 250 miles to
5w 3,000 miles.
?i5 man 011 ars wuld be able to drive
ft a golf ball fifty miles.
$ The strength of a man on Mars would
itS be eighty-three times greater than on the
earth.
fm The atmosphere of Mars consists
d?M principally of carbonic acid gas.
5m The water supply of Mars is very
SSl slender,, and its utilization is the greatest
II problem of life there.
Hi t TARS ,s tne nearost Planet to
x-teij IV J. ti,0 mo3t plainly anil the
faSJ first ono v;liicU we shall be r.ble
to visit when, science makes a
Journey beyond our atmosphere
possible.
Mars, moreover, is proved by as
J"s,i Irouomy to possess air atmospbere
und to be capable of supporting
abi Ufo in some iorm,
-mSiS TheBo facts make it natural that
Ecientists'and writers 6bould specu
'pa! lalo upon the character of the life
sJ upon liars. It must as yet be spec
: illation, for our means o seeing
jij only enablo us to distinguish ob
& Jects several miles in extent upon
the planet
. , ilany interesting theories about
i hi tte life of Mars have been put
iafc forward, but all of them have been
jb open to some objection. Professor
Laa : Percival Lowell, of the Flagstaff
' Obaervatory in Arizona, has argued
1(y9 that the so-called canals of Mars sire
sflr1 . vast engineering works, and con
5," ' cequently that the inhabitants who
ffyti bailt thera were of great intellectual
lajfeij development. The scientific novel-
m'?M H G- Wel,B' bas builL an ox-
$f-2m tremely interesting story ou the
basis Hint the Martians are octopus
like creatures, without bony struc
ture, but possessed of highly devel
oped brains. A common assumption of
many speculators has been that
the Martians are extremely at
tenuated creatures, because the
slight pressure of gravity on the
surface of the planet would favor
this form.
Now a new and exceedingly inter
esting theory concerning the life
on Mars has been put forward by
Professor William Wallace Camp
bell, of the great Lick Observatory,
California. He suggests that all
life ou Mars has taken a vegetable,
form.
ThlK. -ttfGory Is one of the most
plausible that bns been put
forward. It has the support of all
the facts about Mars that have been
scientifically established and it
avoms many of the improbabilities
involved In other theories on the
same 3ubjecL t
The vegetation theory rests pri
marily on the fact proved by spec
troscopic analysis that there is an
enormous proportion of carbonic
acid gas In the atmosphere of Mars
which would make animal ijfG n'f.
the kind known to the earth er
coedingly dllfleull, if not impossible,
while it would greatly favor the
development of vegetation.
Before considering this theory
.further, we must bear in mind a
few of the proved facts about Mars.
It has atmosphere, seasons, land,
wator. storms, clouds and moun
tains. It also rains and snows on
Mars, as it does with us. Great
white patches appear periodically
upon Its surface. These may be
accumulations of snow and they
have also been called "eyes." Their
nature will be discussed later.
When Mars approaches nearest to
the earth it is. seen to. have a. bright
rod color and sometimes looks like
a red lamp in the sky. It has been
suggested that the vegetation for
tho most part Is yellow or orange
instead of green, as with us, thus
giving the planet its color.
Mars has two moons, the near
est of which Is but 3,700 miles away
and revolves around the planet in
seven hours and a half, showing
all the phases of our moon in one
night.
The density and size of Mars
.or ins, than fhoso of thc earlh
nnd consenucntlv a
Martian Was Conceived by 'H G. Wells to Be an Octopus.
M L3se Creature Without Bony Structure but Having a Highly
Developed Intelligence. Drawing by H. Lanos.
ni.'in who weighed 200
pounds here would only
weigh 75 pounds up
there.
The atmosphere and
moisture of Mars are
very slight, and tho in
habitants, if there bo
any, must find life a dif
ficult problem there.
The water Is confined
entirely to the poles,
whore it is deposited
annually In the form of
a thin lawyor of snow
or hoar frost, only to
melt away again 'with
tho adveut of Summer.
