Hinton - The Fourth Dimension

THE FOURTH DIMENSION
Views of the Tesseract.
No. 1. No. 2. No. 3.
No. 4. No. 5. No. 6.
No. 7. No. 8. No. 9.
No. 10. No. 11. No. 12.

THE
FOURTH DIMENSION
BY
C. HOWARD HINTON
TO WHICH IS ADDED
A LANGUAGE OF SPACE
Celephaïs Press
Ulthar - Sarkomand - Inquanok - Leeds
2004
“The Fourth Dimension” first published
London: Swann Sonnenschein & co.
and New York: Macmillan
April 1904.
Reprinted 1906, 1912, 1921, 1934, 1951.
“A Language of Space” first published as a pamphlet

London: Swann Sonnenschein & co., 1904.
Included as an appendix to 1906 and
subsequent editions of “The
Fourth Dimension”
This electronic edition issued by

Celephaïs Press, Leeds
2004.
PREFACE
I HAVE endeavoured to present the subject of the higher
dimensionality of space in a clear manner, devoid of
mathematical subtleties and technicalities. In order to
engage the interest of the reader, I have in the earlier
chapters dwelt on the perspective the hypothesis of a
fourth dimension opens, and have treated of the many
connections there are between this hypothesis and the
ordinary topics of our thoughts.
A lack of mathematical knowledge will prove of no
disadvantage to the reader, for I have used no mathe-
matical processes of reasoning. I have taken the view
that the space which we ordinarily think of, the space
of real things (which I would call permeable matter),
is different from the space treated of by mathematics.
Mathematics will tell us a great deal about space, just
as the atomic theory will tell us a great deal about the
chemical combinations of bodies. But after all, a theory
is not precisely equivalent to the subject with regard
to which it is held. There is an opening, therefore, from
the side of our ordinary space perceptions for a simple,
altogether rational, mechanical, and observational way
v
vi PREFACE
of treating this subject of higher space, and of this

opportunity I have availed myself.
The details introduced in the earlier chapters,
especially in Chapters VIII., IX., X., may perhaps be
found wearisome. They are of no essential importance
in the main line of argument, and if left till Chapters XI.
and XII. have been read, will be found to afford
interesting and obvious illustrations of the properties
discussed in the later chapters.
My thanks are due to the friends who have assisted
me in designing and preparing the modifications of
my previous models, and in no small degree to the
publisher of this volume, Mr. Sonnenschein, to whose
unique appreciation of the line of thought of this, as
of my former essays, their publication is owing. By
the provision of a coloured plate, in addition to the other
illustrations, he has added greatly to the convenience
of the reader.
C. HOWARD HINTON.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE.
I. FOUR-DIMENSIONAL SPACE . . . . . 1
II. THE ANALOGY OF A PLANE WORLD . . . 6
III. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF A FOUR-DIMENSIONAL

EXISTENCE . . . . . . . . 15
IV. THE FIRST CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF FOUR

SPACE . . . . . . . . . 23
V. THE SECOND CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF FOUR

SPACE . . . . . . . . 41
Lobatchewsky, Bolyai and Gauss
Metageometry
VI. THE HIGHER WORLD . . . . . . . 61
VII. THE EVIDENCES FOR A FOURTH DIMENSION . 76
VIII. THE USE OF FOUR DIMENSIONS IN THOUGHT . 85
IX. APPLICATION TO KANT’S THEORY OF EXPERIENCE 107
X. A FOUR-DIMENSIONAL FIGURE . . . . 122
XI. NOMENCLATURE AND ANALOGIES . . . 136
vii
viii CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE.
XII. THE SIMPLEST FOUR-DIMENSIONAL SOLID . . 157
XIII. REMARKS ON THE FIGURES . . . . . 176
XIV. A RECAPITULATION AND EXTENSION OF THE

PHYSICAL ARGUMENTS . . . . . 203
APPENDIX I.—THE MODELS . . . . . . 231
APPENDIX II.—A LANGUAGE OF SPACE . . . 248

—————
CHAPTER I
FOUR - DIMENSIONAL SPACE
THERE is nothing more indefinite, and at the same time
more real, than that which we indicate when we speak
of the “higher.” In our social life we see it evidenced
in a greater complexity of relations. But this com-
plexity is not all. There is, at the same time, a contact
with, an apprehension of, something more fundamental,
more real.
With the greater development of man there comes
a consciousness of something more than all the forms
in which it shows itself. There is a readiness to give
up all the visible and tangible for the sake of those
principles and values of which the visible and tangible
are the representations. The physical life of civilised
man and of a mere savage are practically the same, but
the civilised man has discovered a depth in his existence,
which makes him feel that that which appears all to
the savage is a mere externality and appurtenage to his
true being.
Now, this higher—how shall we apprehend it? It is
generally embraced by our religious faculties, by our
idealising tendency. But the higher existence has two
sides. It has a being as well as qualities. And in trying
1
2 THE FOURTH DIMENSION
to realise it through our emotions we are always taking the

subjective view. Our attention is always fixed on what we
feel, what we think. Is there any way of apprehending
the higher after the purely objective method of a natural
science? I think that there is.
Plato, in a wonderful allegory, speaks of some men
living in such a condition that they were practically
reduced to be the denizens of a shadow world. They
were chained, and perceived but the shadows of them-
selves and all real objects projected on a wall, towards
which their faces were turned. All movements to them
were but movements on the surface, all shapes by the
shapes of outlines with no substantiality.
Plato uses this illustration to portray the relation
between true being and the illusions of the sense world.
He says that just as a man liberated from his chains
could learn and discover that this world was solid and
real, and could go back and tell his bound companions of
this greater higher reality, so the philosopher who has
been liberated, who has gone into the thought of the
ideal world, into the world of ideas greater and more
real than the things of sense, can come and tell his fellow
men of that which is more true than the visible sun—
more noble than Athens, the visible state.
Now, I take Plato’s suggestion; but literally, not
metaphorically. He imagines a world which is lower
than this world, in that shadow figures and shadow
motions are its constituents; and to it he contrasts the real
world. As the real world is to this shadow world, so is the
higher world to our world. I accept his analogy. As our
world in three dimensions is to a shadow or plane world,
so is the higher world to our three-dimensional world.
That is, the higher world is four-dimensional; the higher
being is, so far as its existence is concerned apart from its
qualities, to be sought through the conception of an actual
FOUR-DIMENSIONAL SPACE 3
existence spatially higher than that which we realise

with our senses.
Here you will observe I necessarily leave out all that
gives its charm and interest to Plato’s writings. All those
conceptions of the beautiful and good which live
immortally in his pages.
All that I keep from his great storehouse of wealth is
this one thing simply—a world spatially higher than this
world, a world which can only be approached through
the stocks and stones of it, a world which must be appre-
hended laboriously, patiently, through the material things
of it, the shapes, the movements, the figures of it.
We must learn to realise the shapes of objects in
this world of the higher man; we must become familiar
with the movements that objects make in his world, so
that we can learn something about his daily experience,
his thoughts of material objects, his machinery.
The means for the prosecution of this enquiry are given
in the conception of space itself.
It often happens that that which we consider to be
unique and unrelated gives us, within itself, those relations
by means of which we are able to see it as related to
others, determining and determined by them.
Thus, on the earth is given that phenomenon of weight
by means of which Newton brought the earth into its
true relation to the sun and other planets. Our terrestrial
globe was determined in regard to other bodies of the
solar system by means of a relation which subsisted on
the earth itself.
And so space itself bears within it relations of which
we can determine it as related to other space. For within
space are given the conceptions of point and line, line and
plane, which really involve the relation of space to a
higher space.
Where one segment of a straight line leaves off and
another begins is a point, and the straight line itself can

be generated by the motion of the point.
One portion of a plane is bounded from another by a
straight line, and the plane itself can be generated by
the straight line moving in a direction not contained
in itself.
Again, two portions of solid space are limited with
regard to each other by a plane; and the plane, moving
in a direction not contained in itself, can generate solid
space.
Thus, going on, we might say that space is that which
limits two portions of higher space from each other, and
that our space will generate the higher space by moving
in a direction not contained in itself.
Another indication of the nature of four-dimensional
space can be gained by considering the problem of the
arrangement of objects.
If I have a number of swords of varying degrees of
brightness, I can represent them in respect of this quality
by points arranged along a straight line.
If I place a sword at A, fig. 1., and regard it as having
a certain brightness, then the other swords
A B C
can be arranged in a series along the
Fig. 1. line, as at A, B, C, etc., according to
their degree of brightness.
If I now take account of another quality, say length,
they can be arranged in a plane. Starting from A, B, C, I
F can find points to represent different
D E degrees of length along such lines as
AF, BD, CE, drawn from A and B and C.
A B C Points on these lines represent different
Fig. 2. degrees of length with the same degree of
brightness. Thus the whole plane is occupied by points
representing all conceivable varieties of brightness and
length.
FOUR-DIMENSIONAL SPACE 5
Bringing in a third quantity, say sharpness, I can draw,

as in fig. 3, any number of upright
G
F lines. Let distances along these
D E upright lines represent degrees of
sharpness, thus the points F and G
A B C will represent swords of certain
Fig. 3. definite degrees of the three qualities
mentioned, and the whole of space will serve to represent
all conceivable degrees of these three qualities.
If I now bring in a fourth quality, such as weight, and
try to find a means of representing it as I did the other
three qualities, I find a difficulty. Every point in space is
taken up by some conceivable combination of the three
qualities already taken.
To represent four qualities in the same way as that in
which I have represented three, I should need another
dimension of space.
Thus we may indicate the nature of four-dimensional
space by saying that it is a kind of space which would
give positions representative of four qualities, as three-
dimensional space gives positions representative of three
qualities.
CHAPTER II
THE ANALOGY OF A PLANE WORLD
AT the risk of some prolixity I will go fully into the
experience of a hypothetical creature confined to motion
on a plane surface. By so doing I shall obtain an analogy
which will serve in our subsequent enquiries, because the
change in our conception, which we make in passing from
the shapes and motions in two dimensions to those in
three, affords a pattern by which we can pass on still
further to the conception of an existence in four-dimensional
space.
A piece of paper on a smooth table affords a ready
image of a two-dimensional existence. If we suppose the
being represented by the piece of paper to have no
knowledge of the thickness by which he projects above the
surface of the table, it is obvious that he can have no
knowledge of objects of a similar description, except by
the contact with their edges. His body and the objects in
his world have a thickness of which however he has no
consciousness. Since the direction stretching up from
the table is unknown to him he will think of the objects
of his world as extending in two dimensions only. Figures
are to him completely bounded by their lines, just as solid
objects are to us by their surfaces. He cannot conceive of
approaching the centre of a circle, except by breaking
through the circumference, for the circumference encloses
the centre in the direction in which motion is possible to
6
THE ANALOGY OF A PLANE WORLD 7
him. The plane surface over which he slips and with

which he is always in contact will be unknown to him;
there are no differences by which he can recognise its
existence.
But for the purpose of our analogy this representation is
deficient.
A being has thus described has nothing about him to
push off from, the surface over which he slips affords no
means by which he can move in one direction rather than
another. Placed on a surface over which he slips freely,
he is in a condition analogous to that in which we should
be if we were suspended in space. There is nothing
which he can push off from in any direction known to him.
Let us therefore modify our representation. Let us
suppose a vertical plane against which particles of this
matter slip, never leaving the surface. Let these particles
possess an attractive force and cohere together into a disk;
this disk will represent the globe of a plane being. He
must be conceived as existing on the rim.
Let 1 represent this vertical disk of flat matter and 2
the plane being on it, standing upon its
rim as we stand on the surface of our earth.
2
The direction of the attractive force of his
matter will give the creature a knowledge
1
of up and down, determining for him one
direction in plane space. Also, since
Fig. 4. he can move along the surface of his earth,
he will have the sense of a direction parallel to its surface,
which we may call forwards and backwards.
He will have no sense of right and left—that is, of the
direction which we recognise and extending out from the
plane to our right and left.
The distinction of right and left is the one that we
must suppose to be absent, in order to project ourselves
into the condition of a plane being.
Let the reader imagine himself, as he looks along the

plane, fig. 4, to become more and more identified with
the thin body on it, till he finally looks along parallel to
the surface of the plane earth, and up and down, losing
the sense of the direction which stretches right and left.
This direction will be an unknown dimension to him.
Our space conceptions are so intimately connected with
those which we derive from the existence of gravitation
that it is difficult to realise the condition of a plane being,
without picturing him as in material surroundings with
a definite direction of up and down. Hence the necessity of
our somewhat elaborate scheme of representation, which,
when its import has been grasped, can be dispensed with
for the simpler one of a thin object slipping over a
smooth surface, which lies in front of us.
It is obvious that we must suppose some means by
which the plane being is kept in contact with the surface
on which he slips. The simplest supposition to make is
that there is a transverse gravity, which keeps him to the
plane. This gravity must be thought of as different to
the attraction exercised by his matter, and as
unperceived by him.
At this stage of our enquiry I do not wish to enter
into the question of how a plane being could arrive at
a knowledge of the third dimension, but simply to in-
vestigate his plane consciousness.
It is obvious that the existence of a plane being must
be very limited. A straight line standing up from the
surface of his earth affords a bar to his progress. An
object like a wheel which rotates round an axis would
be unknown to him, for there is no conceivable way to
which he can get to the centre without going through
the circumference. He would have spinning disks, but
could not get to the centre of them. The plane being
can represent the motion from any one point of his space
to any other, by means of two straight lines drawn at

right angles to each other.
Let AX and AY be two such axes. He can accomplish
the translation from A to B by going along AX to C, and
then from C along CB parallel to AY.
Y The same result can of course be
D B obtained by moving to D along AY and then
X parallel to AX from D to B, or of course by
A C
and diagonal movement compounded by
these axial movements.
By means of movements parallel to
Fig. 5.
these two axes he can proceed (except for
material obstacles) from any one point of his space to
any other.
Y If now we suppose a third line
drawn out from A at right angles to the
plane it is evident that no motion in
either of the two dimensions he knows
X
Z will carry him in the least degree in the
A direction represented by A Z.
Fig. 6 The lines AZ and AX determine a
plane. If he could be taken off his plane, and trans-
ferred to the plane AXZ, he would be in a world exactly
like his own. From every line in his world
there goes off a space world exactly like
his own.
From every point in his world a line can
be drawn parallel to AZ in the direction
unknown to him. If we suppose the square
in fig. 7 to be a geometrical square from
Fig. 7 every point of it, inside as well as on the
contour, a straight line can be drawn parallel
to AZ. The assemblage of these lines constitute a solid
figure, of which the square in the plane is the base. If we
consider the square to represent an object in the plane
being’s world then we must attribute to it a very small

thickness, for every real thing must possess all three
dimensions. This thickness he does not perceive, but
thinks of this real object as a geometrical square. He
thinks of it as possessing area only, and no degree of
solidity. The edges which project from the plane to a
very small extent he thinks of as having merely length
and no breadth—as being, in fact, geometrical lines.
With the first step in the apprehension of a third
dimension there would come to a plane being the con-
viction that he had previously formed a wrong conception
of the nature of his material objects. He had conceived
them as geometrical figures of two dimensions only.
If a third dimension exists, such figures are incapable
of real existence. Thus he would admit that all his real
objects had a certain, though very small thickness in the
unknown dimension, and that the conditions of his
existence demanded the supposition of an extended sheet
of matter, from contact with which in their motion his
objects never diverge.
Analogous conceptions must be formed by us on the
supposition of a four-dimensional existence. We must
suppose a direction in which we can never point extending
from every point of our space. We must draw a dis-
tinction between a geometrical cube and a cube of real
matter. The cube of real matter we must suppose to
have an extension in an unknown direction, real, but so
small as to be imperceptible by us. From every point
of a cube, interior as well as exterior, we must imagine
that it is possible to draw a line in the unknown direction.
The assemblage of these lines would constitute a higher
solid. The lines going off in the unknown direction from
the face of a cube would constitute a cube starting from
that face. Of this cube all that we should see in our
space would be the face.
Again, just as the plane being can represent any

motion in his space by two axes, so we can represent any
motion in our three-dimensional space by means of three
axes. There is no point in our space to which we cannot
move by some combination of movements on the directions
marked out by these axes.
On the assumption of a fourth dimension we have
to suppose a fourth axis, which we will call AW. It must
be supposed to be at right angles to each and every
one of the three axes AX, AY, AW. Just as the two axes,
AX, AZ, determine a plane which is similar to the original
plane on which we supposed the plane being to exist, but
which runs off from it, and only meets it in a line; so in
our space if we take any three axes such as AX, AY, and
AW, they determine a space like our space world. This
space runs off from our space, and if we were transferred
to it we should find ourselves in a space exactly similar to
our own.
We must give up any attempt to picture this space in
its relation to ours, just as a plane being would have to
give up any attempt to picture a plane at right angles to
his plane.
Such a space and ours run in different directions
from the plane of AX and AY. They meet in this plane
but have nothing else in common, just as the plane space
of AX and AY and that of AX and AZ run in different
directions and have but the line AX in common.
Omitting all discussion of the manner on which a plane
being might be conceived to form a theory of a three-
dimensional existence, let us imagine how, with the
means at his disposal, he could represent the properties of
three-dimensional space.
There are two ways in which the plane being can think
of one of our solid bodies. He can think of the cube,
fig. 8, as composed of a number of sections parallel to
his plane, each lying in the third dimension a little

further off from his plane than
the preceding one. These sec-
tions he can represent as a
series of plane figures lying in
his plane, but in so representing
A B C D
them he destroys the coherence
of them in the higher figure.
Fig. 8 The set of squares, A, B, C, D,
represents the sections parallel
to the plane of the cube shown in figure, but they are not
in their proper relative positions.
The plane being can trace out a movement in the third
dimension by assuming discontinuous leaps from one
section to another. Thus, a motion along the edge of
the cube from left to right would be represented in the
set of sections in the plane as the succession of the
corners of the sections A, B, C, D. A point moving from
A through BCD in our space must be represented in the
plane as appearing in A, then in B, and so on, without
passing through the intervening plane space.
In these sections the plane being leaves out, of course,
the extension in the third dimension; the distance between
any two sections is not represented. In order to realise
this distance the conception of motion can be employed.
Let fig. 9 represent a cube passing transverse to the
plane. It will appear to the plane being as a
square object, but the matter of which this
object is composed will be continually
altering. One material particle takes the place
of another, but it does not come from
anywhere or go anywhere in the space which
Fig 9. the plane being knows.
The analogous manner of representing a higher solid in
our case, is to conceive it as composed of a number of
sections, each lying a little further off in the unknown

direction than the preceding.
We can represent these sections as a number of solids.
Thus the cubes A, B, C, D,
may be considered as
the sections at different
A B C D intervals in the unknown
Fig. 10.
dimension of a higher
cube. Arranged thus their coherence in the higher figure
is destroyed, they are mere representations.
A motion in the fourth dimension from A through B, C,
etc., would be continuous, but we can only represent it as
the occupation of the positions A, B, C, etc., in succession.
We can exhibit the results of the motion at different
stages, but no more.
In this representation we have left out the distance
between one section and another; we have considered the
higher body merely as a series of sections, and so left out
its contents. The only way to exhibit its contents is to
call in the aid of the conception of motion.
If a higher cube passes transverse to our space, it will
appear as a cube isolated in space, the part
that has not come into our space and the part
that has passed through it will not be visible.
Fig 11. The gradual passing through our space would
appear as the change of the matter of the cube
before us. One material particle in it is succeeded by
another, neither coming nor going in any direction we can
point to. In this manner, by the duration of the figure,
we can exhibit the higher dimensionality of it; a cube of
our matter, under the circumstances supposed, namely,
that it has a motion transverse to our space, would instantly
disappear. A higher cube would last till it had passed
transverse to our space by its whole distance of extension
in the fourth dimension.
As the plane being can think of the cube as consisting

of sections, each like a figure he knows, extending away
from his plane, so we can think of a higher solid as com-
posed of sections, each like a solid which we know, but
extending away from our space.
Thus, taking a higher cube, we can look on it as
starting from a cube in our space and extending in the
unknown dimension.
CD
AB
Fig. 12.
Take the face A and conceive it to exist as simply a

