Page:Is Mars habitable - Wallace 1907.djvu/127

 of our own; in either case corresponding to an altitude far greater than that of our highest mountains. Surely this phenomenon, everywhere manifested on the earth even under the equator, of a regular decrease of temperature with altitude, the only cause of which is a less dense atmosphere, should have been fairly grappled with, and some attempt made to show why it should not apply to Mars, except the weak remark that on a level surface it will not have the same effect as on exposed mountain heights. But it does have the same effect, or very nearly so, on our lofty plateaux often hundreds of miles in extent, in proportion to their altitude. Quito, at 9350 ft. above the sea, has a mean temperature of about 57°F., giving a lowering of 23° from that of Manaos at the mouth of the Rio Negro. This is about a degree for each 400 feet, while the general fall for isolated mountains is about one degree in 340 feet according to Humboldt, who notes the above difference between the rate of cooling for altitude of the plains—or more usually sheltered valleys in which the towns are situated—and the exposed mountain sides. It will be seen that this lower rate would bring the temperature of Mars at the equator down to 20°F. below the freezing point of water from this cause alone.