“If vegetation exists on Mars, as Prof. Lowell would have us feel, the existence of a flora is ground for suspecting a fauna. On Mars we locate ourselves confronted in the canals and oases by exactly the visual appearance which the planet must exhibit if it is an inhabited globe. Dearth of water is the essential to the character of the canals. The only offered water on Mars is that coming from the semi-once-a-year melting at the 1 or the other cap of snow. If there are intelligent beings on Mars, they need to locate some indicates of conducting the scant offer of water from the poles to the facilities of populations.”

—Scientific American, July 1907

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