face, a square with no thickness. From this face the
cube in our space extended by the occupation of space
which we can see.
But from this face there extends equally a cube in the
unknown dimension. We can think of the higher cube,
then, by taking the set of sections A, B, C, D, etc., and
considering that from each of them there runs a cube.
These cubes have nothing in common with each other,
and of each of them in its actual position all that we can
have in our space is an isolated square. It is obvious that
we can take our series of sections in any manner we
please. We can take them parallel, for instance, to any
one of the three isolated faces shown in the figure.
Corresponding to the three series of sections at right
angles to each other, which we can make of the cube
in space, we must conceive of the higher cube, as com-
posed of cubes starting from squares parallel to the faces
of the cube, and of these cubes all that exist in our space
are the isolated squares from which they start.
CHAPTER III
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF A FOUR -
DIMENSIONAL EXISTENCE
HAVING now obtained the conception of a four-dimensional
space, and having formed the analogy which, without
any further geometric difficulties, enables us to enquire
into its properties, I will refer the reader, whose interest
is principally in the mechanical aspect, to Chapters VI.
and VII. In the present chapter I will deal with the
general significance of the enquiry, and in the next
with the historical origin of the idea.
First, with regard to the question of whether there
is any evidence that we are really in four-dimensional
space, I will go back to the analogy of the plane world.
A being in a plane world could not have any ex-
perience of three-dimensional shapes, but he could have
an experience of three-dimensional movements.
We have seen that his matter must be supposed to
have an extension, though a very small one, in the third
dimension. And thus, in the small particles of his
matter, three-dimensional movements may well be con-
ceived to take place. Of these movements he would only
perceive the resultants. Since all movements of an
observable size in the plane world are two-dimensional,
he would only perceive the resultants in two dimensions
of the small three-dimensional movements. Thus, there
would be phenomena which he could not explain by his
15
theory of mechanics—motions would take place which

he could not explain by his theory of motion. Hence,
to determine if we are in a four-dimensional world, we
must examine the phenomena of motion in our space.
If movements occur which are not explicable on the sup-
positions of our three-dimensional mechanics, we should
have an indication of a possible four-dimensional motion,
and if, moreover, it could be shown that such movements
would be a consequence of a four-dimensional motion in
the minute particles of bodies or of the ether, we should
have a strong presumption in favour of the reality of
the fourth dimension.
By proceeding in the direction of finer and finer sub-
division, we come to forms of matter possessing properties
different to those of the larger masses. It is probably that
at some stage in this process we should come to a form
of matter of such minute subdivision that its particles
possess a freedom of movement in four dimensions. This
form of matter I speak of as four-dimensional ether, and
attribute to it properties approximating to those of a
perfect liquid.
Deferring the detailed discussion of this form of matter
to Chapter VI., we will now examine the means by which
a plane being would come to the conclusion that three-
dimensional movements existed in his world, and point
out the analogy by which we can conclude the existence
of four-dimensional movements in our world. Since the
dimensions of the matter in his world are small in the
third direction, the phenomena in which he would detect
the motion would be those of the small particles of
matter.
Suppose that there is a ring in his plane. We can
imagine currents flowing round the ring in either of two
opposite directions. These would produce unlike effects,
and give rise to two different fields of influence. If the
SIGNIFICANCE OF A FOUR-DIMENSIONAL EXISTENCE 17
ring with a current in it in one direction be taken up

and turned over, and put down again on the plane, it
would be identical with the ring having a current in the
opposite direction. An operation of this kind would be
impossible to the plane being. Hence he would have
in his space two irreconcilable objects, namely, the two
fields of influence due to the two rings with currents in
them in opposite directions. By irreconcilable objects
in the plane I mean objects which cannot be thought
of as transformed one into the other by any movement
in the plane.
Instead of currents flowing in the rings we can imagine
a different kind of current. Imagine a number of small
rings strung on the original ring. A current round these
secondary rings would give two varieties of effect, or two
different fields of influence, according to its direction.
These two varieties of current could be turned one into
the other by taking one of the rings up, turning it over,
and putting it down again in the plane. This operation
is impossible to the plane being, hence in this case also
there would be two irreconcilable fields in the plane.
Now, if the plane being found two such irreconcilable
fields and could prove that they could not be accounted
for by currents in the rings, he would have to admit the
existence of currents round the rings—that is, in rings
strung on the primary ring. Thus he would come to
admit the existence of a three-dimensional motion, for
such a disposition of currents is in three dimensions.
Now in our space there are two fields of different
properties, which can be produced by an electric current
flowing in a closed circuit or ring. These two fields can
be changed one into the other by reversing the currents, but
they cannot be changed one into the other by any turning
about of the rings in our space; for the disposition of the
field with regard to the ring itself is different when we
turn the ring over, and when we reverse the direction of

the current in the ring.
As hypotheses to explain the differences of these two
fields and their effects we can suppose the following kinds
of space motions:—First, a current along the conductor;
second, a current round the conductor—that is, of rings of
current strung on the conductor as an axis. Neither of
these suppositions accounts for facts of observation.
Hence we have to make the supposition of a four-
dimensional motion. We find that a four-dimensional
rotation of the nature explained in a subsequent chapter
has the following characteristics:—First, it would give us
two fields of influence, the one of which could be turned
into the other by taking the circuit up into the fourth
dimension, turning it over, and putting it down in our
space again, precisely as the two kinds of fields in the
plane could be turned one into the other by a reversal of
the current in our space. Second, it involves a phenome-
non precisely identical with that most remarkable and
mysterious feature of an electric current, namely that it
is a field of action, the rim of which necessarily abuts on a
continuous boundary formed by a conductor. Hence, on
the assumption of a four-dimensional movement in the
region of the minute particles of matter, we should expect
to find a motion analogous to electricity.
Now, a phenomenon of such universal occurrence as
electricity cannot be due to matter and motion in any
very complex relation, but ought to be seen as a simple
and natural consequence of their properties. I infer that
the difficulty in its theory is due to the attempt to explain
a four-dimensional phenomenon by a three-dimensional
geometry.
In view of this piece of evidence we cannot disregard
that afforded by the existence of symmetry. In this
connection I will allude to the simple way of producing
the images of insects, sometimes practised by children.

They put a few blots of ink in a straight line on a piece of
paper, fold the paper along the blots, and on opening it the
lifelike presentiment of an insect is obtained. If we were
to find a multitude of these figures, we should conclude
that they had originated from a process of folding over;
the chances against this kind of reduplication of parts
is too great to admit of the assumption that they had
been formed in any other way.
The production of the symmetrical forms of organised
beings, though not of course due to a turning over of
bodies of any appreciable size in four-dimensional space,
can well be imagined as due to a disposition in that
manner of the smallest living particles from which they
are built up. Thus, not only electricity, but life, and the
processes by which we think and feel, must be attributed
to that region of magnitude in which four-dimensional
movements take place.
I do not mean, however, that life can be explained as
a four-dimensional movement. It seems to me that the
whole bias of thought, which tends to explain the
phenomena of life and volition, as due to matter and
motion in some peculiar relation, is adopted rather in the
interests of the explicability of things than with any
regard to probability.
Of course, if we could show that life were a phenomenon
of motion, we should be able to explain a great deal that is
at present obscure. But there are two great difficulties in
the way. It would be necessary to show that in a germ
capable of developing into a living being, there were
modifications of structure capable of determining in the
developed germ all the characteristics of its form, and not
only this, but of determining those of all the descendants
of such a form in an infinite series. Such a complexity of
mechanical relations, undeniable though it be, cannot
surely be the best way of grouping the phenomena and

giving a practical account of them. And another difficulty
is this, that no amount of mechanical adaptation would
give that element of consciousness which we possess,
and which is shared in a modified degree by the animal
world.
In those complex structures which men build up and
direct, such as a ship or railway train (and which, if seen
by an observer of such a size that the men guiding them
were invisible, would seem to present some of the
phenomena of life) the appearance of animation is not
due to any diffusion of life in the material parts of the
structure, but to the presence of a living being.
The old hypothesis of a soul, a living organism within
the visible man, appears to me much more rational than the
attempt to explain life as a form of motion. And when we
consider the region of extreme minuteness characterised
by four-dimensional motion the difficulty of conceiving
such an organism alongside the bodily one disappears.
Lord Kelvin suggests that matter is formed from the
ether. We may very well supposed that the living
organisms directing the material ones are co-ordinate
with them, not composed of matter, but consisting of
etherial bodies, and as such capable of motion through
the ether, and able to originate material living bodies
throughout the mineral.
Hypotheses such as these find no immediate ground for
proof or disproof in the physical world. Let us, therefore,
turn to a different field, and, assuming that the human
soul is a four-dimensional being, capable in itself of four
dimensional movements, but in its experience through
the senses limited to three dimensions, ask if the history
of thought, of those productivities which characterise man,
correspond to our assumption. Let us pause to review
those steps by which man, presumably a four-dimensional
being, despite his bodily environment, has come to recog-

nise the fact of four-dimensional existence.
Deferring this enquiry to another chapter, I will here
recapitulate the argument in order to show that our
purpose is entirely practical and independent of any
philosophical or metaphysical considerations.
If two shots are fired at a target, and the second bullet
hits it in a different place to the first, we suppose that
there was some difference in the conditions under which
the second shot was fired from those affecting the first
shot. The force of the powder, the direction of aim, the
strength of the wind, or some condition must have been
different in the second case, if the course of the bullet was
not exactly the same as in the first case. Corresponding
to every difference in a result there must be some differ-
ence in the antecedent material conditions. By tracing
out this chain of relations we explain nature.
But there is also another mode of explanation which we
apply. If we ask what was the cause that a certain ship
was built, or that a certain structure was erected, we might
proceed to investigate the changes in the brain cells of
the men who designed the works. Every variation in one
ship or building from another ship or building is accom-
panied by a variation in the processes that go on in the
brain matter of the designers. But practically this would
be a very long task.
A more effective mode of explaining the production of
the ship or building would be to enquire into the motives,
plans, and aims of the men who constructed them. We
obtain a cumulative and consistent body of knowledge
much more easily and effectively in the latter way.
Sometimes we apply the one, sometimes the other
mode of explanation.
But it must be observed that the method of explana-
tion founded on aim, purpose, volition, always presupposes
a mechanical system in which the volition and aim

works. The conception of men as willing and acting
from motives involves that of a number of uniform pro-
cesses of nature which he can modify, and of which he can
make application. In the mechanical conditions of
the three-dimensional world, the only volitional agency
which we can demonstrate is the human agency. But
when we consider the four-dimensional world the
conclusion remains perfectly open.
The method of explanation founded on purpose and aim
does not, surely, suddenly begin with man and end with
him. There is as much behind the exhibition of will and
motive which we see in man as there is behind the
phenomena of movement: they are co-ordinate, neither
to be resolved into the other. And the commencement
of the investigation of that will and motive which lies
behind the will and motive manifested in the three-
dimensional mechanical field is in the conception of a
soul—a four-dimensional organism, which expresses its
higher physical being in the symmetry of the body, and
gives the aims and motives of human existence.
Our primary task is to form a systematic knowledge of
the phenomena of a four-dimensional world and find those
points in which this knowledge must be called in to
complete our mechanical understanding of the universe.
But a subsidiary contribution towards the verification of
the hypothesis may be made by passing in review the
history of human thought, and enquiring if it presents
such features as would be naturally expected on this
assumption.
CHAPTER IV
THE FIRST CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY
OF FOUR SPACE
PARMENIDES, and the Asiatic thinkers with whom he is
in close affinity, propound a theory of existence which is
in close accord with the conception of a possible relation
between a higher and a lower dimensional space. This
theory, prior and in marked contrast to the mains stream
of thought, which we shall afterwards describe, forms a
closed circle by itself. It is one which in all ages has
had a strong attraction for pure intellect, and is the
natural mode of thought for those who refrain from
projecting their own volition into nature under the guise
of causality.
According to Parmenides of the school of Ela the all
is one, unmoving and unchanging. The permanent amid
the transient—that foothold for thought, that solid ground
for feeling on the discovery of which depends all our life—
is no phantom; it is the image amidst deception of true
being, the eternal, the unmoved, the one. Thus says
Parmenides.
But how explain the shifting scene, these mutations
of things?
“Illusion,” answers Parmenides. Distinguishing be-
tween truth and error, he tells of the true doctrine of the
one—the false opinion of a changing world. He is no
less memorable for the manner of his advocacy than for
23
the cause he advocates. It is as if from his firm foothold

of being he could play with the thoughts under the
burden of which others laboured, for from him springs
that fluency of opposition and hypothesis which forms
the texture of Plato’s dialectic.
Can the mind conceive a more delightful intellectual
picture than that of Parmenides, pointing to the one, the
true, the unchanging, and yet on the other hand ready to
discuss all manner of false opinion, forming a cosmogony
too, false “but mine own” after the fashion of the time.
In support of the true opinion he proceeded by the
negative way of showing the self-contradiction in the
ideas of change and motion. It is doubtful if his criticism,
save in minor points, has ever been successfully refuted.
To express his doctrine in the ponderous modern way
we must make the statement that motion is phenomenal,
not real.
Let us represent his doctrine.
Imagine a sheet of still water into which a slanting stick
is being lowered with a motion verti-
1
cally downwards. Let 1, 2, 3 (Fig. 13),
2 be three consecutive positions of the
3
stick, A, B, C, will be three consecutive
positions of the meeting of the stick,
with the surface of the water. As the
A B C
stick passes down, the meeting will
move from A on to B and C.
Suppose now all the water to be
removed except a film. At the meet-
ing of the film and the stick there
will be an interruption of the film. If
Fig. 13. we suppose the film to have a pro-
perty, like that of a soap bubble, of closing up round any
penetrating object, then as the stick goes vertically
downwards the interruption in the film will move on.
THE FIRST CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF FOUR SPACE 25
If we pass a spiral through the film the intersection

will give us a point moving in a circle shown by the dotted
lines in the square. Suppose
now the spiral to be still and
the film to move vertically
upwards, the whole spiral will
be represented in the film of
the consecutive positions of the
point of intersection. In the
film the permanent evidence
of the spiral is experienced as
a time series—the record of
traversing the spiral is a point
Fig. 14. moving in a circle. If now
we suppose a consciousness con-
nected with the film in such a way that the intersection of
the spiral with the film gives rise to a conscious experience,
we shall see that we have in the film a point moving in a
circle, conscious of its motion, knowing nothing of that
real spiral the record of the successive interactions of
which by the film is the motion of the point.
It is easy to imagine complicated structures of the
nature of the spiral, structures consisting of filaments,
and to suppose also that these structures are distinguish-
able from each other at every section. If we consider
the intersections of these filaments with the film as it
passes to be the atoms constituting a filmar universe,
we shall have bodies corresponding to the filamentary
structure, and the positions of these structures with
regard to one another will give rise to bodies in the film
moving amongst one another. This mutual motion
is apparent merely. The reality is of permanent structures
stationary, and all the relative motions accounted for by
one steady movement of the film as a whole.
Thus we can imagine a plane world, in which all the

variety of motion is the phenomenon of structures con-
sisting of filamentary atoms traversed by a plane of
consciousness. Passing to four dimensions and our
space, we can conceive that all things and movements
in our world are the reading off of a permanent reality
by a space of consciousness. Each atom at every moment
is not what it was, but a new part of that endless line
which is itself. And all this system successively revealed
in the time which is but the succession of consciousness,
separate as it is in parts, in its entirety is one vast unity.
Representing Parmenides’ doctrine thus, we gain a firmer
hold on it than if we merely let his words rest, grand and
massive, in our minds. And we have gained the means also
of representing phases of that Eastern thought to which
Parmenides was no stranger. Modifying his uncom-
promising doctrine, let us suppose, to go back to the plane
of consciousness and the structure of filamentary atoms,
that these structures are themselves moving—are acting,
living. Then, in the transverse motion of the film, there
would be two phenomena of motion, one due to the reading
off in the film of the permanent existences as they are in
themselves, and another phenomenon of motion due to
the modification of the record of the things themselves, by
their proper motion during the process of traversing them.
Thus a conscious being in the plane would have, as it
were, a two-fold experience. In the complete traversing
of the structure, the intersection of which with the film
gives his conscious all, the main and principal movements
and actions which he went through would be the record
of his higher self as it existed unmoved and unacting.
Slight modifications and derivations from these move-
ments and actions would represent the activity and self-
determination of the complete being, of his higher self.
It is admissible to suppose that the consciousness in
the plane has a share in that volition by which the

complete existence determines itself. Thus the motive
and will, the initiative and life, of the higher being, would
be represented in the case of the being in the film by an
initiative and a will capable, not of determining any great
things or independent movements in his existence, but only
of small and relatively insignificant activities. In all the
main features of his life his experience would be repre-
sentative of one state of the higher being whose existence
determines his as the film passes on. But in his minute
and apparently unimportant actions he would share in
that will and determination by which the whole of the
being he really is acts and lives.
An alteration of the higher being would correspond to
a different life history for him. Let us now make the
supposition that film after film traverses these higher
structures, that the life of the real being is read off again
and again in successive waves of consciousness. There
would be a succession of lives in the different advancing
planes of consciousness, each differing from the preceding
and differing in virtue of that will and activity which in
the preceding had not been devoted to the greater and
apparently most significant things in life, but the minute
and apparently unimportant. In all great things the
being of the film shares in the existence of his higher
self as it is at any one time. In the small things he
shares in that volition by which the higher being alters
and changes, acts and lives.
Thus we gain the conception of a life changing and
developing as a whole, a life in which our separation and
cessation and fugitiveness are merely apparent, but which
in its events and course alters, changes, develops; and
the power of altering and changing this whole lies in the
will and power the limited being has of directing, guiding,
altering himself in the minute things of his existence.
Transferring our conceptions to those of an existence in

a higher dimensionality traversed by a space of con-
ciousness, we have an illustration of a thought which has
found frequent and varied expression. When, however,
we ask ourselves what degree of truth there lies in it, we
must admit that, at far as we can see, it is merely sym-
bolical. The true path in the investigation of a higher
dimensionality lies in another direction.
The significance of the Parmenidean doctrine lies in
this: that here, as again and again, we find that those con-
ceptions which man introduces of himself, which he does
not derive from the mere record of his outward experience,
have a striking and significant correspondence to the
conception of a physical existence in a world of a higher
space. How close we come to Parmenides’ thought by
this manner of representation it is impossible to say.
What I want to point out is the adequateness of the
illustration, not only to give a static model of his doctrine,
but one capable as it were, of a plastic modification into a
correspondence into kindred forms of thought. Either one
of two things must be true—that four-dimensional concep-
tions give a wonderful power of representing the thought
of the East, or that the thinkers of the East must have been
looking at and regarding four-dimensional existence.
Coming now to the main stream of thought we must
dwell in some detail on Pythagoras, not because of his
direct relation to the subject, but because of his relation
to the investigators who come later.
Pythagoras invented the two-way counting. Let us
represent the single-way counting by the points aa,
ab, ac, ad, using these pairs of letters instead of the
numbers 1, 2, 3, 4. I put an a in each case first for a
reason which will immediately appear.
We have a sequence and order. There is no con-
ception of distance necessarily involved. The difference
between the posits is one of order not of distance--

only when identified with a number of equal material
things in juxtaposition does the notion of distance arise.
Now, besides the simple series I can have, starting from
aa, ba, ca, da, from ab, bb, cb, db, and so on, and forming
a scheme:
da db dc dd
ca cb cc cd
ba bb bc bd
aa ab ac ad
This complex or manifold gives a two-way order. I can
represent it by a set of points, if I am on my guard
against assuming any relation of distance.
Pythagoras studied this two-fold way of
counting on reference to material bodies, and
discovered that most remarkable property of
the combination of number and matter that
Fig. 15.
bears his name.
The Pythagorean property of an extended material
system can be exhibited in a manner which will be of
use to us afterwards, and which therefore I will employ
now instead of using the kind of figure which he himself
employed.
Consider a two-fold field of points arranged in regular
rows. Such a field will be presupposed in the following
argument.
It is evident that in fig. 16 four
of the points determine a square,
which square we may take as the
unit of measurement for areas.
1 2 But we can also measure areas
Fig. 16. in another way.
Fig. 16 (1) shows four points determining a square.
But four squares also meet in a point, fig. 16 (2).
Hence a point at the corner of a square belongs equally
to four squares.
Thus we may say that the point value of the square

shown is one point, for if we take the square in fig. 16 (1)
it has four points, but each of these belong equally to
four other squares. Hence one fourth of each of them
belongs to the square (1) in fig. 16. Thus the point
value of the square is one point.
The result of counting the points is the same as that
arrived at by reckoning the square units enclosed.
Hence, if we wish to measure the area of any square
we can take the number of points it encloses, count these
as one each, and take one-fourth the number of points
at its corners.
Now draw a diagonal square as shown in fig. 17. It
contains one point and the four corners count for one
point more; hence its point value is 2. The
value is the measure of its area—the size
of this square is two of the unit squares.
Looking now at the sides of this figure
we see that there is a unit square on each
Fig. 17. of them—the two squares contain no points,
but have four corner points each, which gives the point
value of each as one point.
Hence we see that the square on the diagonal is equal
to the squares on the two sides; or as it is generally
expressed, the square on the hypotenuse is equal to
the sum of the squares on the sides.
Noticing this fact we can proceed to ask if it is always
true. Drawing the square shown in fig. 18, we can count
the number of its points. There are five
altogether. There are four points inside
the square on the diagonal, and hence, with
the four points at its corners the point
value is 5—that is, the area is 5. Now
Fig. 18. the squares on the sides are respectively
of the area 4 and 1. Hence in this case also the square
on the diagonal is equal to the sum of the squares on

the sides. This property of matter is one of the first
great discoveries of applied mathematics. We shall prove
afterwards that it is not a property of space. For this
present it is enough to remark that the positions in
which the points are arranged is entirely experimental.
It is by means of equal pieces of some material, or the
same piece of material moved from one place to another,
that the points are arranged.
Pythagoras next enquired what the relation must be
so that a square drawn slanting-wise should be equal to
one straight-wise. He found that a square whose side is
five can be placed either rectangularly along the lines
of points, or in a slanting position. And this square is
equivalent to two squares of sides 4 and 3.
Here he came upon a numerical relation embodied in
a property of matter. Numbers immanent in the objects
produced the equality so satisfactory for intellectual appre-
hension. And he found that numbers when immanent
in sound—when the strings of a musical instrument
were given certain definite proportions of length—were
no less captivating to the ear than the equality of squares
was to the reason. What wonder then that he ascribed
an active power to number.
We must remember that, sharing like ourselves the
search for the permanent in changing phenomena, the
Greeks had not that conception of the permanent in
matter that we have. To them material things were not
permanent. In fire solid things would vanish; absolutely
disappear. Rock and earth had a more stable existence,
but they too grew and decayed. The permanence of
matter, the conservation of energy, were unknown to
them. And that distinction which we draw so readily
between the fleeting and permanent causes of sensation,
between a sound and a material object, for instance, had
not the same meaning to them which it has for us.

