82 THE RUNNING-DOWN OF THE UNIVERSE 



force are distributed. Both are a matter for experi- 

 ment. 



If we go a very long way to a point A in one direction 

 through the universe and a very long way to a point B 

 in the opposite direction, it is believed that between 

 A and B there exists a linkage of the kind indicated by 

 a very small code-number; in other words these points 

 reached by travelling vast distances in opposite directions 

 would be found experimentally to be close together. 

 Why not? This happens when we travel east and west 

 on the earth. It is true that our traditional inflexible 

 conception of space refuses to admit it; but there was 

 once a traditional conception of the earth which refused 

 to admit circumnavigation. In our approach to the 

 conception of spherical space the difficult part was to 

 destroy the inside of the hypersphere leaving only its 

 three-dimensional surface existing. I do not think that 

 is so difficult when we conceive space as a network of 

 distances. The network over the surface constitutes a 

 self-supporting system of linkage which can be con- 

 templated without reference to extraneous linkages. We 

 can knock away the constructional scaffolding which 

 helped us to approach the conception of this kind of 

 network of distances without endangering the con- 

 ception. 



We must realise that a scheme of distribution of 

 inscrutable relations linking points to one another is not 

 bound to follow any particular preconceived plan, so 

 that there can be no obstacle to the acceptance of any 

 scheme indicated by experiment. 



We do not yet know what is the radius of spherical 

 space; it must, of course, be exceedingly great com- 

 pared with ordinary standards. On rather insecure 

 evidence it has been estimated to be not many times 



