Show THE MARTIAN CONTROVERSY English astronomers and aud those scientists who are engaged n in the Lick university are at it teeth and nail Dan 0 oa on the question as a to whether or not Mars Mare is Ie i inhabited and up to the present stage tae of the polemic battle honors seem em to be about even Though Marais Main ii Is in the tha nearest proximity to earth of any of the planets the little matter ot of miles of space pace makes make It rather difficult for lor those residing on this globe lobe to witness the gambols of 01 the Martian schoolboys It if any thEre are The controversy cornel comes over the recent investigations of Prof W W Campbell at the Lick observatory as a re result of which it was waa given out that hat the professor or had discovered that Mars Mare had bad no atmosphere The NEWS took issue with this thil statement at the time and pointed 1 out that Mr Campbell bad had not achieved the result claimed for hint him It now appears by bl the tha professors professor's own fWD statements In inthe the controversy y going oinK on that be he does not Dot bold hold to the claim first made His Hl conclusions based upon investigations with the stated fated by him hima himas himM as a follows The First Pint The spectra of Mars Man and our moon observed under favorable f vor ble and identical circumstances seem eem to be iden iden- identical identical identical in every respect The atmospheric and aqueous Vapor Une lines which were observed in both spectra appear to be produced wholly by the elements element of ot the earths artha earth atmosphere The observations ob therefore furnish no evidence whatever of a Martian aqueous vapor The Second Second The observations do not prove that Mars has no atmosphere similar to our own but they set let a superior limit to the extent of such an atmosphere Sun Sunlight Sunlight light coming to us ne via Tia Mars Mare would pass twice either partially or completely through his nil atmosphere If an increase ot of 25 26 to 60 50 per cent in the thickness of our own atmosphere produces produce an ap- ap appreciable appreciable ap appreciable effect a possible Martian at- at atmosphere atmosphere at atmosphere one-fourth one as ae exten extensive lve as our own ought to be detected by the method employed Third Third Ir Man has ban an atmosphere of appreciable extent its ite absorptive effect should be noticed especially at the edge of the planet At the center of the disc of the planet we look directly through the thre supposed layer of atmos atmosphere here while at the edge edae we look through through it very ob- ob obliquely obliquely ob obliquely My observations do not show how any increased ed absorption at the edge This portion of the investigation greatly strengthens the view that Mars Mar does doea not haVe an extensive atmo atmosphere phere Upon this tola Prof E B S Holden HoldeD ot of the observatory announced that hat there were no inhabitants inhabitant on Mare Mar there there- therefore therefore therefore fore those who had been looking for the theman theman i man lOaD who was waa said to be ba signalling from the ruddy planet to tG the earth need not wa waste te their time in such a way ay On this point Prof Norman NormaD L Li the Royal College of Science in iD London took issue and proceeded to argue that Mars Man had an atmosphere and was wal io- io inhabited in inhabited habited and that hat it also produced trees tree and believed vegetation like lika the tha earth Ha He ba be be- be the lights se sego eau u on Mars Mare of 01 late lae were due to forest fore t fires Bree He Ha a also pointed poi out discoveries that led him bli to con conclude lude the tha atmosphere of Mars Mare was precisely like our own therefore b he regarded Prof Holden Holdan as a being belna on 08 o othe the off oft track At this Prof point Campbell often offers a suggestion en on his own observations He says say that be he discovered mountains on Mars Mare feet fert in height hi his bla ob- ob observations observations ob observations of the atmosphere there were that its it density is I only thirty thirty- eight hundredths hundred as great rea a aa as that ot of our oar rowe own ow tt and aDd he be says this conclusion II decidedly opposed to the view that Mars Mare is inhabited by beings like Uke our our- ourselves our ourselves selves selve He goes OB on to say lay however bowe It is II of course not claimed that ba Mar Mare is II uninhabited Bo So far aa as we knout it may even support a tion superior to our own Taken all together it is clear olear that hat no DO definite conclusion can oan be arrived t at by scientists scientist further than that hat in b the theare are sent state of discovery ery they do aO not oot know anything about the ba occupancy pancy of the neighboring planet T assertion of Prof Holden that there than is Ia putdown no DO man on Mar Mars Man must be therefore pa put p down dOWD as a an a assumption unsupported ed edby by any aDY known fact and aad of 01 that 0 Class which as al comIng from Irom scientists 00 more harm barm than good 1000 because in them there I is a pretense of knowledge that bu thatis le Is not possessed The astronomers have bave not Dot learned earn d enough yet to lay whether or not Mare Mar i is inhabited and while information on that point based cI on scientific Investigation oB and Lion Uon might be ba very Ue desirable and aDd val v l positive e a assertions one ona way W or orthe orthe the other in the absence of definite proof do not tend to Inspire confidence In ID the work of those thOle who make maka them |