Let us but imagine for a moment that material things
are fleeting, disappearing, and we shall enter with a far
better appreciation into that search for the permanent
which, with the Greeks, as with us, is the primary
intellectual demand.
What is that which amid a thousand forms is ever the
same, which we can recognise under all its vicissitudes,
of which the diverse phenomena are the appearances?
To think that this is number is not so very wide of
the mark. With an intellectual apprehension which far
outran the evidences for its application, the atomists
asserted that there were everlasting material particles,
which, by their union, produced all the varying forms and
states of bodies. But in view of the observed facts of
nature as then known, Aristotle, with perfect reason,
refused to accept this hypothesis.
He expressly states that there is a change of quality,
and that the change due to motion is only one of the
possible modes of change.
With no permanent material world about us, with
the fleeting, the unpermanent, all around we should, I
think, be ready to follow Pythagoras in his identification
of number with that principle which subsists amidst
all changes, which in multitudinous forms we apprehend
immanent in the changing and disappearing substance
of things.
And from the numerical idealism of Pythagoras there
is but a step to the more rich and full idealism of Plato.
That which is apprehended by the sense of touch we
put as primary and real, and the other senses we say
are merely concerned with appearances. But Plato took
them all as valid, as giving qualities of existence. That
the qualities were not permanent in the world as given
to the senses forced him to attribute to them a different
kind of permanence. He formed the conception of a

world of ideas, in which all that really is, all that affects
us and gives the rich and wonderful wealth of our
experience, is not fleeting and transitory, but eternal.
And of this real and eternal we see in the things about
us the fleeting and transitory images.
And this world of ideas was no exclusive one, wherein
was no place for the innermost convictions of the soul and
its most authoritative assertions. Therein existed justice,
beauty—the one, the good, all that the soul demanded
to be. The world of ideas, Plato’s wonderful creation
preserved for man, for his deliberate investigation and
their sure development, all that the rude incom-
prehensible changes of a harsh experience scatters and
destroys.
Plato believed in the reality of ideas. He meets us
fairly and squarely. Divide a line into two parts, he
says: one to represent the real objects in the world, the
other to represent the transitory appearances, such as the
image in still water, the glitter of the sun on a bright
surface, the shadows on the clouds.
A B
Real things: Appearances:
e.g. the sun e.g. the reflection of the sun
Take another line and divide it into two parts, one
representing our ideas, the ordinary occupants of our
minds, such as whiteness, equality, and the other repre-
senting our true knowledge, which is of eternal
principles, such as beauty, goodness.
A’ B’
Eternal principles, Appearances in the mind,
as beauty as whiteness, equality
Then as A is to B, so is A’ to B’.
That is, the soul can proceed, going away from real
things to a region of perfect certainty, where it beholds

what is, not the scattered reflections; beholds the sun, not
the glitter on the sands; true being, not chance opinion.
Now, this is to us, as it was to Aristotle, absolutely
inconceivable from a scientific point of view. We can
understand that a being is known in the fulness of his
relations; it is in his relations to his circumstances that
a man’s character is known; it is in his acts under his
conditions that his character exists. We cannot grasp or
conceive any principle of individuation apart from the
fulness of the relations to the surroundings.
But suppose now that Plato is talking about the higher
man—the four-dimensional being that is limited in our
external experience to a three-dimensional world. Do not
his words being to have a meaning? Such a being
would have a consciousness of motion which is not as
the motion he can see with the eyes of the body. He,
in his own being, knows a reality to which the outward
matter of this too solid earth is flimsy superficiality. He
too knows a mode of being, the fulness of relations, in
which can only be represented in the limited world of
sense, as the painter unsubstantially portrays the depths
of woodland, plains, and air. Thinking of such a being
in man, was not Plato’s line well divided?
It is noteworthy that, if Plato omitted his doctrine of
the independent origin of ideas, he would present exactly
the four-dimensional argument; a real thing as we think
it is an idea. A plane being’s idea of a square object is
the idea of an abstraction, namely a geometrical square.
Similarly our idea of a solid thing is an abstraction, for in
our idea there is not the four-dimensional thickness which
is necessary, however slight, to give reality. The argu-
ment would then run, as a shadow is to a solid object, so
is the solid object to the reality. Thus A and B would
be identified.
In the allegory which I have already alluded to, Plato

in almost as many words shows forth the relation between
existence in a superficies and in solid space. And he
uses this relation to point to the conditions of a higher
being.
He imagines a number of men prisoners, chained so
that they look at the wall of a cavern in which they are
confined, with their backs to the road and the light.
Over the road pass men and women, figures and pro-
cessions, but of all this pageant all that the prisoners
behold is the shadow of it on the wall whereon they gaze.
Their own shadows and the shadows of the things in the
world are all that they see, and identifying themselves
with their shadows related as shadows to a world of
shadows, they live in a kind of dream.
Plato imagines one of their number to pass out from
amongst them into the real space world, and then return-
ing to tell them of their condition.
Here he presents most plainly the relation between
existence in a plane world and existence in a three-
dimensional world. And he uses this illustration as a
type of the manner in which we are to proceed to a
higher state from the three-dimensional life we know.
It must have hung upon the weight of a shadow which
path he took!—whether the one we shall follow toward
the higher solid and the four-dimensional existence, or
the one which makes ideas the higher realities, and the
direct perception of them the contact with the truer
world.
Passing on to Aristotle, we will touch on the points
which most immediately concern our enquiry.
Just as a scientific man of the present day in
reviewing the speculations of the ancient world would
treat them with a curiosity half amused but wholly
respectful, asking of each and all wherein lay their
relation to fact, so Aristotle, in discussing the philosophy

of Greece as he found it, asks, above all other things:
“Does this represent the world? In this system is there
an adequate presentation of what is?”
He finds them all defective, some for the very reasons
which we esteem them most highly, as when he criticises
the Atomic theory for its reduction of all change to motion.
But in the lofty march of his reason he never loses sight
of the whole; and that wherein our views differ from his
lies not so much in a superiority of our point of view, as
in the fact which he himself enunciates—that it is im-
possible for one principle to be valid in all branches of
enquiry. The conceptions of one method of investigation
are not those of another; and our divergence lies in our
exclusive attention to the conceptions useful in one way
of apprehending nature rather than in any possibility we
find in our theories of giving a view of the whole tran-
scending that of Aristotle.
He takes account of everything; he does not separate
matter and the manifestation of matter; he fires all
together in a conception of a vast world process in
which everything takes part—the motion of a grain of
dust, the unfolding of a leaf, the ordered motion of the
spheres in heaven—all are parts of one whole which
he will not separate into dead matter and adventitious
modifications.
And just as our theories, as representations of actuality,
fall before his unequalled grasp of fact, so the doctrine
of ideas fell. It is not an adequate account of exist-
ence, as Plato himself shows in his “Parmenides”;
it only explains things by putting their doubles beside
them.
For his own part Aristotle invented a great marching
definition which, with a kind of power of its own, cleaves
its way through phenomena to limiting conceptions on
either hand, towards whose existence all experience

points.
In Aristotle’s definition of matter and form as the
constituent of reality, as in Plato’s mystical vision of the
kingdom of ideas, the existence of the higher dimension-
ality is implicitly involved.
Substance according to Aristotle is relative, not absolute.
In everything that is there is the matter of which it
is composed, the form which it exhibits; but these are
indissolubly connected, and neither can be thought
without the other.
The blocks of stone out of which a house is built are the
material for builder; but, as regards the quarryman,
they are the matter of the rocks with the form he has
imposed on them. Words are the final product of the
grammarian, but the mere matter of the orator or poet.
The atom is, with us, that out of which chemical substances
are built up, but looked at from another point of view is
the result of complex processes.
Nowhere do we find finality. The matter in one sphere
is the matter, plus form, of another sphere of thought.
Making an obvious application to geometry, plane figures
exist as the limitation of different portions of the plane
by one another. In the bounding lines the separated
matter of the plane shows its determination into form.
And as the plane is the matter relatively to determinations
in the plane, so the plane itself exists in virtue of the
determination of space. A plane is that wherein formless
space has form superimposed on it, and gives an actuality
of real relations. We cannot refuse to carry this process
of reasoning a step farther back, and say that space itself
is that which gives form to higher space. As a line is
the determination of a plane, and a plane of a solid, so
solid space itself is the determination of a higher space.
As a line by itself is inconceivable without that plane
which it separates, so the plane is inconceivable without

the solids which it limits on either hand. And so space
itself cannot be positively defined. It is the negation
of the possibility of movement in more than three
dimensions. The conception of space demands that of
a higher space. As a surface is thin and mathematical
without the substance of which it is the surface, so matter
itself is thin without the higher matter.
Just as Aristotle invented that algebraical method of
representing unknown quantities by mere symbols, not by
lines necessarily determinate in length as what the habit
of the Greek geometers, and so struck out the path
towards those objectifications of thought which, like
independent machines for reasoning, supply the mathe-
matician with his analytical weapons, so in the formulation
of the doctrine of matter and form, of potentiality and
actuality, of the relativity of substance, he produced
another kind of objectification of mind—a definition
which had a vital force and an activity of its own.
In none of his writings, as far as we know, did he carry it
to its legitimate conclusion on the side of matter, but in
the direction of the formal qualities he was led to his
limiting conception of that existence of pure form which
lies beyond all known determination of matter. The
unmoved mover of all things is Aristotle’s highest
principle. Towards it, to partake of its perfection all
things move. The universe, according to Aristotle, is an
active process—he does not adopt the illogical conception
that it was once set in motion and has kept on ever since.
There is room for activity, will, self-determination, in
Aristotle’s system, and for the contingent and accidental
as well. We do not follow him, because we are accus-
tomed to find in nature infinite series, and do not feel
obliged to pass on to a belief in the ultimate limits to
which they seem to point.
But apart from the pushing to the limit, as a relative

principle this doctrine of Aristotle’s as to the relativity of
substance is irrefragible in its logic. He was the first to
show the necessity of that path of thought which when
followed leads to a belief in a four-dimensional space.
Antagonistic as he was to Plato in his conception
of the practical relation of reason to the world of
phenomena, yet in one point he coincided with him.
And in this he showed the candour of his intellect. He
was more anxious to lose nothing than to explain every-
thing. And that wherein so many have detected an
inconsistency, an inability to free himself from the school
of Plato, appears to us in connection with our enquiry
as an instance of the acuteness of his observation. For
beyond all knowledge given by the senses Aristotle held
that there is an active intelligence, a mind not the passive
recipient of impressions from without, but an active and
originative being, capable of grasping knowledge at first
hand. In the active soul Aristotle recognised something
in man not produced by his physical surroundings, some-
thing which creates, whose activity is a knowledge
underived from sense. This, he says, is the immortal and
undying being in man.
Thus we see that Aristotle was not far from the
recognition of the four-dimensional existence, both
without and within man, and the process of adequately
realising the higher dimensional figures to which we
shall come subsequently is a simple reduction to practice
of his hypothesis of a soul.
The next step in the unfolding of the drama of the
recognition of the soul as connected with out scientific
conception of the world, and, at the same time, the
recognition of that higher of which a three-dimensional
world presents the superficial appearance, took place many
centuries later. If we pass over the intervening time
without a word it is because the soul was occupied with

the assertion of itself in other ways than that of knowledge.
When it took up the task in earnest of knowing this
material world in which it found itself, and of diverting
the course of inanimate nature, from that most objective
aim came, reflected back as from a mirror, its knowledge
of itself.
CHAPTER V
THE SECOND CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY
OF FOUR SPACE
LOBATCHEWSKY, BOLYAI, AND GAUSS
BEFORE entering on a description of the word of
Lobatchewsky and Bolyai it will not be out of place
to give a brief account of them, the materials for which
are to be found in an article by Franz Schmidt in the
forty-second volume of the Mathematische Annalen,
and in Engel’s edition of Lobatchewsky.
Lobatchewsky was a man of the most complete and
wonderful talents. As a youth he was full of vivacity,
carrying his exuberance so far as to fall into serious
trouble for hazing a professor, and other freaks. Saved
by the good offices of the mathematician Bartels, who
appreciated his ability, he managed to restrain himself
within the bounds of prudence. Appointed professor at
his own University, Kasan, he entered on his duties under
the regime of a pietistic reactionary, who surrounded
himself with sycophants and hypocrites. Esteeming
probably the interests of his pupils as higher than any
attempt at a vain resistance, he made himself the tyrant’s
right-hand man, doing an incredible amount of teaching
and performing the most varied official duties. Amidst
all his activates he found time to make important con-
tributions to science. His theory of parallels is most
41
closely connected with his name, but a study of his

writings shows that he was a man capable of carrying
on mathematics in its main lines of advance, and of a
judgement equal to discerning what those lines were.
Appointed rector of his University, he died at an
advanced age, surrounded by friends, honoured, with the
results of his beneficent activity all around him. To him
no subject came amiss, from the foundations of geometry,
to the improvement of the stoves by which the peasants
warmed their homes.
He was born in 1793. His scientific work was
unnoticed till, in 1867, Houel, the French mathematician,
drew attention to its importance.
Johann Bolyai de Bolyai was born in Klausenburg,
a town in Transylvania, December 18th, 1802.
His father, Wolfgang Bolyai, a professor in the
Reformed College of Maros Vasarhely, retained the ardour
in mathematical studies which had made him a chosen
companion of Gauss in their early student days at
Göttingen.
He found an eager pupil in Johann. He relates that
the boy sprang before him like a devil. As soon as he
had enunciated a problem the child would give the
solution and command him to go on further. As a
thirteen-year-old boy his father sometimes sent him to fill
his place when incapacitated from taking his classes.
The pupils listened to him with more attention than to
his father for they found him clearer to understand.
In a letter to Gauss Wolfgang Bolyai writes:—
“My boy is strongly built. He has learned to recognise
many constellations, and the ordinary figures of geometry.
He makes apt applications of his notions, drawing for
instance the positions of the stars with their constellations.
Last winter in the country, seeing Jupiter he asked:
’How is it that we can see him from here as well as from
SECOND CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF FOUR SPACE 43
the town? He must be far off.’ And as to three

different places to which he had been he asked me to tell
him about them in one word. I did not know what he
meant, and then he asked me if one was in a line with
the other and all in a row, or if they were in a triangle.
“He enjoys cutting paper figures with a pair of scissors,
and without my ever having told him about triangles
remarked that a right-angled triangle which he had cut
out was half of an oblong. I exercise his body with care,
he can dig well in the earth with his little hands. The
blossom can fall and no fruit left. When he is fifteen
I want to send him to you to be your pupil.”
In Johann’s autobiography he says:—
“My father called my attention to the imperfections
and gaps in the theory of parallels. He told me he had
gained more satisfactory results than his predecessors,
but had obtained no perfect and satisfying conclusion.
None of his assumptions had the necessary degree of
geometrical certainty, although they sufficed to prove the
eleventh axiom and appeared acceptable on first sight.
“He begged of me, anxious not without a reason, to
hold myself aloof and to shun all investigation on this
subject, if I did not wish to live all my life in vain.”
Johann, in the failure of his father to obtain any
response from Gauss, in answer to a letter in which he
asked the great mathematician to make of his son “an
apostle of truth in a far land,” entered the Engineering
School at Vienna. He writes from Temesvar, where he
was appointed sub-lieutenant, 1823:—
“Temesvar, November 3rd, 1923.
“DEAR GOOD FATHER,
“I have so overwhelmingly much to write
about my discovery that I know no other way of checking
myself than taking a quarter of a sheet only to write on.
I want an answer to my four-sheet letter.
“I am unbroken in my determination to publish a

work on Parallels, as soon as I have put my materials in
order and have the means.
“At present I have not made any discovery, but
the way I have followed almost certainly promises me
the attainment of my object if any possibility of it
exists.
“I have not got my object yet, but I have pondered
such stupendous things that I was overwhelmed myself,
and it would be an eternal shame if they were lost.
When you see them you will find that it is so. Now
I can only say that I have made a new world out of
nothing. Everything that I have sent you before is a
house of cards in comparison with a tower. I am con-
vinced that it will be no less to my honour than if I had
already discovered it.”
The discovery of which Johann here speaks was
published as an appendix to Wolfgang Bolyai’s Tentamen.
Sending the book to Gauss, Wolfgang writes, after an
interruption of eighteen years in his correspondence:—
“My son is first lieutenant of Engineers and will soon
be captain. He is a fine youth, a good violin player,
a skilful fencer, and brave, but has had many duels, and
is wild even for a soldier. Yet he is distinguished—light
in darkness and darkness in light. He is an impassioned
mathematician with extraordinary capacities. . . . He
will think more of your judgement on his work than that
of all Europe.”
Wolfgang received no answer from Gauss to this letter,
but sending a second copy of the book received the
following reply:—
“You have rejoiced me, my unforgotten friend, by your
letters. I delayed answering the first because I wanted
to wait for the arrival of the promised little book.
“Now something about your son’s work.
“If I begin with saying that ‘I ought not to praise it,’

