JF Ptak Science Books Post 2760
I wanted to amend a post from last week, “The Found-Poetry in Erasing Straight Lines from Maps of Mars (1909)”, which described the work of Eugene Michele Antoniadi and his superb observational and theoretical work of 1909 in describing the planet Mars. He had a very writerly way about him, more creative and conversational than most people who were writing on scientific subjects. In particular he was very gentlemanly in public and private correspondents who held opinions different from his observation facts about what was going on on Mars.
In this 1913 paper1 in the journal Popular Astronomy, Antoniadi drives a very good-natured but very sharp spike into whatever it was that was left of the quivering heart of the collective who believed in (1) canals on Mars and (2) well, Martians. He gets to it right away, addressing the “wonderful phenomena” of overnight growth and decline in the numbers and dimensions of canals, the explanation for which escaped reason; for the Mars/canals believers “...the vast powers of Nature were found totally inadequate...” and so had to resort to more colorful and dramatic explanations to suit their needs:
“Canals scores of miles wide, and hundreds of miles long, were observed in a few days, or even hours, to double, either by the formation of a parallel band, or by the disappearance of the original canal, and by the formation of two new parallel streaks separated by hundreds of miles. Nor were hesitations in these doublings neglected to be put on record, since canals were seen to be alternately single and double on the same night.
"To account for these wonderful phenomena, the vast powers of Nature were found totally inadequate; and thus it was that Schiaparelli was led to enunciate the idea of the artificial origin of the canals, conceiving the larger of them to be composed of six different watercourses, whose dykes would be opened now and then by the Martian minister of agriculture.”--pg 417
Antoniadi announced that these “speculations” of life and canals on Mars “have failed to do the utmost with their cherished idea”, and that on the face of it in order to accommodate one difficult aspect disagreeing with their theories—the appearance and disappearance of canals that “the Martian engineers would be constantly digging and destroying their watercourses”.
“Speculations of such a character were eagerly embraced by M. Flammarion and other popular Continental writers. Yet it is to be regretted that the originator of this artificial theory, and his imitatore failed to do the utmost with their cherished idea. For, inasmuch as the canals appear straight about the central meridian, and also when carried by rotation near the limb, it is obvious that the Martian engineers would be constantly engaged in rapidly digging and destroying their watercourses, so as to make them look always straight to the observers on the earth. “pp 417-418
He then discusses that the canals disappear under more powerful telescopes than those less-powerful preferred by the Canal people, and then devastates the idea of the “deceitful” nature of the discoveries by showing the imagery of the two instruments side-by-side, announcing at the end that the canal outlook “has been defeated, both by theory and by observation”:
“The student who passes many consecutive hours in the study of Mars with medium-sized instruments, is liable to catch rare glimpses of straight lines, single or double, generally lasting about one quarter of a second ...Here we have a vindication of Schiaparelli's discoveries. But their deceitful character will obtrude itself on
the observer using a large telescope, when, in the place of the lines, he will hold steadily, either a winding, knotted, irregular band, or the jagged edge of a half-tone, or some other complex detail... In their anxiety to prop their views against natural law, believers in the reality of the linear canals have presumed to champion the alleged superiority of small over large telescopes; and this either in revealing planetary detail, or in separating close double stars. But the attempt has been defeated, both by theory and observation...”--p 420
And finally, the epitaph is inscribed:
“Some observers will continue proclaiming the superiority of small telescopes. Ponderous volumes will still be written to record the discovery of new canals. But the astronomer of the future will sneer at these wonders; and the canal fallacy, after retarding progress for a third of a century, is doomed to be relegated into the myths of the past.”--p 424
There was no room for a side-door escape for the Canal-believers in this paper as was the more mellow and accommodating paper of 1909. No prisoners in 1913.
Notes:
1. E.M. Antoniadi, "considerations on the Physical Appearance of the Planet Mars", in Popular Astronomy, 1913, volume 21, pp 416-424.
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