WCP5730

[1] [p. 177]

TO MR. F. BIRCH¹

Sept. 12, 1907.

Dear Fred, — … For the last two or three months I have had a hard struggle with Mars — not the god of war, but the planet — writing a small book, chiefly criticising Lowell's² last book, called "Mars and its Canals,"³ published less than a year back by Macmillan, who will also publish my reply.⁴ I think it is crushing, but it has cost me a deal of trouble, as Lowell has also printed a long and complex mathematical article⁵ trying to prove that though Mars receives less than half the sun-heat we do, yet it is very nearly as warm and quite habitable! But his figures and arguments are alike so shaky and involved that I cannot get any of my mathematical friends to tackle it or point out his errors. However, I think I have done it myself by the rules of common sense… — Your sincere friend, | ALFRED R. WALLACE.