you will be staggered for a moment. But I cannot say
anything else. To praise it is to praise myself, for the
path your son has broken in upon and the results to which
he has been led are almost exactly the same as my own
reflections, some of which date from thirty to thirty-fire
years ago.
“In fact I am astonished to the uttermost. My inten-
tion was to let nothing be known in my lifetime about
my own work, of which, for the rest, but little is com-
mitted to writing. Most people have but little perception
of the problem, and I have found very few who took any
interest in the views I expressed to them. To be able to
do that one must first of all have had a real live feeling
for what is wanting, and as to that most men are com-
pletely in the dark.
“Still it was my intention to commit everything to
writing in the course of time, so that at least it should
not perish with me.
“I am deeply surprised that this task can be spared
me, and I am most of all pleased in this that it is the son
of my old friend who has in so remarkable a manner
preceded me.”
The impression which we receive from Gauss’s in-
explicable silence towards his old friend is swept away
by this letter. Hence we breathe the clear air of the
mountain tops. Gauss would not have failed to perceive
the vast significance of his thoughts, sure to be all the
greater in their effect on future ages from the want of
comprehension of the present. Yet there is not a word
or a sign in his writing to claim the thought for himself.
He published no single line on the subject. By the
measure of what he thus silently relinquishes, by such a
measure of a world-transforming thought, we can appre-
ciate his greatness.
It is a long step from Gauss’s serenity to the disturbed

and passionate life of Johann Bolyai—he and Gauss,
the two most interesting figures in the history of mathe-
matics. For Bolyai, the wild solider, the duellist, fell
at odds with the world. It is related of him that he was
challenged by thirteen officers of his garrison, a thing not
unlikely to happen considering how differently he thought
from everyone else. He fought them all in succession—
making it his only condition that he should be allowed
to play on his violin for an interval between meeting each
opponent. He disarmed or wounded all his antagonists.
It can be easily imagined that a temperament such as
his was one not congenial to his military superiors. He
was retired in 1833.
His epoch-making discovery awoke no attention. He
seems to have conceived the idea that his father had
betrayed him in some inexplicable way by his communi-
cations with Gauss, and he challenged the excellent
Wolfgang to a duel. He passed his life in poverty,
many a time, says his biographer, seeking to snatch
himself from dissipation and apply himself again to
mathematics. But his efforts had no result. He died
January 27th, 1860, fallen out with the world and with
himself.
METAGEOMETRY
The theories which are generally connected with the

names of Lobatchewsky and Bolyai bear a singular and
curious relation to the subject of higher space.
In order to show what this relation is, I must ask the
reader to be at the pains to count carefully the sets of
points by which I shall estimate the volumes of certain
figures.
No mathematical processes beyond this simple one of

counting will be necessary.
Let us suppose we have before us in
fig. 19 a plane covered with points at regular
intervals, so placed that every four deter-
mine a square.
Fig. 19. Now it is evident that as four points
determine a square, so four squares meet in a point.
Thus, considering a point inside a square as
belonging to it, we may say that a point on
the corner of a square belongs to it and to
four others equally: belongs a quarter of it to
Fig. 20. each square.
Thus the square ACDE (fig. 21) contains one point, and
has four points at the four corners. Since one-fourth of
each of these four belongs to the square, the four together
count as one point, and the point value of the square is
two points—the one inside and the four at the corner
make two points belonging to it exclusively.
D D
E C C
A B A B
Fig. 21. Fig. 22.
Now the area of this square is two unit squares, as one

can see by drawing two diagonals in fig. 22.
We also notice that the square in question is equal to
the sum of the squares on the sides AB, BC, of the right-
angled triangle ABC. Thus we recognise the proposition
that the square on the hypothenuse is equal to the sum
of the squares on the two sides of a right-angled triangle.
Now suppose we set ourselves the question of deter-
mining the whereabouts in the ordered system of points,
the end of a line would come when it turned about a

point keeping one extremity fixed at the point.
We can solve this problem in a particular case. If we
can find a square lying slantwise amongst the dots which is
equal to one which goes regularly, we shall know that the
two sides are equal, and that the slanting side is equal to the
straight-way side. Thus the volume and shape of a figure
remaining unchanged will be the test of its having rotated
about the point, so that we can say that its side in its first
position would turn into its side in the second position.
Now, such a square can be found in the one whose side
is five units in length.
D
E
C
A B F
H G
Fig. 23.
In fig. 23, in the square on AB, there are—

9 points interior . . . . . 9
4 at the corners . . . . . 1
4 sides with 3 on each side, considered as
11⁄2 on each side, because belonging
equally to two squares. . . 6
The total is 16. There are 9 points in the square
on BC.
In the square on AC there are—

24 points inside . . . . . 24
4 at the corners . . . . . 1
or 25 altogether.
Hence we see again that the square on the hypothenuse
is equal to the squares on the sides.
Now take the square AFHG, which is larger than the
square on AB. It contains 25 points.
16 inside. . . . . . . 24
16 on the sides, counting as . . 8
4 on the corners . . . . . 1
making 25 altogether.
If two squares are equal we conclude the sides are
equal. Hence, the line AF turning round A would
move so that it would after a certain turning coincide
with AC.
This is preliminary, but it involves all the mathematical
difficulties that will present themselves.
There are two alternations of a body by which its volume
is not changed.
One is the one we have considered, rotation, the
other is what is called shear.
Consider a book, or heap of loose pages. They can be
slid so that each one slips
over the preceding one,
a b and the whole assumes
Fig. 24. the shape b in fig. 24.
This deformation is not shear alone, but shear accom-
panied by rotation.
Shear can be considered as produced in another way.
Take the square ABCD (fig. 25). and suppose that it
is pulled out from along one of its diagonals both ways,
and proportionately compressed along the other diagonal.
It will assume the shape in fig. 26.
This compression and expansion along two lines at

right angles is what is called shear; it is equivalent to the
sliding illustrated above, combined with a turning round.
C
D
D C
O
B
O
A B A
Fig. 25. Fig. 26.
In pure shear a body is compressed and extended in
two directions at right angles to each other, so that its
volume remains unchanged.
Now we know that material bodies resist shear—
shear does violence to the internal arrangement of their
particles, but they turn as whole without such internal
resistance.
But there is an exception. In a liquid shear and
rotation take place equally easily, there is no more
resistance against a shear than there is against a
rotation.
Now, suppose all bodies were to be reduced to the liquid
state, in which they yield to shear and to rotation equally
easily, and then were to be reconstructed as solids, but in
such a way that shear and rotation had interchanged
places.
That is to say, let us suppose that when they had
become solids again they would shear without offering
any internal resistance, but a rotation would do violence
to their internal arrangement.
That is, we should have a world in which shear
would have taken the place of rotation.
A shear does not alter the volume of a body: thus an

inhabitant living in such a world would look on a body
sheared as we look on a body rotated. He would say
that it was the same shape, but had turned a bit
round.
Let us imagine a Pythagoras in this world going to
work to investigate, as is his wont.
D
E
C
A B
Fig. 27. Fig. 28.
Fig. 27 represents a square unsheared. Fig. 28

represents a square sheared. It is not the figure into
which the square in fig. 27 would turn, but the result of
shear on some square not drawn. It is a simple slanting
placed figure, taken now as we took a simple slanting
placed square before. Now, since bodies in this world of
shear offer no internal resistance to shearing, and keep
their volume when sheared, an inhabitant accustomed to
them would not consider that they altered their shape
under shear. He would call ACDE as much as square as
the square in fig. 27. We will call such figures shear
squares. Counting the dots in ACDE, we find—
2 inside =2
4 at corners = 1
or a total of 3.
Now, the square on the side AB has 4 points, that on BC
has 1 point. Here the shear square on the hypothenuse
has not 5 points by 3; it is not the sum of the squares on
the side, but the difference.
This relation always holds. Look

at fig. 29.
Shear square on hypothenuse—
7 internal . . . 7
4 at corners . . . 1
——
Fig. 29. 8
Square on one side—which the reader can draw for
himself—
D 4 internal . . 4
8 on sides. . 4
4 at corners . 1
E ——
9
C K and the square on the other
side is 1. Hence in this
case again the difference is
A equal to the shear square on
B
the hypothenuse, 9 – 1 = 8.
Thus in a world of shear
the square on the hypothen-
use would be equal to the
F G difference of the square on
Fig. 29 bis.
the sides of a right-angled
triangle.
In fig. 29 bis another shear square is drawn on which
the above relation can be tested.
What now would be the position a line on turning by
shear would take up?
We must settle this in the same way as previously with
our turning.
Since a body sheared remains the same, we must find two
equal bodies, one in the straight way, one in the slanting
way, which have the same volume. Then the side of one
will be turning become the side of the other, for the two
figures are each what the other becomes by a shear turning.
We can solve the problem in a particular case—

In the figure ACDE
D (fig. 30) there are—
15 inside . . 15
4 at corners . 1
E
a total of 16.
C Now in the square ABGF
there are 16—
9 inside . . 9
12 on sides . 6
A B 4 at corners . 1
—
16
Hence the square on AB
F G would, by the shear turn-
ing, become the shear square
Fig. 30. ABDE.
And hence the inhabitant of this world would say that
the line AB turned into the line AC. These two lines
would be to him two lines of equal length, one turned
a little way round from the other.
That is, putting shear in place of rotation, we get a
different kind of figure, as the result of the shear rotation,
from what we got with our ordinary rotation. And as a
consequence we get a position for the end of a line of
invariable length when it turns by the shear rotation,
different from the position which it would assume on
turning by our rotation.
A real material rod in the shear world would, on turning
about A, pass from the position AB to the position AC.
We say that its length alters when it becomes AC, but this
transformation of AB would seem to an inhabitant of the
shear world like a turning of AB without altering its
length.
If we now suppose a communication of ideas that takes
place between one of ourselves and an inhabitant of the
shear world, there would evidently be a difference between

his views of distance and ours.
We should say that his line AB increased in length in
turning to AC. He would say that our line AF (fig. 23)
decreased in length in turning to AC. He would think
that what we called an equal line was in reality a shorter
one.
We should say that a real turning round would have its
extremities in the positions we call at equal distances. So
would he—but the positions would be different. He
could, like us, appeal to the properties of matter. His
rod to him alters as little as ours does to us.
Now, is there any standard to which we could appeal,
to say which of the two is right in this argument? There
is no standard.
We should say that, with a change of position, the
configuration and shape of his objects altered. He would
say that the configuration and shape of our objects altered
in what we called merely a change of position. Hence
distance independent of position is inconceivable, or
practically distance is solely a property of matter.
There is no principle to which either party in this
controversy could appeal. There is nothing to connect
the definition of distance with our ideas rather than with
his, except the behaviour of an actual piece of matter.
For the study of the processes which go on in our world
the definition of distance given by taking the sum of the
squares is of paramount importance to us. But as a ques-
tion of pure space without making any unnecessary
assumptions the shear world is just as possible and just as
interesting as our world.
It was the geometry of such conceivable worlds that
Lobatchewsky and Bolyai studied.
This kind of geometry has evidently nothing to do
directly with four-dimensional space.
But a connection arises in this way. It is evident that,

instead of taking a simple shear as I have done, and
defining it as that change of the arrangement of the
particles of a solid which they will undergo without
offering any resistance due to their mutual action, I
might take a complex motion, composed of a shear and
a rotation together, or some other kind of deformation.
Let us suppose such an alteration picked out and
defined as the one which means simple rotation, then
the type, according to which all bodies will alter by this
rotation, is fixed.
Looking at the movements of this kind, we should say
that the objects were altering their shape as well as
rotating. But to the inhabitants of that world they
would seem to be unaltered, and our figures in their
motions would seem to them to alter.
In such a world the features of geometry are different.
We have seen one such difference in the case of our illus-
tration of the world of shear, where the square on the
hypothenuse was equal to the difference, not the sum, of
the squares on the sides.
In our illustration we have the same laws of parallel
lines as in our ordinary rotation world, but in general the
laws of parallel lines are different.
In one of these worlds of a different constitution of
matter through one point there can be two parallels to
a given line. In another of them there can be none, that
is, although a line be drawn parallel to another it will
meet it after a time.
Now it was precisely in this respect of parallels that
Lobatchewsky and Bolyai discovered these different
worlds. They did not think of them as worlds of matter,
but they discovered that space did not necessarily mean
that our law of parallels is true. They made the
distinction between laws of space and laws of matter,
although that is not the form in which they stated their

results.
The way in which they were led to these results was the
following. Euclid had stated the existence of parallel lines
as a postulate—putting frankly this unproved proposition
—that one line and only one parallel to a given straight
line can be drawn, as a demand, or something that must
be assumed. The words of his ninth postulate are these:
“If a straight line meeting two other straight lines
makes the interior angles on the same side of it equal
to two right angles, the two straight lines will never
meet.”
The mathematicians of later ages did not like this bald
assumption, and not being able to prove the proposition
they called it an axiom—the eleventh axiom.
Many attempts were made to prove this axiom; no one
doubted of its truth, but no means could be found to
demonstrate it. At last an Italian, Sacchieri, unable to
find a proof, said: “Let us suppose it not true.” He deduced
the results of there being possible two parallels to one
given line through a given point, but feeling the waters
too deep for the human reason, he devoted the latter half
of his book to disproving what he had assumed in the first
part.
Then Bolyai and Lobatchewsky with firm step entered
on the forbidden path. There can be no greater evidence
of the indomitable nature of the human spirit, or of its
manifest destiny to conquer all those limitations which
bind it down within the sphere of sense than this grand
assertion of Bolyai and Lobatchewsky.
C D Take a line AB and a point C.
We say and see and know that
A B through C can only be drawn one
Fig. 31. line parallel to AB.
But Bolyai said: “I will draw two.” Let CD be parallel
to AB, that is, not meet AB however far produced, and let
E lines beyond CD also not meet
C AB; let there be a certain
region between CD and CE, in
A B D which no line drawn meets
Fig. 32. AB. CE and CD produced
backwards through C will give a similar region on the
other side of C.
Nothing so triumphantly, one may almost say so
insolently, ignoring of sense had ever been written before.
Men had struggled against the limitations of the body,
fought them, despised them, conquered them. But no
one had ever thought simply as if the body, the bodily
eyes, the organs of vision, all this vast experience of space,
had never existed. The age-long contest of the soul with
the body, the struggle for mastery, had come to a cul-
mination. Bolyai and Lobatchewsky simply thought as
if the body was not. The struggle for dominion, the strife
and combat of the soul were over; they had mastered,
and the Hungarian drew his line.
Can we point out any connection, as in the case of
Parmenides, between these speculations and higher
space? Can we suppose it was any inner perception by
the soul of a motion not known to the senses, which re-
sulted in this theory so free from the bonds of sense? No
such supposition appears to be possible.
Practically, however, metageometry had a great in-
fluence in bringing the higher space to the front as a
working hypothesis. This can be traced to the tendency
of the mind to move in the direction of least resistance.
The results of the new geometry could not be neglected,
the problem of parallels had occupied a place too prominent
in the development of mathematical thought for its final
solution to be neglected. But this utter independence of
all mechanical considerations, this perfect cutting loose
from the familiar intuitions, was so difficult that almost

any other hypothesis was more easy of acceptance, and
when Beltrami showed that the geometry of Lobatchewsky
and Bolyai was the geometry of shortest lines drawn on
certain curved surfaces, the ordinary definitions of measure-
ment being retained, attention was drawn to the theory of
a higher space. An illustration of Beltrami’s theory is
furnished by the simple consideration of hypothetical
beings living on a spherical surface.
Let ABCD be the equator of a globe, and AP, BP,
P meridian lines drawn to the pole, P.
The lines AB, AP, BP would seem to be
perfectly straight to a person moving
D C on the surface of the sphere, and
A B
unconscious of its curvature. Now
AP and BP both make right angles
P’ with AB. Hence they satisfy the
Fig. 33.
definition of parallels. Yet they
meet in P. Hence a being living on a spherical surface,
and unconscious of its curvature, would find that parallel
lines would meet. He would also find that the angles
in a triangle were greater than two right angles. In
the triangle PAB, for instance, the angles at A and B
are right angles, so the three angles of the triangle
PAB are greater than two right angles.
Now in one of the systems of metageometry (for after
Lobatchewsky had shown the way it was found that other
systems were possible besides his) the angles of a triangle
are greater than two right angles.
Thus a being on a sphere would form conclusions about
his space which are the same as he would form if he
lived on a plane, the matter in which had such properties
as are presupposed by one of these systems of geometry.
Beltrami also discovered a certain surface on which there
could be drawn more than one “straight” line through a
point which would not meet another given line. I use

the word straight as equivalent to the line having the
property of giving the shortest path between any two
points on it. Hence, without giving up the ordinary
methods of measurement, it was possible to find conditions
in which a plane being would necessarily have an ex-
perience corresponding to Lobatchewsky’s geometry.
And by the consideration of a higher space, and a solid
curved in such a higher space, it was possible to account
for a similar experience in a space of three dimensions.
Now, it is far more easy to conceive of a higher dimen-
sionality to space than to imagine that a rod in rotating
does not move so that its end described a circle. Hence,
a logical conception having been found harder than that
of a four-dimensional space, thought turned to the latter
as a simple explanation of the possibilities to which
Lobatchewsky had awakened it. Thinkers became accus-
tomed to deal with the geometry of higher space—it was
Kant, says Veronese, who first used the expression of
“different spaces”—and with familiarity the inevitable-
ness of the conception made itself felt.
From this point it is but a small step to adapt the
ordinary mechanical conceptions to a higher spatial
existence, and then the recognition of its objective
existence could be delayed no longer. Here, too, as in so
many cases, it turns out that the order and connection of
our ideas is the order and connection of things.
What is the significance of Lobatchewsky’s and Bolyai’s
work?
It must be recognised as something totally different
from the conception of a higher space; it is applicable to
spaces of any number of dimensions. By immersing the
conception of distance in matter to which it properly
belongs, it promises to be of the greatest aid in analysis
for the effective distance of any two particles is the
product of complex material conditions and cannot be

measured by hard and fast rules. Its ultimate signi-
ficance is altogether unknown. It is a cutting loose
from the bonds of sense, not coincident with the recognition
of a higher dimensionality, but indirectly contributory
thereto.
Thus, finally, we have come to accept what Plato held
in the hollow of his hand; what Aristotle’s doctrine of
the relativity of substance implies. The vast universe, too,
has its higher, and in recognising it we find that the
directing being within us no longer stands inevitably
outside our systematic knowledge.
CHAPTER VI
THE HIGHER WORLD
IT is indeed strange, the manner in which we must being
to think about the higher world.
Those simplest objects analogous to those which are
about us on every side in our daily experience such as a
door, a table, a wheel are remote and unrecognisable in the
world of four dimensions, while the abstract ideas of
rotation, stress and strain, elasticity into which analysis
resolves the familiar elements of our daily experience are
transferable and applicable with no difficulty whatever.
Thus we are in the unwonted position of being obliged
to contrast the daily and habitual experience of a four-
dimensional being, from a knowledge of the abstract
theories of the space, the matter, the motion of it;
instead of, as in our case, passing to the abstract theories
form the richness of sensible things.
What would be a wheel in four dimensions? What
the shafting for the transmission of power which a
four-dimensional being would use.
The four-dimensional wheel, and the four-dimensional
shafting are what will occupy us for these few pages. And
it is no futile or insignificant enquiry. For in the attempt
to penetrate into the nature of the higher, to grasp within
our ken that which transcends all analogies, because what
we know are merely partial views of it, the purely
material and physical path affords a means of approach
61
pursuing which we are in less likelihood of error than if

we use the more frequently trodden path of framing
conceptions which in their elevation and beauty seem to
us ideally perfect.
For where we are concerned with our own thoughts, the
development of our own ideals, we are as it were on a
curve, moving at any moment in a direction of tangency.
Whither we go, what we set up and exalt as perfect,
represents not the true tread of the curve, but our own
direction at the present—a tendency conditioned by the
past, and by a vital energy of motion essential but
only true when perpetually modified. That eternal cor-
rector of our aspirations and ideals, the material universe
draws sublimely away from the simplest things we can
touch or handle to the infinite depths of starry space,
in one and all uninfluenced by what we think or feel,
presenting unmoved fact to which, think it good or
think it evil, we can but conform, yet out of all that
impassivity with a reference to something beyond our
individual hopes and fears supporting us and giving us
our being.
And to this great being we come with the question:
“You, too, what is your higher?”
Or to put it in a form which will leave our conclusions in
the shape of no barren formula, and attacking the problem
on its most assailable side: “What is the wheel and the
shafting of the four-dimensional mechanic?”
In entering on this enquiry we must make a plan of
procedure. The method which I shall adopt is to trace
out the steps of reasoning by which a being confined
to movement in a two-dimensional world could arrive at a
conception of our turning and rotation, and then to apply
an analogous process to the consideration of the higher
movements. The plane being must be imagined as no
abstract figure, but as a real body possessing all three
THE HIGHER WORLD 63
dimensions. His limitation to a plane must be the result

