Nov. 27, 1884] 



NATURE 



7 7 



of any heavenly bodies by a novel (we speak as a Space- 

 denizen law of Nature, viz. the constancy of an attraction 

 to the south : however, in temperate regions the south- 

 ward attraction is scarcely felt, but here again Nature 

 comes to the Flatlander s aid. If he is in an inhabited 

 region, the fact that the houses (mostly regular pentagons ; 

 squares and triangles are only allowed in the case of 

 powder-magazines, barracks, and such like, for sufficient 

 reasons/ have their roofs towards the north, so that the 

 rain, which always comes from that quarter, may run off 

 and not damage the houses, will help him to get his north 

 point. If, however, he is out in the country far away 

 from trees and houses, there is no help for him until a 

 shower of rain comes. We must now give some de : crip- 

 tion of the inhabitants. The women are all straight lines ; 

 the men are other regular figures (if there be hopeless 

 irregularity, which the hospitals cannot cure, then the 

 man is put to death). The lowest orders, policemen, 

 soldiers, and the canaille, are isosceles triangles, their 

 mental calibre being determined by the largeness or 

 smallness of the vertical angle. It is possible for an 

 isosceles triangle to be developed into an equilateral 

 triangle, or the offspring after a few generations may be 

 so developed : in this class are the respectable tradesmen- 

 The professional men and gentlemen are Squares — our 

 author is a lawyer— and Pentagons. The Circles (that is, 

 approximations more or less closely to that figure) are the 

 nobility. 



Another law of Nature in Flatland is that " a male 

 child shall have one more side than his father, so that 

 each generation shall rise (as a rule) one step in the scale 

 of development and nobility." Our author, as appears 

 by the drawing on the cover, has four pentagonal sons 

 and two hexagonal grandsons. We do not clearly gather 

 where the one eye (for Flatlanders appear to be monoculi) 

 is situated, and how locomotion is effected we are not 

 told. It can hardly be by such means as were once 

 suggested by Prof. Clerk Maxwell, for in Flatland you 

 must go steadily forward or dire may be the disaster you 

 will inflict upon your neighbour. There seems to be no 

 lack of Board schools, and there is at least one university, 

 that of YVentbridge (we had by force of habit written 

 Cambridge), where instruction is given in mathematics. 

 A knowledge of this branch of study is obligatory, for 

 since a Flatlanders eye can only move in his world-plane, 

 all the objects, human and otherwise, even the circular 

 priests, appear to be straight lines, and the figure-angles 

 have to be, at any rate approximately, correctly guessed 

 at sight. 



Before we close our notice we must return to the 

 description of the womankind. The women we have 

 said are straight lines, hence they are very formidable, 

 for they are like needles, and what makes them more to 

 be dreaded is that they have the power of making them- 

 selves practically invisible, hence a Flatland female is ''a 

 creature by no means to be trifled with.'' There are, 

 however, certain regulations in force which diminish the 

 dangers resulting from having a woman about the house. 

 There is an entrance for her on the eastern side of the 

 house, by which she must enter " in a becoming and 

 respectful manner " ; she must also, when walking, keep 

 up her peace-cry, under penalty of death, and if she has 

 fits, is given to sneezing, or in any way is liable to any 



sudden movement, there is but one cure for such move- 

 ments, and that is instant destruction. Though involun- 

 tary and sudden motions arc thus summarily dealt with, 

 yet if she is in any public place she must keep up a gentle 

 "back-motion,'' and thus she is less liable to be invisible 

 to her neighbours. Happily fashion exercises its potent 

 sway in Flatland female society, as elsewhere, for we 

 learn that " the rhythmical, and, if I may so sav, well- 

 modulated undulation of the back in our ladies of circular 

 rank is envied and imitated by the wife of a common 

 Equilateral, who can achieve nothing beyond a mere 

 monotonous swing, like the ticking of a pendulum.'' 

 Owing to their unfortunate configuration they are inferior 

 in all good qualities to the very lowest of the Isosceles, 

 being entirely devoid of brain-power, and they have 

 "neither reflection, judgment, nor forethought, and 

 hardly any memory." This is but a poor account, but 

 we must bear in mind that it is an ex parte description 

 by a Square who may at some time have suffered a dis- 

 appointment at the hands of a lady. We shall be glad 

 (though we can hardly expect such a result) — now that 

 tidings have come from this little-known country — if some 

 female will favour us with her view of the state of matters 

 in Flatland. At birth a female is about an inch long, a 

 tall adult woman reaches to about a foot. The length of 

 the sides of an adult male of every class may be said to 

 be three feet or a little more. 



The book consists of two parts — This World, i.e. of 

 Flatland, in twelve sections, and Other Worlds, in ten 

 sections. The whole is very cleverly worked out, and 

 many passages descriptive of events in the past history 

 of the country at times force upon one the thought that 

 after all the book may have been compiled by a Space- 

 denizen, and that he is quietly laughing in his sleeve and 

 saying, " de te Fabula narratur." However this may be, 

 Flatlander or Spacelander, there is a slip in the note on 

 p. 64, and for " Flatland " should be read " Spaceland." 



We commend " A Square's " book to any of our readers 

 who have a leisure hour from severer studies, and we 

 believe when they have read it they will say " the tenth 

 part of the humour has not been suggested " by our 

 description. 1 R. Tucker 



OUR BOOK SHELF 

 The First Principles of Natural Philosophy. By W. T. 



Lynn, B.A., F.R.A.S. Second Edition. (London: 



Van Voorst, 1884.) 

 It is a little difficult to see what useful purpose is served 

 by this work, or why a second edition should be called 

 for, seeing that it is neither of the popular nor yet of the 

 properly scientific order of text-book. Its modes of re- 

 garding and describing the facts of dynamics are anti- 

 quated and incorrect, and it is extremely barren in 

 numerical illustrations of the kind most helpful to ele- 

 mentary students. The author begins by telling the 

 reader that " a pulling force takes the name of a tension," 

 whilst " a pushing force " takes " that of a thrust." He 

 then gives in abbreviated form Duchayla's proof of the 

 parallelogram of forces, " because it is the foundation of 

 the whole theory of statics," in spite of its essential 

 faultiness in requiring more assumptions in the course 

 of the argument than if the simple rule of compo- 



1 We may mention as specially humorous the chapters in which the Square 

 is initiated into ■some of the mysteries of tri-dimensional space by the spherical 



