Frank Edwards, in his 'STRANGE WORLD' (Lyle Stuart Co., N.Y. 1964. pp. 329-
330) gives the following revelations under the heading, "THE MYSTERIOUS
MOONS OF MARS": "Now that man has tools which will enable him to obtain
detailed information by near approaches to Mars, we may expect, within the
next few years, to learn whether Mars is inhabited by intelligent beings,
and, if so, what they look like and how they live. Among the factors which
have focused so much of our time and talent on Mars are the two tiny
satellites which orbit the planet--where--prior to 1877--no satellites had
ever been seen before (In other words, about the time the canals of Mars
were mysteriously starting to "disappear", new satellites began appearing
on the scene - Branton). The famous astronomers Herschel and Lasselle had
excellent telescopes at their disposal--so good that they used them to
DISCOVER THE MOONS OF URANUS. Yet neither these men, nor hundreds of other
astronomers who observed the planets, were able to see any satellites
around Mars. Then in one week in 1877, Asaph Hall found that Mars had two
satellites where none had been seen before. Furthermore, he found that the
satellites were tiny but bright...brighter than the planet itself...as
though they were made of some material other than that of Mars. It is also
worth noting that not only do these two Martian satellites sweep around the
planet at a very high speed but they travel in different directions...
factors which had led to the suspicion that they are artificial. This is
the theory advanced by Soviet astronomer I. S. Schklovsky, who points out
that the Martian satellite known as Phobos exhibits a strange acceleration
in its orbit, an irregularity which would be expected if the satellite were
in reality a huge metal sphere that was hollow. The same difference in
speed, however, would be impossible for a natural astronomical body.
Therefore, says Dr. Schklovsky, at least one of the moons of Mars IS NOT A
NATURAL OBJECT, but an artificial satellite placed in orbit around the
'red' planet in 1877, or shortly before that time. When we stop to think of
the discovery of the Martian moons in 1877--and of the mass of phenomena
noted on our moon between 1879 and 1889--the conviction develops that if we
discover life on Mars...we may also discover that we are merely returning a
visit."