of physical conditions.
We will therefore think of him as of a figure cut out of
paper placed on a smooth plane. Sliding over this plane,
and coming into contact with other figures equally thin
as he in the third dimension, he will apprehend them only
by their edges. To him they will be completely bounded
by lines. A “solid” body will be to him a two-dimensional
extent, the interior of which can only be reached by
penetrating through the bounding lines.
Now such a plane being can think of our three-
dimensional existence in two ways.
First, he can think of it as a series of sections, each like
the solid he knows of extending in a direction unknown
to him, which stretches transverse to his tangible
universe, which lies in a direction at right angles to every
motion which he made.
Secondly, relinquishing the attempt to think of the
three-dimensional solid body in its entirety he can regard
it as consisting of a number of plane sections, each of them
in itself exactly like the two-dimensional bodies he knows,
but extending away from his two-dimensional space.
A square lying in his space he regards as a solid
bounded by four lines, each of which lies in his space.
A square standing at right angles to his plane appears
to him as simply a line in his plane, for all of it except
the line stretches in the third dimension.
He can think of a three-dimensional body as consisting
of a number of such sections, each of which starts from a
line in his space.
Now, since in his world he can make any drawing or
model which involves only two dimensions, he can represent
each such upright section as it actually is, and can repre-
sent a turning from a known into the unknown dimension
as a turning from one to another of his known dimensions.
To see the whole he must relinquish part of that which

he has, and take the whole portion by portion.
Consider now a plane being in front of a square, fig. 34.
y The square can turn about any point
in the plane—say the point A. But it
C D cannot turn about a line, as AB. For,
in order to turn about the line AB,
A’ B’ the square must leave the plane and
move in the third dimension. This
A B x motion is out of his range of observa-
Fig. 34. tion, and is therefore, except for a
process of reasoning, inconceivable to him.
Rotation will therefore be to him rotation about a point.
Rotation about a line will be inconceivable to him.
The result of rotation about a line he can apprehend.
He can see the first and last positions occupied in a half
revolution about the line AC. The result of such a half revo-
lution is to place the square ABCD on the left hand instead
of on the right hand of the line AC. It would correspond
to a pulling of the whole bode ABCD through the line AC,
or to the production of a solid body which was the exact
reflection of it in the line AC. It would be as if the square
ABCD turned into its image, the line acting as a mirror.
Such a reversal of the positions of the parts of the square
would be impossible in his space. The occurrence of it
would be a proof of the existence of a higher dimensionality.
Let him now, adopting the conception of a three-
z
dimensional body as a series of
sections lying, each removed a
little farther than the preceding
B1
one, in direction at right angles to
his plane, regard a cube, fig. 36, as
a series of sections, each like the
A B x square which forms its base, all
Fig. 35. rigidly connected together.
THE HIGHER WORLD 65
If now he turns the square about the point A in the

plane of zy, each parallel section turns with the square
he moves. In each of the sections there is a point of
rest, that vertically over A. Hence he would conclude
that in the turning of a three-dimensional body there is
one line which is at rest. That is, a three-dimensional
turning is a turning about a line.
In a similar way let us regard ourselves as limited to a

three-dimensional world by a physical condition. Let us
imagine that there is a direction at right angles to every
direction in which we can move, and that we are pre-
vented from passing in this direction by a vast solid, that
against which in every movement we make we slip as
the plane being slips against his plane sheet.
We can then consider a four-dimensional body as con-
sisting of a series of sections, each parallel to our space,
and each a little further off than the preceding on the
unknown dimension.
Take the simplest four-dimensional body—one which
z begins as a cube, fig. 36, in our
space, and consists of sections, each
F H
a cube like fig. 36, lying away from
our space. If we turn the cube
D
y B which is its base in our space
G about a line, if, e.g., in fig. 36 we
E
turn the cube about the line AB,
A C x not only it but each of the parallel
Fig. 36. cubes moves about a line. The
cube we see moves about the line AB, the cube beyond it
about a line parallel to AB and so on. Hence the whole
four-dimensional body moves about a plane, for the
assemblage of these lines is our way of thinking about the
plane which, starting from the line as in our space, runs
off in the unknown direction.
In this case all that we see of the plane about which

the turning takes place is the line AB.
But it is obvious that the axis plane may lie in our
space. A point near the plane determines with it a three-
dimensional space. When it begins to rotate around the
plane it does not move anywhere in this three-dimensional
space, but moves out of it. A point can no more rotate
round a plane in three-dimensional space than a point
can move round a line in two-dimensional space.
We will now apply the second of the modes of repre-
sentation to this case of turning about a plane, building
up our analogy step by step from the turning in a plane
about a point and that in space about a line, and so on.
In order to reduce our considerations to those of the
greatest simplicity possible, let us realise how the plane
being would think of the motion by which a square is
turned round a line.
Let fig. 34, ABCD be a square on his plane, and repre-
sent the two dimensions of his space by the axes Ax, Ay.
Now the motion in which the square is turned over
about the line AC involves the third dimension.
He cannot represent the motion of the whole square in
its turning, but he can represent the motions of parts of
it. Let the third axis perpendicular to the plane of the
paper be called the axis of z. Of the three axes, x, y, z,
the plane being can represent any two in his space. Let
him then drawn, in fig. 35, two axes, x and z. Here he has
in his plane a representation of what exists in the plane
which goes off perpendicularly to his space.
In this representation the square would not be shown,
for in the plane of xy simple the line AB of the square is
contained.
The plane being then would have before him, in fig. 35,
the representation of one line AB of his square and two
axes, x and z, at right angles. Now it would be obvious
THE HIGHER WORLD 67
to him that, by a turning such as he knows, by a rotation

about a point, the line AB can turn round A, and occu-
pying all the intermediate positions, such as AB1, come,
after half a revolution to lie as Ax produced through A.
Again, just as he can represent the vertical plane
through AB, so he can represent the vertical plane
through A’B’, fig. 34, and in a like manner can see that
the line A’B’ can turn about the point A’ till it lies in the
opposite direction from that which it runs at first.
Now these two turnings are not inconsistent. In his
plane, if AB is turned about A, and A’B’ about A’, the con-
siststency of the square would be destroyed, it would be an
impossible motion for a rigid body to perform. But in
the turning which he studies portion by portion there
is nothing inconsistent. Each line in the square can turn
in this way, hence he would realise the turning of the
whole square as the sum of a number of turnings of
isolated parts. Such turnings, if they took place in his
plane, would be inconsistent, but by virtue of a third
dimension they are consistent, and the result of them all
is that the square turns about the line AC and lies in a
position in which it is the mirror image of what it was in
its first position. Thus he can realise a turning about a
line by relinquishing one of his axes, and representing his
body part by part.
Let us apply this method to the turning of a cube so as
to become the mirror image of itself. In our space we can
construct three independent axis, x, y, z, shown in fig. 36.
Suppose that there is a fourth axis, w, at right angles to
each and every one of them. We cannot, keeping all
three axes, x, y, z, represent w in our space; but if we
relinquish one of our three axes we can let the fourth axis
take its place, and we can represent what lies in the
square, determined by the two axes we retain and the
fourth axis.
Let us suppose that we let the y axis drop, and that

z we represent the w axis as occupy-
ing its direction. We have in fig.
B D 37 a drawing of what we should
w then see of the cube. The square
ABCD remains unchanged, for
x
that is in the play of xz, and we
A C
still have that plane. But from
Fig. 37.
this plane the cube stretches out
in the direction of the y axis. Now the y axis is gone, and
so we have no more of the cube than the face ABCD.
z Considering now this face ABCD, we
see that it is free to turn about the
D line AB. It can rotate in the x to w
w B
direction about this line. In fig. 38
it is shown on its way, and it can
C
evidently continue this rotation till
A x it lies on the other side of the z axis
Fig. 38. in the plane of xz.
We can also take a section parallel to the face ABCD,
and then letting drop all our space except the plane of
that section, introduce the w axis, running in the old y
direction. This section can be represented by the same
drawing, fig. 38, and we see that it can rotate about the
line on its left until it swings half way round and runs in
the opposite direction to that which it ran in before.
These turnings of the different sections are not incon-
sistent, and taken all together they will bring the cube
from the position shown in fig. 36 to that shown in
fig. 41.
Since we have three axes at our disposal in our space,
we are not obliged to represent the w axis by any particular
one. We may let any axis we like disappear, and let the
fourth axis take its place.
In fig. 36 suppose the z axis to go. We have then
THE HIGHER WORLD 69
simply the plane of xy and the square base of the

w cube ACEG, fig. 39, is all that could
be seen of it. Let now the w axis
y take the place of the z axis and
E G we have, in fig. 39 again, a repre-
x sentation of the space of xyw, in
A C which all that exists of the cube is
Fig. 39. its square base. Now, by a turning
of x to w, this base can rotate around the line AE, it is
shown on its way in fig. 40, and
w
finally it will, after half a revolution,
y lie on the other side of the y axis. In
G a similar way we may rotate
E C sections parallel to the base of the
A x xw rotation, and each of them comes
Fig. 40. to run in the opposite direction from
that which they occupied at first.
Thus again the cube comes from the position of fig. 36
to that of fig. 41. In this x to
H F z
w turning, we see that it
takes place by the rotations of
D B sections parallel to the front
y
G face about lines parallel to AB,
E
or else we may consider it as
C A x x consisting of the rotations of
2nd position 1st position sections parallel to the base
Fig. 41. about lines parallel to AE. It
is a rotation of the whole cube about the plane ABEF.
Two separate sections could not rotate about two separate
lines in our space without conflicting, but their motion is
consistent when we consider another dimension. Just,
then, as a plane being can think of rotation about a line as
a rotation about a number of points, these rotations not
interfering as they would if they took place in his two-
dimensional space, so we can think of a rotation about a
plane as the rotation of a number of sections of a body

about a number of lines in a plane, these rotations not
being inconsistent in a four-dimensional space as they are
in three-dimensional space.
We are not limited to any particular direction for the
lines in the plane about which we suppose the rotation
of the particular sections to take place. Let us draw
the section of the cube, fig. 36, through A, F, C, B, forming
a sloping plane. Now since the fourth dimension is at
right angles to every line in our space it is at right
angles to this section also. We can represent our space
by drawing an axis at right angles to the plane ACEG, our
space is then determined by the plane ACEG, and the per-
pendicular axis. If we let this axis drop and suppose the
fourth axis, w, to take its place, we have a representation of
the space which runs off in the fourth dimension from the
plane ACEG. In this space we shall see simply the section
ACEG of the cube, and nothing else, for one cube does not
extend to any distance in the fourth dimension.
If, keeping this plane, we bring in the fourth dimension,
we shall have a space in which simply this section of
the cube exists and nothing else. This section can turn
about the line AF, and parallel sections can turn about
z parallel lines. Thus in con-
sidering the rotation about
a plane we can draw any
D F lines we like and consider
the rotation as taking place
G H x in sections about them.
To bring out this point
C E
more clearly, let us take two
y
B parallel lines, A and B, in
A
the space of xyz, and let CD
Fig. 42.
and EF be two rods running
above and below the plane of xy, from these lines. If we
THE HIGHER WORLD 71
turn these rods in our space about the lines A and B, as

the upper end of one, F, is going down, the lower end of
the other, C, will be coming up. They will meet and
conflict. But it is quite possible for these two rods
each of them to turn about the two lines without altering
their relative distances.
To see this suppose the y axis to go, and let the w axis
take its place. We shall see the lines A and B no longer,
for they run in the y direction from the points G and H.
Fig. 43 is a picture of the two rods seen in the space
z of xzw. If they rotate in the
direction shown by the arrows—
in the z to w direction—they
D move parallel to one another,
F
keeping their relative distances.
G H Each will rotate about its own
x line, but their rotation will not
C E be inconsistent with their form-
w ing part of a rigid body.
Fig. 43. Now we have but to suppose
a central plane with rods crossing
it at every point, like CD and EF cross the plane of xy,
to have an image of a mass of matter extending equal
distances on each side of a diametral plane. As two of
these rods can rotate round, so can all, and the whole
mass of matter can rotate round its diametral plane.
This rotation round a plane corresponds, in four
dimensions, to the rotation round an axis in three
dimensions. Rotation of a body round a plane is the
analogue of rotation of a rod round an axis.
In a plane we have rotation round a point, in three-
space rotation round an axis line, in four-space rotation
round an axis plane.
The four-dimensional being’s shaft by which he trans-
mits power is a disk rotating round its central plane—
the whole contour corresponds to the ends of an axis of

rotation in our space. He can impart the rotation at any
point and take it off at any other point on the contour,
just as rotation round a line can in three-space be imparted
at one end of a rod and taken off at the other end.
A four-dimensional wheel can easily be described from
the analogy of the representation which a plane being
would form from himself of one of our wheels.
Suppose a wheel to move transverse to a plane, so that
the whole disk, which I will consider to be solid and
without spokes, can at the same time into contact with
the plane. It would appear as a circular portion of plane
matter completely enclosing another and smaller portion—
the axle.
This appearance would last, supposing the motion of
the wheel to continue until it had traversed the plane by
the extent of its thickness, when there would remain in
the plane only the small disk which is the section of the
axle. There would be no means obvious in the plane
at first by which the axle could be reached, except by
going through the substance of the wheel. But the
possibility of reaching it without destroying the substance
of the wheel would be shown by the continued existence
of the axle section after that of the wheel had disappeared.
In a similar way a four-dimensional wheel moving
transverse to our space would appear first as a solid sphere,
completely surrounding a smaller solid sphere. The
outer sphere would represent the wheel, and would last
until the wheel had traversed our space by a distance
equal to its thickness. Then the small sphere alone
would remain, representing the section of the axle. The
large sphere could move round the small one quite freely.
Any line in space could be taken as an axis, and round
this line the outer sphere could rotate, while the inner
sphere remained still. But in all these directions of
THE HIGHER WORLD 73
revolution, there would be in reality one line which

remained unaltered, that is the line which stretches away
in the fourth dimension, following the axis of the axle. The
four-dimensional wheel can rotate in any number of planes,
but all these planes are such that there is a line at right
angles to them all unaffected by rotation in them.
An objection is sometimes experienced as to this mode
of reasoning from a plane world to a higher dimensionality.
How artificial, it is argued, this conception of a plane
world is. If any real existence confined to a superficies
could be shown to exist, there would be an argument for
one relative to which our three-dimensional existence is
superficial. But, both on the one side and the other of
the space we are familiar with, spaces either with less
or more than three dimensions are merely arbitrary
conceptions.
In reply to this I would remark that a plane being
having one less dimension than our three would have one-
third of our possibilities of motion, which we have only
one-fourth less than those of the higher space. It may
very well be that there may be a certain amount of
freedom of motion which is demanded as a condition of an
organised existence, and that no material existence is
possible with a more limited dimensionality than ours.
This is well seen if we try to construct the mechanics of a
two-dimensional world. No tube could exist, for unless
joined together completely at one end two parallel lines
would be completely separate. The possibility of an
organic structure, subject to conditions such as this, is
highly problematical; yet, possibly in the convolutions
of the brain there may be a mode of existence to be
described as two-dimensional.
We have but to suppose the increase in surface and
the diminution in mass carried on to a certain extent
to find a region which, though without mobility of the
constituents, would have to be described as two-dimensional.

But, however artificial the conception of a plane being
may be, it is not the less to be used in passing to the
conception of a greater dimensionality than ours, and
hence the validity of the first part of the objection
altogether disappears directly we find evidence for such a
state of being.
The second part of the objection has more weight.
How is it possible to conceive that in a four-dimensional
space and creatures should be confined to a three-
dimensional existence?
In reply I would say that we know as a matter of fact
that life is essentially a phenomenon of surface. The
amplitude of the movements which we can make is much
greater along the surface of the earth than it is up
or down.
Now we have but to conceive the extent of a solid
surface increased, while the motions possible transverse
to it are diminished in the same proportion, to obtain the
image of a three-dimensional world in four-dimensional
space.
And as our habitat is the meeting of air and earth on
the world, so we must think of the meeting place of two
as affording the condition for our universe. The meeting
of what two? What can that vastness be in the higher
space which stretches in such a perfect level that our
astronomical observations fail to detect the slightest
curvature?
The perfection of the level suggests a liquid—a lake
amidst what vast scenery!—whereon the matter of the
universe floats speck-like.
But this aspect of the problem is like what are called
in mathematics boundary conditions.
We can trace out all the consequences of four-dimen-
sional movements down to their last detail. Then, knowing
THE HIGHER WORLD 75
the mode of action which would be characteristic of the

minutest particles, if they were free, we can drawn con-
clusions from what they actually do of what the constraint
of them is. Of the two things, the material conditions and
the motion, one is known, and the other can be inferred.
If the place of the universe is a meeting of two, there
would be a one-sidedness to space. If it lies so that what
stretches away in one direction in the unknown is unlike
what stretches away in the other, then, as far as the
movements which participate in that dimension are con-
cerned, there would be a difference as to which way the
motion took place. This would be shown in the dissimi-
larity of phenomena, which, so far as all three-space
movements are concerned, were perfectly symmetrical.
To take an instance, merely, for the sake of precising
our ideas, not for any inherent probability in it; if it could
be shown that the electric current in the positive direction
were exactly like the electric current in the negative
direction, except for a reversal of the components of
motion in three-dimensional space, then the dissimilarity
of the discharge from the positive and negative poles
would be an indication of a one-sidedness to our space.
The only cause of differences in the two discharges would
be due to a component in the fourth dimension, which
directed in one direction transverse to our space, met with
a different resistance to that which it met when directed
in the opposite direction.
CHAPTER VII
THE EVIDENCES FOR A FOURTH DIMENSION
THE method necessarily to be employed in the search for
the evidences of a fourth dimension, consists primarily in
the formation of the conceptions of four-dimensional
shapes and motions. When we are in possession of these
it is possible to call in the aid of observation, without
them we may have been all our lives in the familiar
presence of a four-dimensional phenomenon without ever
recognising its nature.
To take one of the conceptions we have already formed,
the turning of a real thing into its mirror image would be
an occurrence which it would be hard to explain, except on
the assumption of a fourth dimension.
We know of no such turning. But there exist a multi-
tude of forms which show a certain relation to a plane,
a relation of symmetry, which indicates more than an acci-
dental juxtaposition of parts. In organic life the universal
type is of right- and left-handed symmetry, there is a plane
on each side of which the parts correspond. Now we have
seen that in four dimensions a plane takes the place of a
line in three dimensions. In our space, rotation about an
axis is the type of rotation, and the origin of bodies sym-
metrical about a line as the earth is symmetrical about an
axis can easily be explained. But where there is symmetry
about a plane no simple physical motion, such as we
76
THE EVIDENCES FOR A FOURTH DIMENSION 77
are accustomed to, suffices to explain it. In our space a

symmetrical object must be built up by equal additions
on each side of a central plane. Such additions about
such a plane are as little likely as any other increments.
The probability against the existence of symmetrical
form in inorganic nature is overwhelming in our space,
and in organic forms they would be as difficult of produc-
tion as any other variety of configuration. To illustrate
this point we may take the child’s amusement of making
from dots of ink on a piece of paper a life-like repre-
sentation of an insect by simply folding the paper
over. The dots spread out on a symmetrical line, and
give the impression of a segmented form with antennæ
and legs.
Now seeing a number of such figures we should
naturally infer a folding over. Can, then, a folding over
in four-dimensional space account for the symmetry of
organic forms? The folding cannot of course be of the
bodies we see, but it may be of those minute constituents,
the ultimate elements of living matter which, turned in one
way or the other, become right- or left-handed, and so
produce a corresponding structure.
There is something in life not included in our concep-
tions of mechanical movement. Is this something a four-
dimensional movement?
If we look at it from the broadest point of view, there is
something striking in the fact that where life comes in
there arises an entirely different set of phenomena to
those of the inorganic world.
The interest and values of life as we know it in our-
selves, as we know it existing around us in subordinate
forms, is entirely and completely different to anything
which inorganic nature shows. And in living beings we
have a kind of form, a disposition of matter which is
entirely different from that shown in inorganic matter.
Right- and left-handed symmetry does not occur in the

