When some scientist~or other is not arguing as to whether Mars is inhabited or not, someone else is wondering whether, if there are beings on that planet, they resemble men or women in any way. Mr. Hudson Maxim in a letter to the "Scientific American" thinks the chances of the Martian being similar to the human being are markably small. "They are just as likely to reserable straddle-bugs, jets or ground moles as they are to resemble us" is his theory, which he bases upon the comparatively small causes which have effected evolution upon this earth. For instance, "Had a decisive battle between some apes ended differently, no human being might ever have been born." Or, "Had the snapping jaws of some pri-cordial alligator not happened to mina Attn a miss some old ape ancestor of ours, the line of evolution might have been broken or its course diverted." What does it matter whether there is any sentient life on Mars, or not? If we had our way there would be. Mars would be peopled with those scientists who must continually harp upon our unfortunate origin and all the other people who pull our evolutional skeletons out of the cupboards to give them an occasional academical polishing.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.