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Marr Peopled by OneVarf Thinking Vegetable!
ODD FACTS ABOUT MARS / W\
MARS is the fourth planet from the f XWi&Xrs
sun, and the nearest to our / V
earth. / -WwVk
It is called the red planet, and its color /
is thought to be due to vegetation. /. wSfr-TL
Its size and density are less than ours, / ■/ W&fjjjfc
and a man weighing 200 pounds here would / V— .. t ■WsML
only weigh seventy-five pounds there. I ;
Mars has atmosphere, seasons, land, I »
water, storms, clouds and-mountains. I ■
only 3,700 miles away and revolves around V&
it m sev . ..!>■;-• \'«L.
ingstar. \W< ■
The day on Mars is half an hour longer \X'
than ours, and its year contains 687 days. X''’’XX j -I
Professor Lowell has counted 437 ”
“canals” on Mars, and 186 "oases.” The ; ‘Sk. V-''ftS®
canals vary in-length from 250 miles to vi . .
3,000 miles. V'' x 'Wp?w!k
A man on Mars would be able to drive Wh„ /V
. golf ball fifty miles. XI X '
The strength of a man on Mars would Wf? ? '• ’p-,® .
he eighty-three times greater than on the | ■. •--^£r*V vW
’earth. ‘
The atmosphere of Mars consists
principally of carbonic acid gas. WMw ''
The water supply of Mars is very
slender, and its utilization is the greatest X
nroblem of life there. ~ --
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M\RS *s the nearest planet to
ns. the one which we can -co
the most plainly and the
first one which we shall be able
to visit when science makes a
Journey beyond our atmosphere
possible.
Mars, moreover. Is proved by as
tronomy to possess air atmosphere
and to be capable of supporting
life in some lorm.
These tacts make it natural that
scientists and writers should specu
late upon the character of the life
upon Mars. It must as yet be spec
ulation, for our means of seeing
only enable us to distinguish ob
jects several miles ir extent upon
the planet.
Many interesting theories about
the life of Mars have been put
forward, but all of them have been
open to some objection. Professor
Percival Lowell, of the Flagstaff
Observatory in Arizona, has argued
that the so-called canals of Mars are
vast engineering works, and con
sequently that the inhabitants who
built them were of great intellectual
development. Tho scientific novel
ist, H. G. Wells, has built an ex
tremely interesting story on tho
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The Martian Was Conceived by H. G. Wells to Be an Octopus-
Like Creature Without Bonv Structure but Having a Highly
Developed Intelligence. Drawing by H. Lanos.
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basis that the Martians are octopns
hke 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.
New 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 on Mars has taken a vegetable
form.
This theory Is one of the most
Plausible that has boon put
forward. It has the support of all
the facts about Mars that have been
acieniiticauy established and it
avo.us many of the improbabilities
involved in other theories on the
same subject.
Ihe vegetation theory rests pri
marily on tho fact proved by spec- ‘
troscopic analysis that there is an
enormous proportion of carbonic
acid gas in the atmosphere of M Br ,
which would make animal nr
• iip nr
the kind known to the earth ex
ceedingly u.amult, if not impossible,
while it would greatly tavor the
development of vegetation.
Before considering this theory
further, we must bear in mind a
few of tlie proved facts about Mars.
It has atmosphere, seasons, land,
water, 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
red color and sometimes looks like
a red lamp in the sky. It has been
suggested that the vegetation for
the 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 awav
and revolves around the planet in
seven hours and a half, showing
all the phases of our moon in one
night.
The density an d sire of Mars
»r- 1r« than those „f tl.n
.or rno earth,
and consequently a
man who weighed 200
Pounds here would only
weigh 7b pounds up
there.
Ihe r.tmos; here and
moisture of Mars are
very slight, and the in
habitants. if there be
any, must find life a dif
ficult problem there.
The water is confined
entirely to the poles,
where it is deposited
annually in the form of
a thin lawyer of snow
or hoar frost, only to
melt away again with
the advent of Summer.
Ages ago lite on Mars
must have concentrated
itself on the problem
of devising some means
whereby the melting
water of the polar
parts might be con
ducted to tholb arid re
gions of the temperate
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Ihe Pitcher Plant Devouring a Rat, an Instance of Plant Life,
Possessing Animal Powers.
and torrid zones,
which would still
blossom if water
ed. Here we may '
note one of the
strongest arguments in favor of the
vegetation theory of life.
Professor Lowell has argued that
the canals of Mars, first discovered
by Professor Schiaparelli, of Milan
but long considered optical illusions
by many 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 the planet like a fine, netting.
Each canal is the shortest dis
tance between two points and in
variably runs to a point called “an
oasis,” where it meets other canals
not in haphazard fashion, but ac
cording to some plan.
The “canals” vary in length from
250 miles to over 3,000
miles, a length that is astonishing
when it is considered that the
diameter of Mars is only 4.220
miles. All told. Professor Lowell
has plotted 437 of these canals and
186 oases. It was Professor Pick
ering, a close associate of Professor
Lowell, who first saw these oases
The canals of Mars appear and
disappear with the seasons. In
other words they slowly creep down
from the poles each Spring and
slowly retreat with the approach of
Winter. If the canals are artificial
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 the
vegetation which fringes their
banks and thus indicates their
couise. Vegetation must grow be
fore the canals are visible and must
disappear before the canals vanish.