configurations of dead matter. We have instances of
symmetry about an axis, but not about a plane. It can
be argued that the occurrence of symmetry in two dimen-
sions involves the existence of a three-dimensional process,
as when a stone falls into water and makes rings of ripples,
or as when a mass of soft material rotates about an axis.
It can be argued that symmetry in any number of dimen-
sions is the evidence of an action in a higher dimensionality.
Thus considering living beings, there is an evidence both
in their structure, and in their different mode of activity, of a
something coming in from without into the inorganic
world.
And the objections which will readily occur, such as
those derived from the forms of twin crystals and the
theoretical structure of chemical molecules, do not in-
validate the argument; for in these forms too the
presumable seat of the activity producing them lies in that
very minute region in which we necessarily place the seat
of a four-dimensional movement.
In another respect also the existence of symmetrical forms
is noteworthy. It is puzzling to conceive how two shapes
exactly equal can exist which are not superposible. Such
a pair of symmetrical figures as the two hands, right and
left, show either a limitation in our power of movement,
by which we cannot superpose the one on the other, or a
definite influence and compulsion of space on matter,
inflicting limitations which are additional to those of the
properties of the parts.
We will, however, put aside the argument to be drawn
from the consideration of symmetry as inconclusive,
retaining one valuable indication which they afford. If
it is in virtue of a four-dimensional motion that sym-
metry exists, it is only in the very minute particles
of bodies that that motion is to be found, for there is
no such thing as a bending over in four dimensions of

any object of a size which we can observe. The region
of the extremely minute is the one, then, which we
shall have to investigate. We must look for some
phenomenon which, occasioning movements of the kind
we know, still is itself inexplicable as any form of motion
which we know.
Now in the theories of the actions of the moisture
particles of bodies on one another, and in the motions of
the ether, mathematicians have tacitly assumed that the
mechanical principles are the same as those which prevail
in the case of bodies which can be observed, it has been
assumed without proof that the conception of motion being
three-dimensional, holds beyond the region from observa-
tions in which it was formed.
Hence it is not from any phenomena explained by
mathematics that we can derive a proof of four dimensions.
Every phenomenon that has been explained is explained
as three-dimensional. And, moreover, since in the region
of the very minute we do not find rigid bodies acting
on each other at a distance, but elastic substances and
continuous fluids such as ether, we shall have a double
task.
We must form the conceptions of the possible move-
ments of elastic and liquid four-dimensional matter, before
we can begin to observe. Let us, therefore, take the four-
dimensional rotation about a plane, and enquire what it
becomes in the case of extensible fluid substances. If
four-dimensional movements exist, this kind of rotation
must exist, and the finer portions of matter must exhibit
it.
Consider for a moment a rod of flexible and extensible
material. It can turn about an axis, even if not straight;
a ring of india rubber can turn inside out.
What would this be in the case of four dimensions?
Let us consider a sphere of our three-dimensional

z matter having a definite
thickness. To represent
F
this thickness let us sup-
D
pose that from every point
of the sphere in fig. 44 rods
project both ways, in and
y out, like D and F. We can
only see the external por-
tion, because the internal
parts are hidden by the
sphere.
Fig. 44.
Axis of x running towards In this sphere the axis
the observer. of x is supposed to come
towards the observer, the
axis of z to run up, the axis of y to go to the right.
Now take the section determined by the xy plane.
z This will be a circle as
shown in fig. 45. If we
F let drop the x axis, this
E D circle is all we have of
C the sphere. Letting the
w axis now run in the
y plane of the old x axis
we have the space yzw
w and in this space all that
we have of the sphere is
the circle. Fig 45 then
represents all that there
Fig. 45. is of the sphere in the
space of yzw. In this space it is evident that the rods
CD and EF can turn round the circumference as an axis.
If the matter of the spherical shell is sufficiently exten-
sible to allow the particles C and E to become as widely
separated as they would in the positions D and F, then
the strip of matter represented by CD and EF and a

multitude of rods like them can turn round the circular
circumference.
Thus this particular section of the sphere can turn
inside out, and what holds for any one section holds for
all. Hence in four dimensions the whole sphere can, if
extensible. turn inside out. Moreover, any part of it--
a bowl-shaped portion for instance—can turn inside out,
and so on round and round.
This is really no more than we had before in the
rotation about a plane, except that we see that the plane
can, in the case of an extensible matter, be curved, and still
play the part of an axis.
If we suppose the spherical shell to be of four-dimen-
sional matter, our representation will be a little different.
Let us suppose there to be a small thickness in the matter
in the fourth dimension. This would make no difference
in fig. 44, for that merely shows the view in the xyz
space. But when the x axis is let drop, and the w axis
comes in, then the rods CD and EF which represent the
matter of the shell, will have a certain thickness perpen-
dicular to the plane of the paper on which they are drawn.
If they have a thickness in the fourth dimension they will
show this thickness when looked at from the direction of
the w axis.
Supposing these rods, then, to be small slabs strung on
the circumference of the circle in fig. 45, we see that
there will not be in this case either any obstacle to their
turning round the circumference. We can have a shell
of extensible matter or of fluid material turning inside
out in four dimensions.
And we must remember than in four dimensions there
is no such thing as rotation round an axis. If we want to
investigate the motion of fluids in four dimensions we
must take a movement about an axis in our space, and
find the corresponding movement about a plane in

four space.
Now, of all the movements which take place in fluids,
the most important from a physical point of view is
vortex motion.
A vortex is a whirl or eddy—it is shown in the gyrating
wreaths of dust seen on a summer day; it is exhibited on
a larger scale in the destructive march of a cyclone.
A wheel whirling round will throw off the water on it.
But when this circling motion takes place in a liquid
itself it is strangely persistent. There is, of course, a
certain cohesion between the particles of water by which
they mutually impede their motions. But in a liquid
devoid of friction, such that every particle is free from
lateral cohesion on its path of motion, it can be shown
that a vortex or eddy separates from the mass of the
fluid a certain portion, which always remains in that
vortex.
The shape of the vortex may alter, but it always con-
sists of the same particles of the fluid.
Now, a very remarkable fact about such a vortex is that
the ends of the vortex cannot remain suspended and
isolated in the fluid. They must always run to the
boundary of the fluid. An eddy in water that remains
half way down without coming to the top is impossible.
The ends of a vortex must reach the boundary of a
fluid—the boundary may be external or internal—a vortex
may exist between two objects in the fluid, terminating
one end on each object, the objects being internal
boundaries of the fluid. Again, a vortex may have its
ends linked together, so that it forms a ring. Circular
vortex rings of this description are often seen in puffs of
smoke, and that the smoke travels on in the ring is a
proof that the vortex always consists of the same
particles of air.
Let us now enquire what a vortex would be in a four-

dimensional fluid.
We must replace the line axis by a plane axis. We
should have therefore a portion of fluid rotating round
a plane.
We have seen that the contour of this plane corresponds
with the ends of the axis line. Hence such a four-
dimensional vortex must have its rim on a boundary of
the fluid. There would be a region of vorticity with a
contour. If such a rotation were started at one part of a
circular boundary, its edges would run round the boundary
in both directions, till the whole interior region was filled
with the vortex sheet.
A vortex in a three-dimensional liquid may consist of a
number of vortex filaments lying together producing a
tube, or rod of vorticity.
In the same way we can have in four dimensions a
number of vortex sheets alongside each other, each of which
can be thought of as a bowl-shaped portion of a spherical
shell turning inside out. The rotation takes place at any
point not in the space occupied by the shell, but from
that space to the fourth dimension and round back again.
Is there anything analogous to this within the range
of our observation?
An electric current answers this description in every
respect. Electricity does not flow through a wire. Its effect
travels both ways from the starting point along the wire.
The spark which shows its passing midway in its circuit
is later than that which occurs at points near its starting
point on either side of it.
Moreover, it is known that the action of the current
is not in the wire. It is in the region enclosed by the
wire, this is the field of force, the locus of the exhibition
of the effects of the current.
And the necessity of a conducting circuit for a current is
exactly that which we should expect if it were a four-dimen-

sional vortex. According to Maxwell every current forms
a closed circuit, and this, from the four-dimensional point
of view, is the same as saying a vortex must have its ends
on a boundary of the fluid.
Thus, on the hypothesis of a fourth dimension, the rota-
tion of the fluid ether would give the phenomenon of an
electric current. We must suppose the ether to be full of
movement, for the more we examine the conditions
which prevail in the obscurity of the minute, the more we
find that an unceasing and perpetual motion reigns. Thus
we may say that the conception of a fourth dimension
means that there must be a phenomenon which presents
the characteristics of electricity.
We know that light is an electro-magnetic action,
and that so far from being a special and isolated pheno-
menon this electric action is universal in the realm of the
minute. Hence, may we not conclude that, so far from
the fourth dimension being remote and far away, being a
thing of symbolic import, a term for the explanation of
dubious facts by a more obscure theory, it is really the
most important fact within our knowledge. Our three-
dimensional world is superficial. These processes, which
really lie at the basis of all phenomena of matter,
escape our observation by their minuteness, but reveal
to our intellect an amplitude of motion surpassing any
that we can see. In such shapes and motions there is a
realm of the utmost intellectual beauty, and one to
which our symbolic methods apply with a better grace
than they do to those of three dimensions.
CHAPTER VIII
THE USE OF FOUR DIMENSIONS IN
THOUGHT
HAVING held before ourselves this outlines of a conjecture
of the world as four-dimensional, having roughly thrown
together those facts of movement which we can see apply
to our actual experience, let us pass to another branch
of our subject.
The engineer uses drawings, graphical constructions,
in a variety of manners. He has, for instance, diagrams
which represent the expansion of steam, the efficiency
of his valves. These exist alongside the actual plans of
his machines. They are not the pictures of anything
really existing, but enable him to think about the relations
which exist in his mechanics.
And so, besides showing us the actual existence of that
world which lies beneath the one of visible movements,
four-dimensional space enables us to make idea con-
structions which serve to represent the relations of things,
and throw what would otherwise be obscure into a definite
and suggestive form.
From amidst the great variety of instances which lies
before me I will select two, one dealing with a subject
of slight intrinsic interest, which however gives within
a limited field a striking example of the method
85
of drawing conclusions and the use of higher space

figures.*
The other instance is chosen on account of the bearing
it has on our fundamental conceptions. In it I try to
discover the real meaning of Kant’s theory of experience.
The investigation of the properties of numbers is much
facilitated by the fact that relations between numbers are
themselves able to be represented as numbers—e.g. 12,
and 3 are both numbers, and the relation between them
is 4, another number. The way is thus opened for a
process of constructive theory, without there being any
necessity for a recourse to another class of concepts
besides that which is given in the phenomena to be
studied.
The discipline of number thus created is of great and
varied applicability, but it is not solely as quantitative
that we learn to understand the phenomena of nature.
It is not possible to explain the properties of matter
by number simply, but all the activities of matter are
energies in space. They are numerically definite and also,
we may say, directedly definite, i.e. definite in direction.
Is there, then, a body of doctrine about space which,
like that of number, is available in science? It is needless
to answer: Yes; geometry. But there is a method
lying alongside the ordinary methods of geometry, which
tacitly used and presenting an analogy to the method
of numerical thought deserves to be brought into greater
prominence than it usually occupies.
The relation of numbers is a number.
Can we say in the same way that the relation of
shapes is a shape?
We can.
* It is suggestive also in another respect, because it shows very
clearly that in our processes of thought there are in play faculties other
than logical; in it the origin of the idea which proves to be justified is
drawn from the consideration of symmetry, a branch of the beautiful.
THE USE OF FOUR DIMENSIONS IN THOUGHT 87
To take an instance chosen on account of its ready

availability. Let us take
5 two right-angled triangles of
1 a given hypothenuse, but
5 7 having sides of different
Fig. 46.
lengths (fig. 46). These
triangles are shapes which have a certain relation to each
other. Let us exhibit their relation as a figure.
Draw two straight lines at right angles to each other,
VL 7 the one HL a horizontal level, the
other VL a vertical level (fig. 47).
By means of these two co-ordin-
1
HL ating lines we can represent a
double set of magnitudes; one set
as distances to the right of the ver-
Fig. 47. tical level, the other as distances
above the horizontal level, a suitable unit being chosen.
Thus the line marked 7 will pick out the assemblage
of points whose distance from the vertical level is 7,
and the line marked 1 will pick out the point whose
distance from the horizontal level is 1. The meeting
point of these two lines, 7 and 1, will define a point
which with regard to the one set of magnitudes is 7,
with regard to the other is 1. Let us take the sides of
our triangles as the two sets of magnitudes in question.
Then the point (7, 1) will represent the triangle whose
sides are 7 and 1. Similarly, the point (5, 5)—5, that
is, to the right of the vertical level and 5 above the
5,5 horizontal level—will represent the
triangle whose sides are 5 and 5
7,1 (fig. 48).
O Thus we have obtained a figure
consisting of the two points (7, 1)
Fig. 48
and (5, 5), representative of our two
triangles. But we can go further, and, drawing an arc
of a circle about O, the meeting point of the horizontal

and vertical levels, which passes through (7, 1) and (5, 5),
assert that all the triangles which are right-angled and
have a hypothenuse whose square is 50 are represented
by the points on this arc.
Thus, each individual of a class being represented by a
point, the whole class is represented by an assemblage of
points forming a figure. Accepting this representation
we can attach a definite and calculable significance to the
expression, resemblance, or similarity between two indi-
viduals of the class represented, the difference being
measure by the length of the line between two repre-
sentative points. It is needless to multiply examples, or
to show how, corresponding to different classes of triangles,
we obtain different curves.
A representation of this kind in which an object, a
thing in space, is represented as a point, and all its pro-
perties are left out, their effect remaining only in the
relative position which the representative point bears
to the representative points of the other objects, may be
called, after the analogy of Sir William Hamilton’s
hodograph, a “Poiograph.”
Representations thus made have the character of
natural objects; they have a determined and definite
character of their own. Any lack of completeness in them
is probably due to a failure in point of completeness
of those observations which form the ground of their
construction.
Every system of classification is a poiograph. In
Mendeléeff’s scheme of the elements, for instance, each
element is represented as a point, and the relations
between the elements are represented by the relations
between the points.
So far I have simply brought into prominence processes
and considerations with which we are all familiar. But
it is worth our while to bring into the full light of our atten-
tion our habitual assumptions and processes. It often
happens that we find there are two of them which have
a bearing on each other, without this dragging into
the light, we should have allowed to remain without
mutual influence.
There is a fact which it concerns us to take into account
in discussing the theory of the poiograph.
With respect to our knowledge of the world we are
far from that condition which Laplace imagined when he
asserted that an all-knowing mind could determine the
future condition of every object, if he knew the co-ordinates
of its particles in space, and their velocity at any
particular moment.
On the contrary, in the presence of any natural object,
we have a great complexity of conditions before us,
which we cannot reduce to position in space and date
in time.
There is mass, attraction apparently spontaneous, elec-
trical and magnetic properties which must be superadded
to spatial configuration. To cut the list short we must
say that practically the phenomena of the world present
us problems involving many variables, which we must
take as independent.
From this it follows that in making poiographs we
must be prepared to use space of more than three dimen-
sions. If the symmetry and completeness of our repre-
sentation is to be of use to us we must be prepared to
appreciate and criticise figures of a complexity greater
than those in three dimensions. It is impossible to give
an example of such a poiograph which will not be merely
trivial, without going into details of some kind irrelevant
to our subject. I prefer to introduce the irrelevant details
rather than treat this part of the subject perfunctorily.
To take an instance of a poiograph which does not lead
us into the complexities incident on its application in

classificatory science, let us follow Mrs. Alicia Boole Stott
in her representation of the syllogism by its means. She
will be interested to find that the curious gap she detected
has a significance.
A syllogism consists of two statements, the major and
the minor premiss, with the conclusion that can be drawn
from them. Thus, to take an instance, fig. 49. It is
evident, from looking at the successive figures that, if we
know that the region M lies altogether within the region
P, and also know that the region S lies altogether within
the region M, we can conclude that the region S lies
altogether within the region P. M is P,
major premiss; S is M, minor premiss; S
M is P, conclusion. Given the first two data
we must conclude that S lies in P. The
conclusion S is P involves two terms, S and
P, which are respectively called the subject
S M
and the predicate, the letters S and P
being chosen with reference to the parts
the notions they designate play in the
conclusion. S is the subject of the con-
clusion, P is the predicate of the conclusion.
S P The major premiss we take to be, that
which does not involve S, and here we
always write it first.
Fig. 49. There are several varieties of statement
possessing different degrees of universality and manners of
assertiveness. These different forms of statement are
called the moods.
We will take the major premiss as one variable, as a
thing capable of different modifications of the same kind,
the minor premiss as another, and the different moods we
will consider as defining the variations which these
variables undergo.
There are four moods:—

1. The universal affirmative; all M is P, called mood A.
2. The universal negative; no M is P, mood E.
3. The particular affirmative; no M is P, mood I.
4. The particular negative; some M is not P, mood O.
The dotted lines in 3 and 4, fig. 50, denote that it is
not known whether or no any objects exist, corresponding
M P P P P
M M
1. 2. 3. 4.
Mood A. Mood E. Mood I. Mood O.
Fig. 50.
to the space of which the dotted line forms on delimiting

boundary; thus, in mood I we do not know if there are
any M’s which are not P, we only know some M’s are P.
Representing the first premiss in its various moods by
Q regions marked by vertical lines to
O the right of PQ, we have in fig. 51,
I running up from the four letters AEIO,
E four columns, each of which indicates
A that the major premiss is in the mood
R P A E I O S denoted by the respective letter. In
Fig. 51. the first column to the right of PQ is
the mood A. Now above the line RS let there be marked
off four regions corresponding to the four moods of the
minor premiss. Thus, in the first row above us all the
region between RS and the first horizontal line above it
denotes that the minor premise is in the mood A. The
letters E, I, O, in the same way show the mood character-

ising the minor premise in the rows opposite these letters.
We still have to exhibit the conclusion. To do this we
must consider the conclusion as a third variable, character-
ised in its different varieties by four moods—this being
the syllogistic classification. The introduction of a third
variable involves a change in our type of representation.
Before we started with the regions to the right of a
certain line as representing successively the major premiss
in its moods; now we must start with the regions to the
N right of a certain plane. Let LMNR be
M the plane face of a cube, fig. 52, and let
the cube be divided into four parts by
R vertical sections parallel to LMNR. The
L variable, the major premiss, is re-
A E I O presented by the successive regions
Fig. 52.
which occur to the right of the plane
LMNR—that region to which A stands opposite, that
slice of the cube, is significative of the mood A. This
whole quarter-part of the cube represents that for every
part of it the major premiss is in the mood A.
In a similar manner the next section, the second with
the letter E opposite it, represents that for every one of
the sixteen small cubic spaces in it, the major premiss is
in the mood E. The third and fourth compartments made
by the vertical sections denote the major premise in the
moods I and O. But the cube can be divided in other
ways by other planes. Let the division, of which four
stretch from the front face, correspond to the minor
premiss. The first wall of sixteen cubes, facing the
observer, has as its characteristic that in each of the small
cubes, whatever else may be the case, the minor premiss is
in the mood A. The variable—the minor premiss—varies
through the phases A, E, I, O, away from the front face of the
cube, or the front plane of which the front face is a part.
And now we can represent the third variable in a precisely

similar way. We can take the conclusion as the third
variable, going through its four phases from the ground
plane upwards. Each of the small cubes at the base of
the whole cube has this true about it, whatever else may
be the case, that the conclusion is, in it, in the mood A.
Thus, to recapitulate, the first wall of sixteen small cubes,
the first of the four walls which , proceeding from left to
right, build up the whole cube, is characterised in each
part of it by this, that the major premiss is in the mood A.
The next wall denotes that the major premiss is in the
mood E, and so on. Proceeding from the front to the
back the first wall presents a region in every part of
which the minor premiss is in the mood A. The second
wall is a region throughout which the minor premiss is in
the mood E, and so on. In the layers, from the bottom
upwards, the conclusion goes through its various moods
beginning with A in the lowest, E in the second, I in the
third, O in the fourth.
In the general case, in which the variables represented
in the poiograph pass through a wide range of values, the
planes from which we measure their degrees of variation
in our experience are taken to be indefinitely extended.
In this case, however, all we are concerned with is the
finite region.
We have now to represent, by some limitation of the
complex we have obtained, the fact that not every com-
bination of premisses justifies any kind of conclusion.
This can be simply effected by marking the regions in
which, the premisses being such as are defined by the
positions, a conclusion which is valid is found.
Taking the conjunction of the major premisses, all M is
P, and the minor, all S is M, we conclude that all S is P.
Hence, that region must be marked in which we have the
conjunction of major premiss in mood A; minor premiss,
mood A; conclusion, mood A. This is the cube occupying