Ages ago life on Mars
must havo concentrated
ItselC ou the problem
of dovlslug some means
whereby tho melting
water of the polar
parts might be con
ducted to those arid re
gions of the temperate
nnd torrid zones,
which would still
blossom if water-
ed. Here .we may
note one of the
strongest arguments tn favor of the
vegetation theory of life.
Professor Lowell has argued that
the canals of Mars, first discovered
by Professor Scbiaparelli, of Milan,
but long considered optical Illusions
by mauv astronomers, are the ir
rigation " works of the inhabitants.
The canals are singularly artificial
in appearance. They extend toward
the equator from the poles and
cover tho planet like a fine. netting.,
Each caual -is tho- shortest dls-.
lance, between two points and in
variably runs to a pclnt called "an
oasis." where it meets other cauals
not lu haphazard fashion, but ac
cording -to some plan.
The "canals" vary in longth from
2r0 miles to over 3,000
miles, a length that is astonishing
when it is considered that thv
diameter of Mars is only 4,220
miles. All told, Professor Lowell
has plotted -137 of tbeso canals and
1S6 oases. It was Professor Pick
ering, a close associate of Profcsso.
Lowell, who first saw these oases
Thc canals of Mars appear am!
disappear with the seasons. In
other words they slowly creep dowu
from the poles encb Spriug and
slowly retreat with tho approach of
Winter. If thc canals are artlficla.
In origin, this phenomenon would
appear to mean that the Martians
are busily engaged in digging stu
pendous canals, only to fill them up
again every year.
Professor Pickering Ingeniously
avoided this embarrassing conclu
sion by pointing out that we see
not the canals themselves, but tho
vegetation which friuges their
banks and thus indicates their
com sc. Vegetation must grow be
fore I lie canol3 aro lsiblo and must
disappear before the cauals vanish.
Here we can see why the theory
that all the life ou Mars is vege
tation is more probable than any
other. Professor Pickering admits
that tho sigus of life we see arc
vegetable, but suggests that then
are the work of man-like creature"
whom we cannot see. But we knu .
The Pitcher Pl.nt Devouring a Rat, an Instance of P)a
Possessing Animal Powers.
Interesting Theory of Prof. Campbell
of Lick Observatory, That Explains
the "Canals," "Eyes," and Other Puz-
iijig Problems of Our Neighbor Planet H
tha'. It wouid be almost impossible
for man-like creatures to live there
It Is most likely theu that vegeta
tion is the only life.
'"it. our knowledge of life on
the earth, it Is quite
conceivable that the
l highest type of in-
A telligence might
dwell in a plant, as
jri plants that we know
gS- possess more or less
EkS Intelligence, and the
Jigjs. fact- that they may
y5gL not. possess the hlgh-
'IjBgi est kind is due to
conditions on the
"iirth which do not
ik: "ist on Mars.
The original genu
of life on earth was
neither animal nor
vegetable. Many
stages of develop
- incut passed before
the two forms of life
: became separated.
l.uw In the scale of
rv life we now soe many
vOir forms .of which .it
"V.'sV cannot be- said posl-
.-'vzi lively that they aro
( But there are some plants on
earth which do posses3 a kind of
nervous system, and it Is quite
reasonable to believe that they
would have developed an intelli
gence at least equal to that of mnn
if conditions h3d been favorable.
Such conditions have prevailed on
Mars. Chief among th m Is an at
mosphere very favorable, to plant
Ufo and very unfavorable to animal
life. .
There are on the earth many
carnivorous plants which though
unmistakably vegetable in form pos
sess many of the powera of animals.
These plants Include the butcher
plant, pitchor plant, the sundew,
the butter wort and, many other
forms. They range from plants
that eat Insects to those that are
capable of devouring birds and
small mammals.
The pitcher plant, for Instance, has
a heavy flesh leaf ten inches long.
With the spiked point of the leal
it strikes a rat, numbing it with
the poison it contains. Then the
lear folds over the animal and it Is
absorbed into 'the body of the plant
and digested.
