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gin --Very's researches on the moon's temperature --Application of these results to the case of Mars --Cause of great difference of temperatures of earth and moon --Special features of Mars influencing its temperature --Further criticism of Mr. Lowell's article --Very low temperature of arctic regions on Mars. CHAPTER VII. A SUGGESTION AS TO THE 'CANALS' OF MARS, --Special features of the canals --Mr. Pickering's suggested explanation --The meteoritic hypotheses of origin of planets --Probable mode of origin of Mars --Structural straight lines on the earth --Probable origin of the surface-features of Mars --Symmetry of basaltic columns --How this applies to Mars --Suggested explanation of the oases --Probable function of the great fissures --Suggested origin of blue patches adjacent to snow-caps --The double canals --Concluding remarks on the canals. CHAPTER VIII. PAGE SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION, --The canals the origin of Mr. Lowell's theory --Best explained as natural features --Evaporation difficulty not met by Mr. Lowell --How did Martians live without the canals --Radiation due to scanty atmosphere not taken account of --Three independent proofs of low temperature and uninhabitability of Mars --Conclusion. CHAPTER I. EARLY OBSERVERS OF MARS. Few persons except astronomers fully realise that of all the planets of the Solar system the only one whose solid surface has been seen with certainty is Mars; and, very fortunately, that is also the only one which is sufficiently near to us for the physical features of the surface to be determined with any accuracy, even if we could see it in the other planets. Of Venus we probably see only the upper surface of its cloudy atmosphere.[1] As regards Jupiter and Saturn this is still more certain, since their low density will only permit of a comparatively small proportion of their huge bulk being solid. Their belts are but the cloud-strata of their upper atmosphere, perhaps thousands of miles above their solid surfaces, and a somewhat similar condition seems to prevail in the far more remote planets Uranus and Neptune. It has thus happened, that, although as telescopic objects of interest and beauty, the marvellous rings of Saturn, the belts and ever-changing aspects of the satellites of Jupiter, and the moon-like phases of Venus, together with its extreme brilliancy, still remain unsurpassed, yet the greater amount of details of these feat
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