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Show VENUS. IT MIS IS SIGNALING, KVHi Smithsonian Professor Gives! Opinion on Strange Sounds Heard Over Wireless I WASHINGTON. Jan. 29. (By the Assoolaled Press.) If wireless messages mes-sages are being received on earth from some other planet, as suggested by William Marconi, it is not iMars sending send-ing the signals, but most probably Venus, says Dr, C. B. Abbott,, director of the Smithsonian astrophysicnl observatory ob-servatory and assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Abbott makes no claim that tho mysterious signals do come from any planet, but says if they do Mars is eliminated as a possibility because known conditions on that planet probably prob-ably would not permit the existence of any form of living creature. "In the first place." says Dr. Abbott Ab-bott "on account of the greater distance, dis-tance, nearly two and one-half times leori radiation from the sun reaches Mais than reaches the earth. It is probably nearly 100 per cent colder on the average on that distant planet than on the earth. Knowing whar low i temperatures occur on this earth in the course of the winter season. St will J readily be realized what 100 degrees 'colder "would mean. In the second iplaee even If any form of life could I withstand that degree of cold, it Is der-ilnitcly der-ilnitcly known by the investigations of jDinctor Campbell of Lick observatory .lha there is practically no water vapor va-por in the atmosphere surrounding Mar?, which fact crosses out tho possibility pos-sibility of that planet's supporting any vegetation or other form of food for living creatures. About Mars Canals. "The polar caps which are seen on Mar? may be either hoar frost from m minute traces of water vapor in the Martian atmosphere, or what Is quite as possible, frozen carbonic acid gas. Tho so-called 'canals' of Mars are non-existant except as Indefinite markings according to such telescopic observers as Barnard, Hale and others who have observed with great telescopes tele-scopes under well-nigh perfect conditions. condi-tions. "But, it Is objected, there may be other strange forms 'of beings which need no water or vegetation or heat. This is also reduced to Impossibility by the fact that all living things aro imade up largely of different com-I com-I pounds of carbon. While the stellar on all heavenly bodies, the chemical combinations of this element such as are required for life mostly require j temperatures above freezing to pre-i pre-i vent rigidity. So the extremely low I temperatures on Mars, probably never higher than zero, would not aliow the I carbon compounds to exist In a condition condi-tion suitable for originating life, i Venus Has Life. I "Tho planet Venus, on the other (hand, shows every condition necessary for maintaining life. It is nearly the same size as the earth and is oven I nearer the sun than the earth is. This I would apparently make the climate considerably holler on Venus, except for the fact that the atmosphere surrounding sur-rounding Venus is continually cloudy. 'This universal cloudiness, by reflect-!lng reflect-!lng the radiation from the sun, reduces the temperature to about the same range as that experienced here jn the earth. This cloudiness also shows a 'sufficient amount of water vapor to support vegetation and higher forms of life on the planet Venus. As re-jgards re-jgards the possibility of receiving wire-less wire-less messages from another plane', Ve-Inus Ve-Inus at its nearest npproach to the earth is twenty-five million miles away, whereas Mars is at least 50,000,-000. 50,000,-000. ! "From these considerations, It may be concluded that if any planet is try-jing try-jing to signal our earth, It is Venus and I not Mars. It can be definitely proved jthat Mars is unsuited for maintaining any form of lite, while with the conditions condi-tions prevailing on Venus it is reason-jable reason-jable to believe that planet mqy be pop-Uilatod pop-Uilatod by beings fairly similar to our-, our-, selves." ' j LONDON, Jan. 20. William -Mar 'coni. the Inventor, has informed the Daily Mall that the period for investi-j investi-j gating tho sounds caught on various wireless apparatus will include April !21 when Mars is nearest to the earth. 'He says, however, that undue stress 'should not be placed on this date as a few thousand miles would not likely make any appreciable difference in recording re-cording signals. STOCKHOLM, Jan.' 29. Professor Arrheims of the chair of physics In the technical institute, in a statement today relative to the sounds that have been received on tho wireless plants in England, says he read a statement of a similar occurrence in tho German press a year ago Ho does not think the theory that the sounds come from the planets is worthy of serious consideration con-sideration and believes il is more probable prob-able that the wireless apparatus may have been Influenced by the sun. Steinmetz Interviewed NEW YORK, Jan. 29. Wireless communication with Mars is "not at all Improbable," Dr. Charles P. Steinmetz, Stein-metz, inventor and a leading authority on electric waves and power, declared in a statement hero tonight. He said that this could probably be done by the consolidation of all the electrical power in the country into one great sconding station at the cost of about $1,000,000,000. Lorty towers at least 1,000 feet high would have to bo erected, he added, in order to transmit the messages to the plnnet which never comes any nearer tho earth than 50,000,000 miles and at certain periods is 250,000,000 miles away. Could Succeed "If the. United States would go Into the effort to send messages to Mars with the same degree of intensity and thoroughness with which wo went into the war, continued Dr, Steinmetz, "It Ik not at all Improbable that the plan would succeed." The inventor urged that the mysterious myster-ious messages received at the various station be recorded. He explained that If a number of them were received receiv-ed with the "same degrco of intensity" In different par,ts of the world and were of greater "wave length" than required for "our greatest earth messages," mes-sages," it would then be "reasonable to suppose that they must have come from some point outsido of tho earth." He said that If Mars was "trying to communicate with this world It is. doubtful If it would ever be possible; I to decipher the code, but it would bei satisfaction "to know that one planet j could send messages to the othor and ; that "intelligent beings were inhabit-j ing the planet from which they calne.' i , "We know about Mars." he added, "to assume that the Inhabitants there, for the plauot has snow and air and allj the requirements for human oecu i pancy, would very likely be the first to send messages from one planet to I another. It is a much older planet than ours and therefore its inhabitants, ought to be farther advanced in intelligence intel-ligence and scientific investigation." i |
