star in those skies when the planet
was in the most favourable position for viewing it. He used to watch the
earth pass through its various phases, the same as we see Venus; and as
time went on he had a strong feeling or intuition that, at some unknown
period, he had been upon, or in some way connected with, the earth!

This feeling became more and more intense, so that his thoughts were
constantly directed towards our world, and ultimately he became firmly
convinced that he had once lived upon the earth.

He told us, amongst other things, that the Martians possess senses and
powers which we do not possess, and know nothing of. For instance, he
said that any Martian of ordinary intelligence always knew what was in
the mind of any one with whom he was speaking; therefore any attempt to
prevaricate or mislead was folly and useless. In some cases this power
extended over a long distance, and the thoughts of others could be read
as easily as when they were close at hand. So for this reason, and not
only because it is considered wrong, prevarication is never practised on
Mars.

Again, a Martian can transmit his thoughts over any distance upon the
planet, and influence thereby any one whom he could influence in
ordinary conversation.

Some, who had given especial attention to the training and development
of this faculty, could even transmit their thoughts to other worlds; but
the influence exercised in such cases depended entirely upon whether the
inhabitants of other worlds had attained not only a sufficient degree of
intelligence, but also the power to assimilate and make use of such
outside influences, either consciously or unconsciously.

Having become convinced that he had once lived upon the earth, his
interest in it was greatly intensified, and he felt a consuming desire
to know more. He therefore used his utmost endeavours to train and
develop his faculties, with a view to finding out something more
definite. His uncle was informed of his desires in this respect, as well
as of his reasons for them; and he placed Merna under the tuition of
two Martians who had developed these special faculties to the highest
degree then possible.

After pursuing this course of instruction and training for some time,
Merna found that he was gradually becoming more and more acquainted with
details of his former life, and was also gradually relearning the
language he had spoken upon the earth.

Soon he was able to recall from his