Other plants, such as the splder-
body over the planet, growing In J
bright orange colored forms. As the H
heat departs these forms die down H
and hide their life in the soil tUl
tho following season. This pro-
duces the appearance of "canals' H
to us. The reason these canals have H
euch a regular form is that the H
vegetation follows the lines of res H
ular cracks which occurred In the H
cruet of Mars when it was drying IH
The vast Intellect of Mars Is oo
cupied with the problems ot gain
lng subsistence from the dying
planet and then with investigations H
of the noundless universe that lies
within its sight. H
The white spot which we some' 1
times see on Mars is not a pile of H
snow, but really an '-'eye." Sup
ported cr. a tenuous flexible trans
parent column, it can raise itself
miles above the surface of the
planet and watch the operations of
its vegetable body at any point. IH
That the movements of this plan
ctnry eye should' have escaped ob
serration from the eye is not sur
prising. Tho canals on Mars have
only been seen by a few. astrono jH
mere, and many excellent scientists
jjH
b iOS "A vast eye, upon a tenuous, flex-
W $0f ? 'rv'J P. ible, transparent neck raises it- 'B
if'aPpW WWrC 'v47 self high above the surface of
WSpf ") N IpPSl Vv . iiK Mars-and can watch the growth
h$W?m$ r'? A. jSffil of its vegetable body upon any
fflSmlg MWWJM part of the surface."
imMiiM The Small Diagrams Below IUus-
trate the OpcriJon of thc plan- H
? .1 mini . ui Mgotabls.
Wlic-jj diseuse bac-
5 lerln were first op-
served It was be
llevca that they wlmm
aniuial. but now tho
prevailing view is
that they are voge
table. Yet they pod.
sess tho power of mo
flon generally char-
k$i act eristic of aulmals.
'$$ One of the great
F differences between
plauts and animals
Is that tho former
have not a brain
a ud nervous system,
; which can be com-
l&sL- lw',-'tl t0 Lhrit of thli
latter. The life of the
Jil?fy plant resides in its
separate cells and
they are only held to-
nt Life. gothcr by their jux
taposition to one an
other and not con
. trolled by a central
eystein.
t
wort, j.ossess eyes, wbich enable it
to turn toward tho suulipht. Those
eyes bear a close resemblance to
human eyes and it ban been proved
bv photography that they receive
imjes of objects which lie in thoir
range of vision.
'Vhcso facts indicate the possi
bilities of vegetable intelligence.
Ages ago, according to the newly
advanced theory, all life ou Mars
took the vegetable form. Animal
races then existing were con
sciously or unconsciously absorbed
into tho vegetable races.
The vegetable life, possessed ot
true Intelligence, then evolved Into
one organic whole in order to ob
tain the greatest advantage from
the liraitod means of sustenance.
Life on Mars Is now ono vast in
tellect supported by a vegetable
bodv having its roots In the soil.
Such a conception of lire -isembles
the vast being into vhich the Budd
hists eay all men will be absorbed.
As the Summer comes on the
huge being on Mars stretches Ils
i
denied their exlF.tei.re for years
after they wore first observed. They.
continued to do so until photographs
were taken of the cauals. The
shifting of the "eye" on Mars, al tM
ready observed by our telescopes. IH
may very possibly havo been duo
to a movement on a transparent
neck as described be re, tho neck
Itself not being visible.
The "eye" exercises the functions
ot watchlug climatic conditions all
over its vegetable body, of sondlqg
help to parts in need and of con
veying external impressions to the
great central Intelligence. This
vegetable body possesses tho power
of distributing strength to its varl
ous parts and of devising new
means of extracting nourishment
from the soil and atmosphere.
When not engaged In watching the
physical condition of its body, the
sreit "eye" makes observations of
tho earth, sun planets, stars and
the whole universe. From it3 vast
sido it Is able to sco more and
farther than all the telescopes ol 1
our earth :ut tcgethcr, i