French zoologist who made a detailed description of the Martians (9 photos)

The Red Planet has aroused interest, perhaps, since its discovery. This has been and continues to be reflected in a variety of cultural trends. More often - works of the fantasy genre.





Long before the advent of rovers and serious attempts to descend to its surface, Mars was already a source of true awe. A French zoologist played a significant role in this, who was the first to suggest what our brothers in mind look like.



Jean Octave Edmond Perrier

Jean Octave Edmond Perrier (1844 - 1921) was not a fool or a madman. The French zoologist, known for his work on invertebrates and his marine expeditions to explore life in the benthic zone, was widely recognized as one of the leading experts in the field of marine fauna. At various times he was a member of the Academy of Sciences, director of the Jardin des Plantes Museum in Paris, chairman of the Zoological Society of France and a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

In other words, he was not some weirdo, but an authoritative scientist who occupied a leading position in his field. He was also very interested in evolutionary biology, including the theories of Charles Darwin and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, which coincided with his interest in Mars. Perrier took advantage of the popularity of Mars at the time and used his knowledge of evolution and zoology to make perhaps one of the first attempts to depict aliens.





Of course, Mars has always been a hot topic and the subject of numerous scientific speculations. But before Perrier there was not even a rough description of what Martians might look like. He was convinced that life existed on the Red Planet, including flowers and trees. And he went further, trying to scientifically substantiate what the Martians themselves should look like. To do this, he took into account various factors such as the atmosphere, temperature, day length, weather conditions and gravity of Mars to try to deduce how Martians might have evolved. Although knowledge of these factors at the time was limited at best, which meant he was working with incorrect information to begin with. For example, about conditions on Mars, Perrier said that the average temperature is 40 degrees Fahrenheit, although summers are warmer than on Earth, that it rains, snows and hails, that “the vegetation is luxurious,” and many animal species are similar to those on Earth, including fish, and insects, although they are all larger due to lower gravity. This is what he said about life on Mars in general:

A year on Mars is twice as long as on Earth, which means plants and insects have twice as much time to evolve. Mars is the land of huge plants and perfect flowers, birds with amazingly strong and melodious singing and outlandish appearance, as well as four-legged animals with unusually thick beautiful fur and thick skin.



When trying to describe the Martians, he took into account the amount of "fierce light" the planet received, as well as atmospheric pressure, gravitational conditions and other factors. For example, since gravity was lower on Earth, he suggested that Martians were very tall, twice as tall as humans, with long, slender limbs and almost no neck. He also believed that their ears were larger to allow them to hear better in thin atmospheres, their jaws were narrower, and their hair was lighter due to less intense light. He wrote about the appearance of Martians in the New York Times in 1912:

People on Mars are tall because gravity is weaker. They are blonde because daylight is less intense. They have less powerful limbs. They have some features of the Scandinavian type, although they probably have a larger skull. They are approximately twice the size of humans, with huge noses and large protruding eyes. Their eyes are probably blue and their hair is almost white. They have no neck or waist, very prominent ears, large heads and bodies supported by very thin legs and very small feet. The low atmospheric pressure led to a significant development of the pulmonary apparatus, and, consequently, the general character of the Martians was influenced by this development, unknown on Earth.



Perrier firmly believed that Martian society and technology were much more advanced than those on Earth. He believed that they had no wars, no poverty, no laws, no centralized government because they lived in complete harmony. Perrier portrayed them as a benevolent and altruistic society, full of wisdom and understanding, and said the following about it:

Being older, they are also wiser than us. They have long conquered illness and know the hour of their death, calmly awaiting this event. They have overcome poverty, are too sophisticated to go to war, and do not need laws or government to maintain order. Philosophers and brothers, they live in friendship and mutual understanding, devoting all their thoughts to the promotion of great causes, in which there is no place for selfishness, stinginess and earthly trifles.



The Martians by Edmond Perrier

This differed significantly from the popular view of the Martians at the time as an evil, war-prone race, which was fueled by the popularity of H. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds at the time.



Indeed, Perrier specifically singled out this work as a completely incorrect representation of the Martians, saying that the book was a great injustice and created a prejudice against them that is not only unscientific and unfounded, but also completely undeserved.



Martians from "War of the Worlds"

Of course, we now know that Mars is nothing like what people imagined at the time. Many of these assumptions seem ridiculous today, but that is exactly what he was like in that era. This is a cast of another time, when people only hesitantly stretched out their hands to the stars, plunging their imagination into the unknown and wondering what secrets the Universe kept within itself.



"Mars Attacks" 1996