Martian Opposition

SCIENCE

"Come again, go again, talk again, Mars."

The "opposition" of the Earth and Mars, as their nearest approach to each other is termed in astronomical language, took place last week with a maximum excitement on the part of the public and a minimum excitement on the part of astronomers. These oppositions occur about every 26 months, but every 15 or 16 years there is an opposition when the two bodies ate nearer each other than usual, and about every hundred years or so there is an opposition at which the two planets are extremely near together--about 34,600,000 miles. This occasion belonged to the last group.

The idea that there might be life-human life, animal life--on Mars, based on the existence of geometrical lines on the surface of the planet, led naturally to attempts to receive communications. Several radio stations, at the instance of Professor David Todd, of Amherst, were tempted to listen. Positive results were of course few. P:In Vancouver, a radio station heard a regular series of dashes or zipps every day at certain hours; these, however, were explained as signals from "radio beacons" set up by the U. S. to assist vessels at sea.

P:In Newark and in London, strange sounds were heard; they probably came either from amateur stations or from static or peculiarities in the apparatus.

P:At sea, the steamship France encountered an electric storm which upset radio communication, and the gullible press suggested "Mars!"

P:On the top of the Jungfrau, a Swiss scientist claimed to have seen flashes of yellow and green light from the planet, which might have been flashes of sunlight on mountain peaks.

In the main the results were decidedly negative. Some study of the planet was made from certain observatories. The Lowell Observatory at Flagstaff, Ariz., which "specializes in Mars," made observations in an effort to advance the tenets of the late Professor Percival Lowell that there is life on the planet, as evidenced by the existence of vegetation colors and the alleged canals. In general, astronomers displayed more interest in studying the satellites or moons, Phobos and Deimos (Fear and Dread), named after the mythological steeds of Mars' chariot. No new satellite was discovered, although at the Yerkes Observatory at Lake Geneva, Wis., conditions were very favorable for examining the satellites.

There is considerable dispute as to the exact conditions which pertain on Mars' surface, so that there is ample room for difference of opinion as to the possibility of life. Conditions are certainly different from those on the Earth, but it is just as impossible to say that there is no life as to say that there is. The evidence is circumstantial to a refined degree. But if there is life on Mars, it is in different form from that existing on the Earth. Some scientists are inclined to grant the existence of vegetable life, such as fungi, and to deny animal existence.

Sir Oliver Lodge's remarks fairly summarize the opinions of many scientists:

"The chances are that, taking any planet at random, it is unlikely that we should find on it anything akin to human life. That there is life of some sort on Mars is probable enough. Prof. Lowell's opinion about the canals may be doubted, but the evidence he adduces for vegetation is fairly acceptable.

"Moreover, there are many conditions on Mars like those of the Earth. Day and night are the same length, and the seasons are similar."

The picturesque French "savant"-- the name may properly be applied to him--Camille Flammarion (TIME, Aug. 11, BOOKS) was inclined, according to his nature, to take a more romantic view:

"When shall we get into communication with Mars? Why perhaps the Martians already have tried at the epoch of the iguanodon and the dinosaur and got tired.

"The fact of their existence is a natural conclusion from observations of their planet. By what miracle could the forces of Nature, existing under identical conditions, be sterile there and productive here? Their world is astonishingly like ours.

"Certainly there is less water. There are no great oceans there, as here, but rather little seas--Mediterraneans. The many spotted patches of dark green no doubt are caused by vegetation and marshes, with long, floating weeds, like the famous Sargasso, in which the descendants of Columbus lost themselves. There are cool, rosy dawns, scorching noons and golden sunsets, as with us, but more serene harmony.

"The Martians are happier than we are and much more intelligent. First, because their planet is several million years older than ours, and progress is the law; then, because they are less governed by matter, the gravity there being less. A man or woman of 150 pounds would weigh only 50 on Mars. "Besides, as the years are nearly twice as long, the Martian is only 50 when we are 94. Finally, the climate is more equable."