Life on Mars, c. 1900: Rainmakers and Unicorns April 20, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback
In 1897 one Mr West of Shirland Road, Paddington London began a series of seances to discover the truth about life on Mars. H.G.Wells’ War of the Worlds had just come out and perhaps the ‘spirits’ wanted to calm human fears about the red-skinned ones. In any case, a Martian named Silver Pearl offered to give West a quick tour of her home planet presumably remotely. She described the geography and climate of the planet to the inhabitants of the ‘Weeping World’, the Martian name for Earth, and then she described her neighbours and friends. It is almost an uncanny (go figure) combination of late nineteenth-century theosophy and contemporary scientific views (Lowell etc) of life on Mars (see for example the rain-makers). There is also a certain amount of late nineteenth-century socialism (common in theosophy): smiling redistribution with a nod to the heavens.
Of the inhabitants of Mars, it is said that they never eat animal food, but they use the mammoth as a beast of burden. Their horses are like our cobs, but are of a slate-violet colour. Their cattle are small, with one horn. Their wool is taken from the fleece of an animal that resembles the cross between sheep and goat. The inhabitants eat fish, and kill animals for the sake of their skin and gelatine, but the carcass is consumed by the flashes of electricity [!!?!]. They eat very little bread, which is made of grain like wheat, which grows in rows like peas in pod, but without the pod. Rain-makers flourish, and the population is given up to something resembling our Spiritualism. Everything is on a smaller scale on Mars, excepting the length of life, which lasts for about 160 years our reckoning. They are clairvoyant naturally, and have learned to fly, although not for very long distances. They also glide over water as if it were dry land. War has been abolished on Mars. The Government is a Theocracy. The planets are divided into twelve States, each ruled by a leader, who in return receives instruction from the angelic world. No Martian owns any personal property, nor is there any money in circulation, excepting between State and State. Cities and towns are known as families and brotherhoods. All necessities and luxuries of life are distributed according to the needs of the individual, just as in a family. They have factories and manufacturies, of which the motors are driven by the tides, which there are very many more than on our planet.
The original readings appeared in Borderlands and there were reportedly photographs of Martians! Can anyone help get these up where they belong on interstellar web? drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com