the lowest left-hand cover of the large cube.
Proceeding in this way, we find that the regions which
must be marked are those shown in fig. 53.
To discuss the case shown in the marked
cube which appears at the top of fig. 53.
Here the major premise is in the second
wall to the right—it is in the mood E and
mi
is of the type no M is P. The minor

no
maj or
r
Fig. 53. premiss is in the mood characterised by

the third wall from the front. It is of
the type some S is M. From these premisses we draw
the conclusion that some S is not P, a conclusion in the
mood O. Now the mood O of the conclusion is represented
in the top layer. Hence we see that the marking is
correct in this respect.
It would, of course, be possible to represent the cube on
a plane by means of four
squares, as in fig. 54, if we
consider each square to re-
1 2 3 4 present merely the beginning
of the region it stands for.
Thus the whole cube can be
represented by four vertical
squares, each standing for a
Fig. 54. kind of vertical tray, and the
markings would be as shown. In No. 1 the major premiss
is in mood A for the whole of the region indicated by the
vertical square of sixteen divisions; for number 2 it is in the
mood E, and so on.
A creature confined to a plane would have to adopt some
such disjunctive way of representing the whole cube. He
would be obliged to represent that which we see as a
whole in separate parts, and each part would merely
represent, would not be, that solid content which we see.
The view of these four squares which the plane creature

would have would not be such as ours. He would not
see the interior of the four squares represented above, but
each would be entirely contained within its outline, the
internal boundaries of the separate small squares he could
not see except by removing the outer squares.
We are now ready to introduce the fourth variable
involved in the syllogism.
In assigning letters to denote the terms of the syllogism
we have taken S and P to represent the subject and
predicate in the conclusion, and thus in the conclusion
their order is invariable. But in the premisses we have
taken arbitrarily the order all M is P, and all S is M.
There is no reason why M instead of P should not be the
predicate of the major premiss, and so on.
Accordingly we take the order of the terms in the pre-
misses as the fourth variable. Of this order there are four
varieties, and these varieties are called figures.
Using the order in which the letters are written to
denote that the letter written first is subject, the one
written second is predicate, we have the following pos-
sibilities:—
1st Figure. 2nd Figure. 3rd Figure. 4th Figure.
Major M P P M M P P M
Minor S M S M M S M S
There are therefore four possibilities with regard to

this fourth variable as with regard to the premisses.
We have used up our dimensions of space in represent-
ing the phases of the premises and the conclusion in
respect of mood, and to represent in an analogous manner
the variations in figure we require a fourth dimension.
Now in bringing in this fourth dimension we must
make a change in our origins of measurement analogous
to that which we made in passing from the plane to the
solid.
This fourth dimension is suppose to run at right

angles to any of the three space dimensions, as the third
space dimension runs at right angles to the two dimen-
sions of a plane, and thus it gives us the opportunity of
generating a new kind of volume. If the whole cube
moves in this dimension, the solid itself traces out a path,
each section of which, made at right angles to the
direction in which it moves, is a solid, an exact repetition
of the cube itself.
The cube as we see it is the beginning of a solid of such
a kind. It represents a kind of tray, as the square face of
the cube is a kind of tray against which the cube rests.
Suppose the cube to move in this fourth dimension in
four stages, and let the hyper-solid region traced out in
the first stages of its progress be characterised by this, that
the terms of the syllogism are in the first figure, then we
can represent in each of the three subsequent stages the
remaining three figures. Thus the whole cube forms
the basis from which we measure the variation in figure.
The first figure holds good for the cube as we see it, and
for that hyper-solid which lies within the first stage;
the second figure holds good in the second stage, and
so on.
Thus we measure from the whole cube as far as figures
are concerned.
But we say that when we measured in the cube itself
having three variables, namely, the two premisses and
the conclusion, we measured from three planes. The base
from which we measured was in every case the same.
Hence, in measuring in this higher space we should
have bases of the same kind to measure from, we should
have solid bases.
The first solid base is easily seen, it is the cube itself.
The other can be found from this consideration.
That solid from which we measure figure is that in
which the remaining variables run through their full

range of varieties.
Now, if we want to measure in respect of the moods of
the major premiss, we must let the minor premiss, the
conclusion, run through their range, and also the order
of the terms. That is we must take as a basis of measure-
ment in respect to the moods of the major that which
represents the variation of the moods of the minor, the
conclusion and the variation of the figures.
Now the variation of the moods of the minor and of the
conclusion are represented in the square face on the left
of the cube. Here are all varieties of the minor premiss
and the conclusion. The varieties of the figures are
represented by stages in a motion proceeding at right
angles to all space directions, at right angles consequently
to the face in question, the left-hand face of the cube.
Consequently letting the left-hand face move in this
direction we get a cube, and in this cube all the varieties
of the minor premiss, the conclusion, and the figure are
represented.
Thus another cubic base of measurement is given to
the cube, generated by movement of the left-hand square
in the fourth dimension.
We find the other bases in a similar manner, one in the
cube generated by the front square moved in the fourth
dimension so as to generate a cube. From this cube
variations in the mood of the minor are measured. The
fourth base is that found by moving the bottom square of
the cube in the fourth dimension. In this cube the
variations of the major, the minor, and the figure are given.
Considering this as a basis in the four stages proceeding
from it, the variations in the moods of the conclusion are
given.
Any one of these cubic bases can be represented in space,
and then the higher solid generated from them lies out of
our space. It can only be represented by a device analogous

to that by which the plane being represents a cube.
He represents the cube shown above, by taking four
square sections and placing them arbitrarily at convenient
distances the one from the other.
So we must represent this higher solid by four cubes:
each cube represents only the beginning of the correspond-
ing higher volume.
It is sufficient for us, then, if we draw four cubes, the
first representing that region in which the figure is of the
first kind, the second that region in which the figure is
of the second kind, and so on. These cubes are the
beginnings merely of the respective regions—they are
the trays, as it were, against which the real solids must
be conceived as resting, from which they start. The first
one, as it is the beginning of the region of the first figure,
is characterised by the order of the terms in the premisses
being that of the first figure. The second similarly has
the terms of the premisses in the order of the second
figure, and so on.
These cubes are shown below.
For the sake of showing the properties of the method
of representation, not for the logical problem, I will make
a digression. I will represent in space the moods of the
minor and of the conclusion and the different figures,
keeping the major always in mood A. Here we have
three variables in different stages, the minor, the con-
clusion, and the figure. Let the square of the left-hand
side of the original cube be imagined to be standing by
itself, without the solid part of the cube, represented by
(2) fig. 55. The A, E, I , O, which run away represent the
moods of the minor, the A, E, I, O, which run up represent
the moods of the conclusion. The whole square, since it
is the beginning of the region in the major premiss, mood
A, is to be considered as in major premiss, mood A.
From this square, let it be supposed that that direc-

tion in which the figures are represented runs to the
left hand. Thus we have a cube (1) running from the
square above, in which the square itself is hidden, but
the letters A, E, I, O, of the conclusion are seen. In this
cube we have the minor premiss and the conclusion in all
their moods, and all the figures represented. With regard
to the major premiss, since the face (2) belongs to the first
wall from the left in the original arrangement, and in this
O O
(2) I (1) I
E E
OI A A
EA 4 3 2 1
Fig. 55.
arrangement was characterised by the major premiss in the
mood A, we may say that the whole of the cube we now
have put up represents the mood A of the major premiss.
Hence the small cube at the bottom to the right in 1,
nearest to the spectator, is major press, mood A; minor
premiss, mood A; conclusion, mood A; and figure the first.
The cube next to it, running to the left, is major premiss,
mood A; minor premiss, mood A; conclusion, mood A;
figure 2.
So in this cube we have the representations of all the
combinations which can occur when the major premiss,
remaining in the mood A, the minor premiss, the conclu-
sion, and the figures pass through their varieties.
In this case there is no room in space for a natural
representation of the moods of the major premiss. To
represent them we must suppose as before that there is a
fourth dimension, and starting from this cube as base in
the fourth direction in four equal stages, all the first volume
corresponds to major premiss A, the second to major
premiss, mood E, the next to the mood I, and the last

to mood O.
The cube we see is as it were merely a tray against
which the four-dimensional figure rests. Its section at
any stage is a cube. But a transition in this direction
being transverse to the whole of our space is represented
by no space motion. We can exhibit successive stages of
the result of transference of the cube in that direction,
but cannot exhibit the product of a transference, however
small, in that direction.
(1) (2) (3) (4)
O O O O
I I I I
mi
EA E I O EA E I O EA E I O EA E I O
no
A A A A
major
r
Fig. 56.
To return to the original method of representing our
variables, consider fig. 56. These four cubes represent
four sections of the figure derived from the first of them
by moving it in the fourth dimension. The first por-
tion of the motion, which begins with 1, traces out a
more than solid body, which is all in the first figure.
The beginning of this body is shown in 1. The next
portion of the motion traces out a more than solid body,
all of which is in the second figure; the beginning of
this body is shown in 2; 3 and 4 follow on in
like manner. Here, then, in one four-dimensional figure we
have all the combinations of the four variables, major
premiss, minor premiss, figure, conclusion, represented,
each variable going through its four varieties. The dis-
connected cubes drawn are our representation in space by
means of disconnected sections of this higher body.
Now it is only a limited number of conclusions which

are true—their truth depends on the particular combina-
tions of the premisses and figures which they accompany.
The total figure thus represented may be called the
universe of thought in respect to these four constituents,
and out of the universe of possibly existing combinations
it is the province of logic to select those which corre-
spond to the results of our reasoning faculties.
We can go over each of the premisses in each of the
moods, and find out what conclusion logically follows.
But this is done in the works on logic; most simply and
clearly I believe in “Jevon’s Logic.” As we are only con-
cerned with a formal presentation of the results we will
make use of the mnemonic lines printed below, in which
the words enclosed in brackets refer to the figures, and
are not significative:—
Barbara celarent Darii ferioque [prioris]
Cesare Camestres Festino Baroco [secundæ].
[Tertia] darapti disamis datisi felapton
Bocardo ferison habet [Quarta insuper addit].
Bramantip camenes dimaris fesapo fresinon.
In these lines each significative word has three vowels,

the first vowel refers to the major premiss, and gives the
mood of that premiss, “a” signifying, for instance, that
the major mood is in mood a. The second vowel refers
to the minor premiss, and gives its mood. The third
vowel refers to the conclusion, and gives its moon. Thus
(prioris)—of the first figure—the first mnemonic word is
“barbara,” and this gives major premiss, mood A; minor
premiss, mood A; conclusion, mood A. Accordingly in the
first of our four cubes we mark the lowest left-hand front
cube. To take another instance in the third figure “Tertia,”
the word “ferison” gives us major premiss mood E—e.g.,
no M is P, minor premiss mood I; some M is S, conclusion,
mood O; some S is not P. The region to be marked then
in the third representative cube is the one in the second

wall to the right for the major premiss, the third wall
from the front for the minor premiss, and the top layer
for the conclusion.
It is easily seen that in the diagram this cube is
marked, and so with all the valid conclusions. The
regions marked in the total region show which com-
binations of the four variables, major premiss, minor
premiss, figure, and conclusion exist.
That is to say, we objectify all possible conclusions, and
build up an ideal manifold, containing all possible con-
binations of them with the premisses, and then out of
this we eliminate all that do not satisfy the laws of logic.
The residue is the syllogism, considered as a canon of
reasoning.
Looking at the shape which represents the totality
of the valid conclusions, it does not present any obvious
symmetry, or easily characterisable nature. A striking
configuration, however, is obtained, if we project the four-
dimensional figure obtained into a three-dimensional one;
that is, if we take in the base cube all those cubes which
have a marked space anywhere in the series of four
regions which start from that cube.
This corresponds to making abstraction of the figures,
giving all the conclusions which are valid whatever the
figure may be.
Proceeding in this way we obtain the arrangement of
marked cubes shown in fig. 57. We see
that the valid conclusions are arranged
almost symmetrically round one cube—the
one on the top of the column starting from
AAA. There is one breach of continuity
Fig. 57. however in this scheme. One cube is
unmarked, which if marked would give
symmetry. It is the one which would be denoted by the
letters I, E, O, in the third wall to the right, the second

wall away, the topmost layer. Now this combination of
premisses in the mood IE, with a conclusion in the mood
O, is not noticed in any book on logic with which I am
familiar. Let us look at it four ourselves, as it seems
that there must be something curious in connection with
this break of continuity in the poiograph.
M P P M
S M S M
1st figure. 2nd figure.
M P P M
M S M S
3rd figure. 4th figure.
The propositions I, E in the various figures are the

following, as shown in the accompanying scheme, fig. 58:—
First figure: some M is P; no S is M. Second figure;
some P is M; no S is M. Third figure: some M is P; no
M is S. Fourth figure: some P is M; no M is S.
Examining these figures, we see, taking the first, that
if some M is P, and no S is M, we have no conclusion of
the form S is P in the various moods. It is quite inde-

terminate how the circle representing S lies with regard
to the circle representing P. It may lie inside, outside,
or partly inside P. The same is true in the other figures
2 and 3. But when we come to the fourth figure, since
M and S lie completely outside each other, there cannot
lie inside S that part of P which lies inside M. Now
we know by the major premiss that some of P does lie
in M. Hence S cannot contain the whole of P. In
words, some P is M, no M is S, therefore S does not contain
the whole of P. If we take P as the subject, this gives
us a conclusion in the mood O about P. Some P is not S.
But it does not give us conclusion about S in any one of
the four forms recognised in the syllogism and called its
moods. Hence the breach of the continuity in the
poiograph has enabled us to detect a lack of complete-
ness in the relations which are considered in the syllogism.
To take an instance:--Some Americans (P) are of
African stock (M); no Aryans (S) are of African stock
(M); Aryans (S) do not include all of Americans (P).
In order to draw a conclusion about S we have to admit
the statement, “S does not contain the whole of P,” as
a valid logical form—it is a statement about S which can
be made. The logic which gives us the form “some P
is not S,” and which does not allow us to give the exactly
equivalent and equally primary form, “S does not con-
tain the whole of P,” is artificial.
And I wish to point out that this artificiality leads
to an error.
If one trusted to the mnemonic lines given above, one
would conclude that no logical conclusion about S can
be drawn from the statement, “some P are M, no M are S.”
But a conclusion can be drawn: S does not contain
the whole of P.
It is not that the result is given expressed in another
form. The mnemonic lines deny that any conclusion can

be drawn from premises in the moods I, E, respectively.
Thus a simple four-dimensional poiograph has enabled
us to detect a mistake in the mnemonic lines which have
been handed down unchallenged from mediæval times.
To discuss the subject of these lines more fully a logician
defending them would probably say that a particular
statement cannot be a major premiss; and so deny the
existence of the fourth figure in the combination of moods.
To take our instance: some Americans are of African
stock; no Aryans are of African stock. He would say
that the conclusion is some Americans are not Aryans;
and that the second statement is the major. He would
refuse to say anything about Aryans, condemning us to
an eternal silence about them, as far as these premisses
are concerned! But, if there is a statement involving
the relation of two classes, it must be expressible as a
statement about either of them.
To bar the conclusion, “Aryans do not include the
whole of Americans,” is purely a makeshift in favour of
a false classification.
And the argument drawn from the universality of the
major premiss cannot be consistently maintained. It
would preclude such combinations as major O, minor A,
conclusion O—i.e., such as some mountains (M) are not
permanent (P); all mountains (M) are scenery (S); some
scenery (S) is not permanent (P).
This is allowed in “Jevon’s Logic,” and his omission to
discuss I, E, O, in the fourth figure is inexplicable. A
satisfactory poiograph of the logical scheme can be made
by admitting the use of the words some, none, or all
about the predicate as well as about the subject. Then
we can express the statements, “Aryans do not include the
whole of Americans,” clumsily, but, when its obscurity
is fathomed, correctly, as “Some Aryans are not all
Americans.” And this method is what is called the

“quantification of the predicate.”
The laws of formal logic are coincident with the con-
clusions which can be drawn about regions of space, which
overlap one another in the various possible ways. It is
not difficult so to state the relations or to obtain a
symmetrical poiograph. But to enter into this branch of
geometry is beside our present purpose, which is to show
the application of the poiograph in a finite and limited
region, without any of these complexities which attend its
use in regard to natural objects.
If we take the latter—plants, for instance—and, without
assuming fixed directions in space as representative of
definite variations, arrange the representative points in
such a manner as to correspond to the similarities of the
objects, we obtain configurations of singular interest; and
perhaps in this way, in the making of shapes of shapes,
bodies with bodies omitted, some insight into the structure
of the species and genus might be obtained.
CHAPTER IX
APPLICATION TO KANT ’ S THEORY OF
EXPERIENCE
WHEN we observe the heavenly bodies we become aware
that they all participate in one universal motion—a
diurnal revolution about the polar axis.
In the case of fixed stars this is most unqualifiedly true,
but in the case of the sun, and the planets also, the single
motion of revolution can be discerned, modified, and
slightly altered by other and secondary motions.
Hence the universal characteristic of the celestial bodies
is that they move in a diurnal circle.
But we know that this one great fact which is true of
them all has in reality nothing to do with them. The
diurnal revolution which they visibly perform is the result
of the conditions of the observer. It is because the
observer is on a rotating earth that a universal statement
can be made about the celestial bodies.
The universal statement which is valid about every one
of the celestial bodies is that which does not concern
them at all, and is but a statement of the condition of
the observer.
Now there are universal statements of other kinds
which we can make. We can say that all objects of
experience are in space and subject to the laws of
geometry.
107
Does this mean that space and all that it means is due
to a condition of the observer?
If a universal law in one case means nothing affecting
the objects themselves, but only a condition of observa-
tion, is this true in every case? There is shown us in
astronomy a vera causa for the assertion of a universal.
Is the same cause to be traced everywhere?
Such is a first approximation to the doctrine of Kant’s
critique.
It is the apprehension of a relation into which, on the
one side and the other, perfectly definite constituents
enter—the human observer and the stars—and a trans-
ference of this relation to a region in which the con-
stitutents on either side are perfectly unknown.
If spatiality is due to a condition of the observer, the
observer cannot be this bodily self of ours—the body, like
the objects around it, are equally in space.
This conception Kant applied, not only to the intuitions
of sense, but to the concepts of reason—wherever a universal
statement is made there is afforded to him an opportunity
for the application of his principle. He constructed a
system in which one hardly knows which the most to
admire, the architectonic skill, or the reticence with regard
to things in themselves, and the observer in himself.
His system can be compared to a garden, somewhat
formal perhaps, but with the charm of a quality more
than intellectual, a besonnenheit, an exquisite moderation
over all. And from the ground he so carefully prepared
with that buried in obscurity, which it is fitting should
be obscure, science blossoms and the tree of real knowledge
grows.
The critique is a storehouse of ideas of profound interest.
The one of which I have given a partial statement leads,
as we shall see on studying it in detail, to a theory of
mathematics suggestive of enquiries in many directions.
APPLICATION TO KANT’S THEORY OF EXPERIENCE 109
The justification for my treatment will be found

amongst other passages in that part of the transcendental
analytic, in which Kant speaks of objects of experience
subject to the forms of sensibility, not subject to the
concepts of reason.
Kant asserts that whenever we think we think of
objects in space and time, but he denies that the space
and time exist as independent entities. He goes about
to explain them, and their universality, not be assuming
them, as most other philosophers do, but by postulating
their absence. How then does it come to pass that the
world is in space and time to us?
Kant takes the same position with regard to what we
call nature—a great system subject to law and order.
“How do you explain the law and order in nature?” we
ask the philosophers. All except Kant reply by assuming
law and order somewhere, and then showing how we can
recognise it.
In explaining our notions, philosophers from other than
the Kantian standpoint, assume the notions as existing
outside us, and then it is no difficult task to show how
they come to us, either by inspiration or by observation.
We ask “Why do we have an idea of law in nature?”
“Because natural processes go according to law,” we are
answered, “and experience inherited or acquired, gives us
this notion.”
But when we speak about the law in nature we are
speaking about a notion of our own. So all that these
expositors do is to explain our notion by an assumption
of it.
Kant is very different. He supposes nothing. An ex-
perience such as ours is very different from experience
in the abstract. Imagine just simply experience, suc-
cession of states, of consciousness? Why, there would
be no connecting any two together, there would be no
personal identity, no memory. It is out of a general

