124 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 



ables us to form some idea of how inhabitants of space of 

 four dimensions would regard us." 





 



" If a finite solid was passed slowly through flatland, the 

 inhabitants would be conscious only of that part of it which 

 was in their plane. Thus they would see the shape of the 

 object gradually change and ultimately vanish. In the 

 same way, if a body of four dimensions was passed through 

 our space, we should be conscious of it only as a solid 

 body (namely, the section of the body by our space) whose 

 form and appearance gradually changed and perhaps ul- 

 timately vanished. It has been suggested that the birth, 

 growth, life, and death of animals, may be explained thus 

 as the passage of finite four-dimensional bodies through 

 our three-dimensional space." 



Attempts have been made to construct drawings and 

 models showing a four-dimensional body. The success of 

 such attempts has not been very encouraging. 



Investigators of this class look upon the actuality of a 

 fourth dimension as an unsolved question, but they hold 

 that, provided we could see our way clear to adopt it, it 

 would open up wondrous possibilities in the way of explain- 

 ing abstruse and hitherto inexplicable physical conditions 

 and phenomena. 



There is obviously no limit to such speculations, provided 

 we assume the existence of such conditions as are needed 

 for our purpose. Too often, however, those who indulge 

 in such day-dreams begin by assuming the impossible, and 

 end by imagining the absurd. 



We have so little positive knowledge in regard to the 

 ultimate constitution of matter and even in regard to the 

 actual character of the objects around us, which are revealed 

 to us through our senses, that the field in which our imagin- 

 ation may revel is boundless. Perhaps some day the 



