Philip Van Doren Stern (ed) (7 page)

"Now,
it
is
very
remarkable
that
this
is
so
extensively
overlooked," continued
the
Time
Traveller,
with
a
slight
accession
of
cheerfulness.
"Really
this
is
what
is
meant
by
the
Fourth
Dimension,
though
some people
who
talk
about
the
Fourth
Dimension
do
not
know
they
mean it.
It
is
only
another
way
of
looking
at
Time.
There
is
no
difference between
Time
and
any
of
the
three
dimensions
of
Space
except
that our
consciousness
moves
along
it.
But
some
foolish
people
have
got hold
of
the
wrong
side
of
that
idea.
You
have
all
heard
what
they
have to
say
about
this
Fourth
Dimension?"

"I
have
not,"
said
the
Provincial
Mayor.

"It
is
simply
this.
That
Space,
as
our
mathematicians
have
it,
is spoken
of
as
having
three
dimensions,
which
one
may
call
Length, Breadth,
and
Thickness,
and
is
always
definable
by
reference
to
three planes,
each
at
right
angles
to
the
others.
But
some
philosophical
people
have
been
asking
why
three
dimensions
particularly—why
not another
direction
at
right
angles
to
the
other
three?—and
have
even tried
to
construct
a
Four-Dimensional
geometry.
Professor
Simon

Newcomb
was
expounding
this
to
the
New
York
Mathematical Society
only
a
month
or
so
ago.
You
know
how
on
a
flat
surface,
which has
only
two
dimensions,
we
can
represent
a
figure
of
a
three-dimensional
solid,
and
similarly
they
think
that
by
models
of
three
dimensions
they
could
represent
one
of
four—if
they
could
master
the perspective
of
the
thing.
See?"

"I
think
so,"
murmured
the
Provincial
Mayor;
and,
knitting
his brows,
he
lapsed
into
an
introspective
state,
his
lips
moving
as
one who
repeats
mystic
words.
"Yes,
I
think
I
see
it
now,"
he
said
after some
time,
brightening
in
a
quite
transitory
manner.

"Well,
I
do
not
mind
telling
you
I
have
been
at
work
upon
this geometry
of
Four
Dimensions
for
some
time.
Some
of
my
results
are curious.
For
instance,
here
is
a
portrait
of
a
man
at
eight
years
old, another
at
fifteen,
another
at
seventeen,
another
at
twenty-three,
and so
on.
All
these
are
evidently
sections,
as
it
were,
Three-Dimensional representations
of
his
Four-Dimensioned
being,
which
is
a
fixed
and unalterable
thing.