Miscellaneous - This Day That Age   

dated September 19, 1955: Living matter on Mars

The National Geographic Society announced on September 17 that what was believed to be living matter had been sighted on the planet Mars. The Society referred in its announcement to "the greatest change in Martian geography since the planet was first mapped 125 years ago." The matter, believed to be living vegetation, was photographed as a vast blue green area covering about 200,000 square miles. The discovery was credited to Dr. E.C. Slipher, leader of the National Geographic Lowell Observatory Expedition which photographed Mars from South Africa last year. Dr. Slipher alone took more than 20,000 photographs. The announcement said the discovery of the new area near the planet's great Thoth Canal was totally unexpected. It added, "Never before has such a new dark splotch appeared except as an increase of an existing dark area. It helped to come to the conclusion that Mars is not a dead world.''

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