When one speaks of Martians one is pat to think of those canal builders, those beings who, if we were to accept Mr. Lowell’s remarkably well-sustained conclusions, no irrigate with melting polar snows and cultivate what were once the ocean beds of their drying planet.
But, after all, they can not live there alone; they can be but a part of the natural history of Mars in just the same way that man is but a part of the natural history of the earth. They must have been evolved from other related types; and so we must necessarily give our attention to the general fauna and flora of this other world we are invading in imagination before we can hope to deal at all reasonably with the ruling species.
It is plausible, at any rate, to suppose that on Mara also. If there is life, green chlorophyl will lie at the base of the edifice; In other words, that there will be a vegetable kingdom.
We know enough to say now that the vegetable forms with which we are familiar upon earth would not “do,” as people say, on Mars, and we can even indicate in general terms In what manner they would differ. They would not do because, firstly, the weight of things at the surface of Mars is not half what It would be upon earth; and, secondly, the general atmospheric conditions are very different. Whatever else they may be, the Martian herbs and trees must be adapted to these conditions.
The great danger for a plant In a dry air Is desiccation, we may expect Martian leaves to have thick cuticles. Just as the cactus has. Moreover, since moisture will come to the Martian plant, as Mr. Lowell shows, mainly from below, and not as rain from above, coming In seasonal floods from the melting of the snow-cap, the typical Martian plant will probably be tall, and have Its bunches and clusters of spiky blue-green leaves upon uplifting reedy stalks.
Of course, there will be an Infinite variety of species of plants upon Mars as upon the earth, but these will be the general characteristics of the vegetation.
Now, this conception of the Martian vegetation as mainly of big, slender, stalky, lax-textured, flood-fed plants, with great shocks of fleshy, needle shaped or formless leaves above, and no doubt with as various a display of flowers and fruits as our earthly flora, prepares the ground for the consideration of the Martian animals.
Everyone nowadays knows how closely related is the structure of every animal to the food it consumes. Different food, different animals, has axiomatic value; and the very peculiar nature of the Martian flora is in Itself sufficient to dispel the idea of our meeting beasts with any close analogy to terrestrial species. We shall find no flies nor sparrows, nor dogs nor cats on Mars.
Still, there is plenty of justification if an artist were to draw a sort of butterfly or moth fluttering about, or ant-like creatures scampering up and down the stems of a Martian forest Jungle. Many of them, perhaps, will have sharp proboscides to pierce the tough cuticle of the plants.
But—and here is a curious difference—there are perhaps no fish or fishllke creatures on Mars at all. In the long Martian winter all the water seems to drift to the poles and freeze there as now, or freeze as ice along the watercourses; there are only-flood lakes and water-canals in spring and summer. And so forms of life that trusted to gills, or any method of under-water breathing, must have been exterminated upon Mars ages ago.
The Martian air is thinner and drier than ours, and we conclude, therefore, that there is still more need than on earth for well-protected, capacious lungs. It follows that the Martian
fauna will run to large chests. Here, then, is one indication for a picture of a Martian animal—it must be built with more lung space than the corresponding terrestrial form.
And the same reason that will make the vegetation laxer and flimsier will make the forms of the Martian animal kingdom laxer and flimsier, and either larger or else slenderer than earthly types
Since the Martian vegetation has become adapted to seasoned flood conditions there will be not only fliers and climbers, but waders—long-legged forms. Well, here we get something —filers, climbers, and waders, with a sort of backbone Now let us bring In another fact, the fact that the Martian year is just twice the length of ours, and alternates between hot summer sunshine—like the sunshine we experience on high mountains—and
a long, frost-bitten winter. The day too. has the length of a terrestrial day. and because of the thin air will have Just the quick changes from heat to cold we find on this planet upon
the higher mountains.
This means that all these birds and beasts must be adapted to great changes of temperature. To meet that they must he covered by some thick, air-holding, non-conducting covering. something analogous to fur or feathers, which they can thin out in summer and renew for the winter’s bitterness.
And now as to the ruling Inhabitants who made the gigantic canal system of Mars, those creatures of human or superhuman intelligence who. unless Mr. Lowell Is no more than a fantastic visionary, have taken Mars in hand to rule and order and cultivate systematically and completely, as I believe some day man will take this earth.
How far are these ruling beings likely to resemble terrestrial humanity?
Well, there are certain features In which they are likely to resemble us. The quasi-mammalian origins we have supposed for them Imply a quasihuman appearance. They will probably have heads and eyes and back boned bodies; and since they must have big brains because of their high intelligence, and since almost all creatures with big brains tend to have them forward in their heads near their eyes, these Martians will probably have big. shapely skulls, but their bodies will in all likelihood be larger in size than humanity, two and two-third times, perhaps, the mass of a man. That does not mean, however. that they will be two and two thirds as tall; but allowing for the laxer texture of things on Mars, it may be that they will he half as tall again when standing up. And as likely as not they will be covered with feathers or fur.
There can be no doubt of the immense part the development of the hand has played in the education of the human intelligence. So that it would be quite natural to imagine the Martians as big-headed, deep-chested bipeds, grotesquely caricaturing humanity with arms and hands.
But that is only one of several almost equally plausible possibilities. One thing we may rely upon that the Martians must have some prehensile organ, primarily because the development of intelligence is almost unthinkable without it; and secondly, because in no other way could they get their engineering done. It is stranger to our imaginations, but no less reasonable, to suppose, instead of a hand, an elephant-like proboscis, or a group of tentacles or proboscis like organs.
Finally, here is a thought that may be reassuring to any reader who finds these Martians alarming: If a man was transferred suddenly to the surface of Mars, he would find himself
immensely exhilarated—so soon as he had got over a slight mountain-sickness. He would weigh not a half what he does upon earth. He would prance and leap; he would lift twice
his utmost earthly burden with ease. But if a Martian came to earth his weight would bear him down like a cope of lead. He would weigh two and two-thirds of his Martian weight, and probably he would find existence insufferable. His limbs would not support him. Perhaps he would die, self crushed, at once.
H. G. WELLS.