not.

"When Professor Lowell first took up the work of Martian observation
only 113 lines had been discovered by Schiaparelli, but the number has
gradually been added to from time to time, as the result of the work
done at Flagstaff Observatory and elsewhere, and has now reached a total
of considerably more than 600, the lines forming a fine network
extending all over the planet.

"Mr. Slipher, who accompanied Professor Todd's expedition to Alianza in
Chili, at the opposition of 1907, together with the observers at
Flagstaff, discovered no less than 85 new canals, including some
doubles, nearly all being in the more southern portions of the southern
hemisphere.

"In addition to the discovery of so many fine lines, we also owe to the
acumen of Professor Lowell a reasonable explanation of what they really
are. Schiaparelli termed them 'canali,' an Italian term for 'channels,'
but, popularly, this soon became corrupted into the term 'canals,' and
this has turned out to be a much more appropriate word than such
corruptions usually are.

[Illustration: _From a Globe made by M. Wicks_ Plate IX

MARS. MAP II

The Solis Lacus is seen as an oval patch near the top, and many long
canals, some double, are shown. A very large proportion of the area on
this map is desert land.]

CHAPTER XI

THE GREAT MARTIAN CONTROVERSY (_continued_)

"As the result of very long continued and systematic observation of the
lines on Mars, together with carefully plotting them down on a globe, it
was found that every line was continuous, uniform in width, and went
straight from one definite point to another, not one breaking off in
open space. Moreover, on being tested, nearly all were found to be arcs
of great circles, and therefore the shortest possible lines which could
connect any two points on a sphere. This fact strongly supports the idea
that they are not natural but artificial formations. For a long time the
lines were only seen on the red, or lighter, parts of the planet, but in
1892 an expedition was sent from Harvard Observatory to Arequipa, in
Peru, for the purpose of observing the planet under very favourable
conditions, and this resulted in important discoveries. Professor W.H.
Pickering, who accompanied the expedition, was fortunate enough to
observe that the canal lines extended over the dark or blue-green
portions of the disc; and later observations have proved that this is
the case all over the planet, and the line