LtE in CMO #268

From Thomas A DOBBINS

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® . . . . . . . . Dear Masatsugu:

Yesterday I received a copy of a rather rare 1959 book of 131 pages entitled "Mars Revisited" by Donald Lee Cyr, acquired from a rare book dealer in Minneapolis, right in Bill Sheehan's "back yard." The author accepted Lowell's vision of tracts of vegetation, oases, and rectilinear canals that followed great circle paths. Like Clyde Tombaugh, he hypothesized that the oases marked the site of impact craters. However, Cyr went further, speculating that the craters were comparatively benign microclimates, and that the canals represented the migratory routes of some mobile grazing species. He suggested that their droppings rendered the soil more fertile, a phenomenon that is observed in the deserts of the American Southwest.

I have attached Cyr's charming and evocative illustration of Lowell's oasis Ascraeus Lucus, the great shield volcano Ascraeus Mons.

A brief biography of Cyr can be found at:

http://www.anomalist.com/milestones/cyr.html

Warmest regards,

(18 January 2003 email)

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Tom DOBBINS (Coshocton, OH, USA)

kmdobbins@coshocton.com

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