Page:Is Mars habitable - Wallace 1907.djvu/71

52 I must refer to, as it is a point to which I have given much attention. Not only does Mr. Lowell assume, as in his book, that the 'snows' of Mars consist of frozen water, and that therefore there is water on its surface and water-vapour in its atmosphere, not only does he ignore altogether Dr. Johnstone Stoney's calculations with regard to it, which I have already referred to, but he uses terms that imply that water-vapour is one of the heavier components of our atmosphere. The passage is at p. 168 of the Philosophical Magazine. After stating that, owing to the very small barometric pressure in Mars, water would boil at 110°F., he adds: "The sublimation at lower temperatures would be correspondingly increased. Consequently the amount of water-vapour in the Martian air must on that score be relatively greater than our own." Then follows this remarkable passage: "Carbon-dioxide, because of its greater specific gravity, would also be in relatively greater amount so far as this cause is considered. For the planet would part, cæteris paribus, with its lighter gases the quickest. Whence as regards both water-vapour and carbon-dioxide we have reason to think them in relatively greater quantity than in our own air at corresponding barometric pressure."

I cannot understand this passage except as implying that 'water-vapour and carbon-dioxide' are among the heavier and not among the lighter gases