THE planet Mars which is now attracting worldwide attention, may well be termed the planet of romance, since it is enveloped in a mysterious charm, giving the imagination full sway. Some romanticists like Flammarion have pictured the inhabitants of Mars as winged creatures, though whether they arc of the nature of bird, bat or butterfly the French scientist has not at tempted to decide.
It is a strange coincidence, however, that the outlines of the darker portions of the surface of the planet, as delineated by Prof. Percival Lowell of the Flagstaff observatory, Arizona, show a remarkable resemblance to huge batlike creatures apparently floating in the Martian atmosphere. Once the attention is drawn to the strange outlines the wonder is that these seeming aeroplanes of batlike appearance have so far escaped detection. Since flights of imagination regarding Mars seem to be in the ascendant at present owing to the fact that the planet will be at its nearest, and consequently well .placed for observation, during the month of September of this year, may one be permitted to weave the following fanciful theory around the planet of romance?
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May not these huge batlike outlines be airships constructed by the Martians for use in the hour of direst need, in which they ascend above the surface of their planet when they know the springtime floods are due? Just as the Egyptians of old fled from certain regions on the banks of the Nile when they observed Sirius, the dogstar, rising in the morning sky before dawn, warning them of the approaching flood, so the gradual melting of the icecap must be in the nature of a signal to the Martians to embark on their aeroplanes and airships.
excerpt from the The San Francisco Call, October 03, 1909