Here we can see why the theory
that all the life on Mars is vege
tation is more probable than any
other. Professor Pickering admits
that the signs of life we see are
vegetable, but suggests that they
are the work of man like creature
whom we cannot see. But we kno .
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Interesting Theory of Prof. Campbell, S
of Lick Observatory, That Explains
the “Canals,” “Eyes,” and Other Puz-j
Problems of Our Neighbor Planet
tha. ft would be almost impossible
for man-like creatures to live there.
It is most likely then that vegeta
tion is the only life.
From our knowledge of life on
the earth, it is quite
k conceivable that the
highest type of in
pX telligence might
dwell in a plant, as
gjgSft plants that we know
KgSS-, possess more or less
jjSS intelligence, and the
ggjjS fact that they may
TBgart not possess the high-
est kind is due to
vw* 4 conditions on the
earth which do not
W exist on Mars.
The original germ
of life on earth was
neither animal nor
vegetable. Many
stages of develop
ment passed before
u the two forms of life
j'y became separated.
Low in the scale of
” fe we now see many
forms of which it
cannot be said posl
■\---V 5 - tively that they are
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i / -.i “A vast eye, upon a tenuous, flex- I
, ■ rt ■ -7 ' 7 r Jw“H iblc, transparent neck raises it-
UXJFIi A \ \ •®||| self high above the surface of i
! ''•-prt r- 4 rail Mars and can watch the growth
i ./• , ofitß . ve ß etobl f ebo » yuponany
- part of the surface.
x 71,6 Sma , n D* a s ra ™ B ' io . w
trate the Operation of the plan-
> HilL X/jJ etaryeye.
antmai or vegetable.
When disease bac
teria were first op
served it was be
lieved that they were
animal, but now the
prevailing view is
that they are vege
table. Yet they pos
sess the power of mo
tion generally char
acteristic of anima.s
One of the great
differences between
plants and animals
is that the former
have not a brain
and nervous system,
which can be com
pared to tit at of the
latter. The life of the
plant resides in Its
•separate cells and
they are only held *■>
get iter by their jux
taposition to one an
other and not con
trolled by a central
system.
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But there are some plants on
earth which do possess 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 man
if conditions had been favorable.
Such conditions have prevailed on
Mars. Chief among th-m is an at
mosphere very favorable to plant
life 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 powers of animals.
These plants include the butcher
plant, pitcher plant, the sundew,
the butter w-ort 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 leaf
it strikes a rat, numbing it with
the poison it contains. Then the
leaf folds over the animal and it is
absorbed into the body of the plant
and digested.
Other plants, such as the spider-
. .. .... . - *
wort, possess eyes, which enable it
to turn toward the sunlight. These
eyes bear a close resemblance to
human eyes and it has been proved
by photography that they receive
in.... es of objects which lie in their
range of vision.
These facts indicate the possi
bilities of vegetable intelligence.
Ages ago, according to the newly
advanced theory, all life on Mars
took the vegetable form. Animal
races then existing were con
sciously or unconsciously absorbed
into the vegetable races.
The vegetable life, possessed of
true intelligence, then evolved into
one organic whole in order to ob
tain the greatest, advantage from
the limited means of sustenance.
Life on Mars is now one vast in
tellect supported by a vegetable
body having its roots in the soil.
Such a conception of life ■'sembles
the vast being into ”’hich the Budd
hists say all mon will be absorbed.
As the Hummer comes on the
huge being on Mars stretches its
body over the planet, growing I®.
bright orange colored forms. As the
heat departs these forms die down
and hide their life in the soil till
the following season. This pro- ’
duces the appearance of “canalM
to us. The reason these canals have
such a regular form is that th®
vegetation follows the lines of reg«p
ular cracks which occurred in the
crust of Mars when it was drying
up.
The vast Intellect of Mars is oo|
cupied with the problems of gain* -
ing subsistence from the dyln®R
planet and then with
of the boundless universe that lies'"
within its sight.
The white spot which we some
times see on Mars is not a pile
snow, but really an “eye.” Sup.
ported on a tenuous flexible trans.
parent column, it can raise itself
miles above the surface of tha
planet and watch the operations of
its vegetable body at any point
That the movements of this plan,
etary eye should have escaped ob
servation from the eye is not sufr
prising. The canals on Mars hav»
only been seen by a few astrono
mers, and many excellent scientist®
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denied their existence for years
after they were first observed. They
continued to do so until photographs
were taken of the canals. The
shifting of the “eye” on Mars, al
ready observed by our telescopes,
may very possibly have been due
to a movement on a transparent
neck, as described here, tho neck
itself not being visible. .
The “eye” exercises the functions I
of watching climatic conditions all
over its vegetable body, of sending I
help to parts in need and of con
veying external impressions to the
great central intelligence. This
vegetable body possesses the power
of distributing strength to its vari
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
great “eye” makes observations of
the earth, sun planets, stars and
the whole universe. From its vast
side it is able to sea more and
farther than all the telescopes of
our earth 1 it together,