The planet Mars is the debatable ground between two opinions. Here, the two opposing views join issue; the controversy comes to a focus. The point in debate is whether certain markings--some linear, some circular--are natural or artificial. If, it is argued, some are truly like a line, without curve or break, as if drawn with pen, ink, and ruler; or others, so truly circular, without deviation or break, as if drawn with pen, ink, and compass; if, moreover, when we obtain more powerful telescopes, erected in better climates for observing, these markings become more truly lines and circles the better we see them; then they are _artificial_, not natural structures. But artificial structures imply artificers. And if the structures are so designed as to meet the needs of a living organism, it implies that the living organism that designed them must have a reasonable mind lodged in a natural body. If, then, the "lines" and "circles" that Prof. Lowell and his disciples assert to be artificial canals and oases are really such, they premise the order of being that we call Man. But these canals and oases also premise the liquid that we call Water--water that flows and water utilized in cultivation. In this chapter we will leave out of count the first premiss--Man--and only deal with what concerns the second premiss--Water; with water that flows and is utilized in vegetation. PLANETARY STATISTICS +--------------------------------------------++--------++---------------- | || Minor || Inner | ||Planets.|| +--------------------------------------------++--------++-------+-------+ | || Ceres || Moon |Mercury| +--------------------------------------------++--------++-------+-------+ |PROPORTIONS OF THE PLANETS:-- || || | | | Diameter in miles || 477 || 2163 | 3030 | | " [Symbol] = 1 || 0·06 || 0·273 | 0·383 | | Surface, [Symbol] = 1 || 0·004 || 0·075 | 0·147 | | Volume, [Symbol] = 1 || 0·0002|| 0·02 | 0·06 | | Density, Water = 1 || 2·8 ? || 3·39 | 4·72 | | " [Symbol] = 1 || 0·5 ? || 0·61 | 0·85 | | Mass, [Symbol] = 1 || 0·0001|| 0·012 | 0·048 | | Gravity at surface, [Symbol] = 1 || 0·028 || 0·17 | 0·33 | | Rate of Fall, Feet in the First Second || 0·45 || 2·73 | 5·30 | | Albedo || 0·14 || 0·17 | 0·14 | | || || | | |DETAILS OF ORBIT:-- || || | | | Mean Distance from Sun in millions of miles||257·1 ||92·9 |36·0 | | " " Earth's distance = 1 || 2·767 || 1·000 | 0·387 |