Least of all would a layman ridicule or question the painstaking labor involved in astronomic work, though he cannot see a glimmer of light or intelligence in the enigmatical pages. A certain class of astronomers might take a lesson from an intelligent public in ceasing to scoff and ridicule what they are unable to see themselves in the Martian markings. The chief work of these men indicates the cold precise measuring of points of light in the heavens, the determination of orbits, elements and ephemeris of heavenly bodies, the determination of solar parallax, etc., most of the subjects strictly mathematical, a question of careful measurements for which the necessary instruments are at hand, or simply sweeping the heavens for a new variable, binary or asteroid. Parallaxes and orbits are matters of measurement to be reckoned by the figures of anybody else. It is obvious from all this that little or no interest is manifested by astronomers in planetary markings, least of all in those of Mars. The exasperating feature of the matter is that they persistently repudiate the observation of others equally well equipped, and endowed with the same enthusiasm and devotion to their work. The way in which the gatherers of the raw material arrogate to themselves the science of astronomy, relegating the thinkers and generalizers to the limbo of speculation, is as if the book-keepers of a corporation should assume themselves to be the master-minds of the concern and the banker, or financier, at the head of it, a dreamer not worth regarding.