Editorial note — Chapter XV · THE CANALS

As some misrepresentation has been made on this subject through misapprehension of the writer’s observations on Venus and Mercury, it may be well to state that the tenuous markings on both these other planets entirely lack the unnatural regularity distinguishing the canals of Mars. The Venusian lines are hazy, ill-defined, and non-uniform; the Mercurian broken and irregular, suggesting cracks. Neither resemble the Martian in marvelous precision, and have never been called canals by the writer nor by Schiaparelli, but solely by those who have not seen them and have misapprehended their character and look.