a greater depth of water, or the advance of
the season had darkened them with a heavier growth of vegetation.

[Illustration: MARS SEEN WITH A FIVE-INCH TELESCOPE.]

The phenomena mentioned above are about all that a small telescope will
reveal. Occasionally a dark streak, which large instruments show is
connected with the mysterious system of "canals," can be detected, but
the "canals" themselves are far beyond the reach of any telescope except
a few of the giants handled by experienced observers. The conviction
which seems to have forced its way into the minds even of some
conservative astronomers, that on Mars the conditions, to use the
expression of Professor Young, "are more nearly earthlike than on any
other of the heavenly bodies which we can see with our present
telescopes," is sufficient to make the planet a center of undying
interest notwithstanding the difficulties with which the amateur is
confronted in his endeavors to see the details of its markings.

THE ILLUMINATION OF VENUS'S ATMOSPHERE AT THE BEGINNING OF HER TRANSIT
ACROSS THE SUN.

In Venus "the fatal gift of beauty" may be said, as far as our
observations are concerned, to be matched by the equally fatal gift of
brilliance. Whether it be due to atmospheric reflection alone or to the
prevalence of clouds, Venus is so bright that considerable doubt exists
as to the actual visibility of any permanent markings on her surface.
The detailed representations of the disk of Venus by Mr. Percival
Lowell, showing in some respects a resemblance to the stripings of Mars,
can not yet be accepted as decisive. More experienced astronomers than
Mr. Lowell have been unable to see at all things which he draws with a
fearless and unhesitating pencil. That there are some shadowy features
of the planet's surface to be seen in favourable circumstances is
probable, but the time for drawing a "map of Venus" has not yet come.

The previous work of Schiaparelli lends a certain degree of probability
to Mr. Lowell's observations on the rotation of Venus. This rotation,
according to the original announcement of Schiaparelli, is probably
performed in the same period as the revolution around the sun. In other
words, Venus, if Schiaparelli and Lowell are right, always presents the
same side to the sun, possessing, in consequence, a day hemisphere and a
night hemisphere which never interchange places. This condition is so
antagonistic to all our ideas of what constitutes habitab