experience such as this, which, in respect to anything we
call real, is less than a dream, that Kant shows the
genesis of an experience such as ours.
Kant takes up the problem of the explanation of space,
time, order, and so quite logically does not presuppose
them.
But how, when every act of thought is of things in
space, and time, and ordered, shall we represent to our-
selves that perfectly indefinite somewhat which is Kant’s
necessary hypothesis—that which is not in space or time
and is not ordered. That is our problem, to represent
that which Kant assumes not subject to any of our forms
of thought, and then show some function which working
on that makes it into a “nature” subject to law and
order, in space and time. Such a function Kant calls the
“Unity of Apperception”; i.e., that which makes our state
of consciousness capable of being woven into a system
with a self, an outer world, memory, law, cause, and order.
The difficulty that meets us in discussing Kant’s
hypothesis is that everything we think of is in space
and time—how then shall we represent in space an exis-
tence not in space, and in time an existence not in time?
This difficulty is still more evident when we come to
construct a poiograph, for a poiograph is essentially a
space structure. But because more evident the difficulty
is nearer a solution. If we always think in space, i.e.
using space concepts, the first condition requisite for
adapting them to the representation of non-spatial exis-
tence, is to be aware of the limitation of our thought,
and so be able to take the proper steps to overcome it.
The problem before us, then, is to represent in space an
existence not in space.
The solution is an easy one. It is provided by the
conception of alternativity.
To get our ideas clear let us go right back behind the

distinctions of an inner and an outer world. Both of
these, Kant says, are products. Let us take merely states
of consciousness, and not ask the question whether they are
produced or superinduced—to ask such a question is to
have got too far on, to have assumed something of which
we have not traced the origin. Of these states let us
simply say that they occur. Let us now use the word
a “posit” for a phase of consciousness reduced to its
last possible stage of evanescence; let a posit be that
phase of consciousness of which all that can be said is
that it occurs.
Let a, b, c, be three such posits. We cannot represent
them in space without placing them in a certain order,
as a, b, c. But Kant distinguishes between the forms
of sensibility and the concepts of reason. A dream in
which everything happens at haphazard would be an
experience subject to the form of sensibility and only
partially subject to the concepts of reason. It is par-
tially subject to the concepts of reason because, although
there is no order of sequence, still at any given time
there is order. Perception of a thing as in space is a
form of sensibility, the perception of an order is a concept
of reason.
We must, therefore, in order to get at that process
which Kant supposes to be constitutive of an ordered
experience imagine the posits as in space without
order.
As we know them they must be in some order, abc,
bca, cab, acb, cba, bac, one or another.
To represent them as having no order conceive all
these different orders as equally existing. Introduce the
conception of alternativity—let us suppose that the order
abc, and bac, for example, exist equally, so that we
cannot say about a that it comes before or after b. This
would correspond to a sudden and arbitrary change of a

into b and b into a, so that, to use Kant’s words, it would
be possible to call one thing by one name at one time
and at another time by another name.
In an experience of this kind we have a kind of chaos,
in which no order exists; it is a manifold not subject to
the concepts of reason.
Now is there any process by which order can be intro-
duced into such a manifold—is there any function of
consciousness in virtue of which an ordered experience
could arise?
In the precise condition in which the posits are, as
described above, it does not seem to be possible. But
if we imagine a duality to exist in the manifold, a
function of consciousness can be easily discovered
which will produce order out of no order.
Let us imagine each posit, then, as having a dual aspect.
Let a be 1a in which the dual aspect is represented by the
combination of symbols. And similarly let b be 2b,
c be 3c, in which 2 and b represent that dual aspects
of b, 3 and c those of c.
Since a can arbitrarily change into b, or into c, and
so on, the particular combinations written above cannot
be kept. We have to assume the equally possible occur-
rence of form such as 2a, 2b, and so on; and in order
to get a representation of all these combinations out of
which any set is alternatively possible, we must take
every aspect with every aspect. We must, that is, have
every letter with every number.
Let us now apply the method of space representation.
Notes.—At the beginning of the next chapter the same
structures as those which follow are exhibited in
more detail and a reference to them will remove
any obscurity which may be found in the imme-
diately following passages. They are there carried
on to a greater multiplicity of dimensions, and the

significance of the process here briefly explained
becomes more apparent.
Take three mutually rectangular axes in space 1, 2, 3
3 c (fig. 59), and on each mark three points,
b the common meeting point being the
a
first on each axis. Then by means of
a a b c 2 these three points on each axis, we
b define 27 positions, 27 points in a
c
cubical cluster, shown in fig. 60, the
1 same method of co-ordination being
Fig. 59. used as has been described before.
Each of these positions can be named by means of the
axes and the points combined.
Thus, for instance, the one marked by an asterisk can
3 be called 1c, 2b, 3c, because it is
opposite to c on 1, to b on 2, to
c on 3.
Let us now treat of the states of
consciousness corresponding to these
positions. Each point represents a
1 2 composite of posits, and the mani-
Fig. 60. fold of consciousness corresponding
to them is of a certain complexity.
Suppose now the constituents, the points on the axes,
to interchange arbitrarily, any one to become any other,
and also the axes 1, 2 and 3, to interchange amongst
themselves, any one to become any other, and to be sub-
ject to no system or law, that is to say, that order does
not exist, and that the points which run abc on each axis
may run bac, and so on.
Then any one of the states of consciousness represented
by the points in the cluster can become any other. We
have a representation of a random consciousness of a
certain degree of complexity.
Now let us examine carefully one particular case of

arbitrary interchange of the points, a, b, c; as one such
case, carefully considered, makes the whole clear.
Consider the points named in the figure 1c, 2a, 3c;
1c, 2c, 3a; 1a, 2c, 3c, and
1c2a3c 1a2c3c examine the effect on them
when a change of order takes
place. Let us suppose, for
instance, that a changes into b,
and let us call the two sets of
1c2c3a points we get, the one before
Fig. 61. and the one after, their change
conjugates.
Before the change
After the change
1c 2a 3c
1c 2b 3c
1c 2c 3a
1c 2c 3b
1a 2c 3c
1b 2c 3c } Conjugates
The points surrounded by rings represent the

conjugate points.
It is evident that as consciousness, represented first by
the first set of points and afterwards by the second set of
points, would have nothing in common in its two phases.
It would not be capable of giving an account of itself.
There would be no identity.
If, however, we can find any set of points in the
cubical cluster, which, when any arbitrary change takes
place in the points on the axes, or in the axes themselves,
repeats itself, is reproduced, then a consciousness repre-
sented by those points would have a permanence. It
would have a principle of identity. Despite the no law,
no order, of the ultimate constituents, it would have
an order, it would form a system, the conditions of a
personal identity would be fulfilled.
The question comes to this, then. Can we find a
system of points which is self-conjugate, which is such
that when any point on the axes becomes another other, or
when any axis becomes any other, such a set is trans-

formed into itself, its identity
1b2a3c 1a2b3c
is not submerged, but rises
superior to the chaos of its
1c2a3b 1a2c3b constituents?
Such a set can be found.

Consider the set represented
1c2b3a 1b2c3a
in fig. 62, and written down
Fig. 62. in the first of the two lines—
Self-
conjugate. { 1a 2b 3c 1b 2a 3c 1c 2a 3b 1c 2b 3a 1b 2c 3a 1a 2c 3b
1c 2b 3a 1b 2c 3a 1a 2c 3b 1a 2b 3c 1b 2a 3c 1c 2a 3b
If now a change into c and c into a, we get the set in
the second line, which has the same members as are in the
upper line. Looking at the diagram we see that it would
correspond simply to the turning of the figure as a
whole.* Any arbitrary change of the points on the axes,
or of the axes themselves, reproduces the same set.
Thus, a function, by which a random, an unordered con-
sciousness could give an ordered and systematic one, can
be represented. It is noteworthy that it is a system of
selection. If out of all the alternative forms that only is
attended to which is self-conjugate, an ordered conscious-
ness is formed. A selection gives a feature of permanence.
Can we say that the permanent consciousness is this
selection?
An analogy between Kant and Darwin comes into light.
That which is swings clear of the fleeting, in virtue of its
presenting a feature of permanence. There is no need
to suppose any function of “attending to.” A con-
sciousness capable of giving an account of itself is one
which is characterised by this combination. All com-
binations exist—of this kind is the consciousness which
can give an account of itself. And the very duality which
* These figures are described more fully, and extended, in the next
chapter.
we have presupposed may be regarded as originated by

a process of selection.
Darwin set himself to explain the origin of the fauna
and flora of the world. He denied specific tendencies.
He assumed an indefinite variability—that is, chance—
but a chance confined within narrow limits as regards the
magnitude of any consecutive variations. He showed that
organisms possessing features of permanence, if they
occurred would be preserved. So his account of any
structure or organised being was that it possessed features
of permanence.
Kant, undertaking not the explanation of any particular
phenomena but of that which we call nature as a whole,
had an origin of species of his own, an account of the
flora and fauna of consciousness. He denied any specific
tendency of the elements of consciousness, but taking our
own consciousness, pointed out that in which it resembled
any consciousness which could survive, which could give
an account of itself.
He assumes a chance or random world, and as great
and small were not to him any given notions of which he
could make use, he did not limit the chance, the random-
ness, in any way. But any consciousness which is per-
manent must possess certain features—those attributes
namely which give it permanence. Any consciousness
like our own is simply a consciousness which possesses
those attributes. The main thing is that which he calls
the unity of apperception, which we have seen above is
simply the statement that a particular set of phases of
consciousness on the basis of complete randomness will be
self-conjugate, and so permanent.
As with Darwin so with Kant, the reason for existence
of any feature comes to this—show that it tends to the
permanence of that which possesses it.
We can thus regard Kant as the creator of the first of
the modern evolution theories. And, as is so often the

case, the first effort was the most stupendous in its scope.
Kant does not investigate the origin of any special part
of the world, such as its organisms, its chemical elements,
its social communities of men. He simply investigates
the origin of the whole—of all that is included in con-
sciousness, the origin of that “thought thing” whose
progressive realisation is the knowable universe.
This point of view is very different from the ordinary
one, in which a man is supposed to be placed in a world
like that which he has come to think of it, and then to
learn what he has found out from this model which he
himself has placed on the scene.
We all know that there are a number of questions in
attempting an answer to which such an assumption is not
allowable.
Mill, for instance, explains our notion of “law” by an
invariable sequence in nature. But what we call nature
is something given in thought. So he explains a thought
of law and order by a thought of an invariable sequence.
He leaves the problem where he found it.
Kant’s theory is not unique and alone. It is one of
a number of evolution theories. A notion of its import
and significance can be obtained by a comparison of it
with other theories.
Thus in Darwin’s theoretical world of natural selection
a certain assumption is made, the assumption of indefinite
variability—slight variability it is true, over any appre-
ciable lapse of time, but indefinite in the postulated
epochs of transformation—and a whole chain of results
is shown to follow.
This element of chance variation is not, however, an
ultimate resting place. It is a preliminary stage. This
supposing the all is a preliminary step towards finding
out what is. If every kind of organism can come into
being, those that do survive will possess such and such

characteristics. This is the necessary beginning for ascer-
taining what kinds of organisms do come into existence.
And so Kant’s hypothesis of a random consciousness is
the necessary beginning for the rational investigation
of consciousness as it is. His assumption supplies, as
it were, the space in which we can observe the pheno-
mena. It gives the general laws constitutive of any
experience. If, on the assumption of absolute random-
ness in the constituents, such and such would be
characteristic of the experience, then, whatever the con-
stituents, these characteristics must be universally valid.
We will now proceed to examine more carefully the
poiograph, constructed for the purpose of exhibiting an
illustration of Kant’s theory of apperception.
In order to show the derivation order out of non-order
it has been necessary to assume a principle of duality—
we have had the axes and the posits on the axes—there
are two sets of elements, each non-ordered, and it is in
the reciprocal relation of them that the order, the definite
system, originates.
Is there anything in our experience of the nature of a
duality?
There certainly are objects in our experience which
have order and those which are incapable of order. The
two roots of a quadratic equation have no order. No one
can tell which comes first. If a body rises vertically and
then goes at right angles to its former course, no one can
assign any priority to the direction of the north or to the
east. There is no priority in directions of turning. We
associate turnings with no order, progressions in a line
with order. But in the axes and points we have assumed
above there is no such distinction. It is the same, whether
we assume an order among the turnings, and no order
among the points on the axes, or, vice versa, an order in
the points and no order in the turnings. A being with

an infinite number of axes mutually at right angles,
with a definite sequence between them and no sequence
between the points on the axes, would be in a condition
formally indistinguishable from that of a creature who,
according to an assumption more natural to us, had on
each axis an infinite number of ordered points and no
order of priority among the axes. A being in such
a constituted world would not be able to tell which
was turning and which was length along an axis, in
order to distinguish between them. Thus to take a per-
tinent illustration, we may be in a world of an infinite
number of dimensions, with three arbitrary points on
each—three points whose order is indifferent, or in a
world of three axes of arbitrary sequence with in infinite
number of ordered points on each. We can’t tell which
is which, to distinguish it from the other.
Thus it appears the mode of illustration which we
have used is not an artificial one. There really exists
in nature a duality of the kind which is necessary to
explain the origin of order out of no order—the duality,
namely, of dimension and position. Let us use the term
group for that system of points which remains unchanged,
whatever arbitrary change of its constituents takes place.
We notice that a group involves a duality, is inconceivable
without a duality.
Thus, according to Kant, the primary element of ex-
perience is the group, and the theory of groups would be
the most fundamental branch of science. Owing to an
expression in the critique the authority of Kant is some-
times adduced against the assumption of more than three
dimensions to space. It seems to me, however, that the
whole tendency of his theory lies in the opposite direction,
and points to a perfect duality between dimension and
position in a dimension.
If the order and the law we see is due to the conditions

of conscious experience, we must conceive nature as
spontaneous, free, subject to no predication that we can
devise, but, however apprehended, subject to our logic.
And our logic is simply spatiality in the general sense
—that resultant of a selection of the permanent from the
unpermanent, the ordered from the unordered, by the
means of the group and its underlying duality.
We can predicate nothing about nature, only about the
way in which we can apprehend nature. All that we can
say is that all that which experience gives us will be con-
sidered as spatial, subject to our logic. Thus, in exploring
the facts of geometry from the simplest logical relations
to the properties of space of any number of dimensions,
we are merely observing ourselves, becoming aware of
the conditions under which we must perceive. Do any
phenomena present themselves incapable of explanation
under the assumption of the space we are dealing with,
then we must habituate ourselves to the conception of a
higher space, in order that our logic may be equal to the
task before us.
We gain a repetition of the thought that came before,
experimentally suggested. If the laws of the intellectual
comprehension of nature are those derived from con-
sidering her as absolute chance, subject to no law save
that derived from a process of selection, then, perhaps, the
order of nature requires different faculties from the in-
tellectual to apprehend it. The source and origin of
ideas may have to be sought elsewhere than in reasoning.
The total outcome of the critique is to leave the
ordinary man just where he is, justified in his practical
attitude towards nature, liberated from the fetters of his
own mental representations.
The truth of a picture lies in its total effect. It is vain
to seek information about the landscape from an examina-
tion of the pigments. And in any method of thought it

is the complexity of the whole that brings us to a know-
ledge of nature. Dimensions are artificial enough, but in
the multiplicity of them we catch some breath of nature.
We must therefore, and this seems to me the practical
conclusion of the whole matter, proceed to form means of
intellectual apprehension of a greater and greater degree
of complexity, both dimensionally and in extent in any
dimension. Such means of representation must always
be artificial, but in the multiplicity of the elements with
which we deal, however incipiently arbitrary, lies our
chance of apprehending nature.
And as a concluding chapter to this part of the book,
I will extend the figures, which have been used to repre-
sent Kant’s theory, two steps, so that the reader may
have the opportunity of looking at a four-dimensional
figure which can be delineated without any of the special
apparatus, to the consideration of which I shall subse-
quently pass on.
CHAPTER X
A FOUR - DIMENSIONAL FIGURE
THE method used in the preceding chapter to illustrate
the problem of Kant’s critique, gives a singularly easy
and direct mode of constructing a series of important
figures in any number of dimensions.
We have seen that to represent our space a plane being
must give up one of his axes, and similarly to represent
the higher shapes we must give up one amongst our
three axes.
But there is another kind of giving up which reduces
the construction of higher shapes to a matter of the
utmost simplicity.
Ordinarily we have on a straight line any number of
positions. The wealth of space in position is illimitable,
while there are only three dimensions.
I propose to give up this wealth of positions, and to
consider the figures obtained by taking just as many
positions as dimensions.
In this way I consider dimensions and positions as two
“kinds,” and applying the simple rule of selecting every
one of one kind with every other of every other kind,
get a series of figures which are noteworthy because
they exactly fill space of any number of dimensions
(as the hexagon fills a plane) by equal repetitions of
themselves.
122
A FOUR-DIMENSIONAL FIGURE 123
The rule will be made more evident by a simple

application.
Let us consider one dimension and one position. I will
call the axis i, and the position o.
i
o
Here the figure is the position o on the line i. Take

now two dimensions and two positions on each.
We have the two positions o; 1 on i, and the two
o o 1 j positions o, 1 on j, fig. 63. These give
rise to a certain complexity. I will let
1
the two lines i and j meet in the
i position I call o on each, and I will
Fig. 63. consider i as a direction starting equally
from every position on j, and j as
starting equally from every position on i. We thus
obtain the following figure:--A is both oi and oj, B is 1 i
A C and oj, and so on as shown in fig. 63b.
oi, oj oi, 1 j The positions on AC are all oi positions.
They are, if we like to consider them
that way, points at no distance in the i
1i, oj 1i, 1j
B direction from the line AC. We can
D
call the line AC the oi line. Similarly
i the points on AB are those no distance
Fig 63b.
from AB in the j direction, and we can
call them oj points and the line AB the oj line. Again,
the line CD can be called the 1j line, because the points
on it are at a distance 1 in the j direction.
We have then four positions or points named as shown,
and, considering directions and positions as “kinds,” we
have the combination of two kinds with two kinds. Now,
selecting every one of one kind with every other of every
other kind will mean that we take 1 of the kind i and
with it o of the kind j; and then, that we take o of the

kind i and with it 1 of the kind j.
Thus we get a pair of positions lying in the straight
C line BC, fig. 64. We call this part 10 and 01
01 if we adopt the plan of mentally adding an
i to the first and a j to the second of the
B symbols written thus—01 is a short
10
expression for 0i, 1j.
Fig. 64. Coming now to our space, we have three
dimensions, so we take three positions on each. These
positions I will suppose to be at equal distances along each
k k
D D
001
201 000
100 A
200 B C
i B C ji j
Fig. 65.
axis. The three axes and the three positions on each are
shown in the accompanying diagram, fig. 65, of which
the first represents a cube with the front faces visible, the
second the rear faces of the same cube; the positions I
will call 0, 1, 2; the axes, i, j, k. I take the base ABC as
the starting place, from which to determine distances in
the k direction, and hence every point in the base ABC
will be an ok position, and the base ABC can be called an
ok plane.
In the same way, measuring the distance from the face
ADC, we see that every position in the face ADC is an oi
position, and the whole plane of the face may be called an
oi plane. Thus we see that with the introduction of a
new dimension the signification of a compound symbol,

such as “oi,” alters. In the plane it meant the line AC.
In space it means the whole plane ACD.
Now, it is evident that we have twenty-seven positions,
each of them named. If the reader will follow this
nomenclature in respect of the positions marked in the
figures he will have no difficulty in assigning names to
each one of the twenty-seven positions. A is oi, oj, ok.
It is at the distance 0 along i, 0 along j, 0 along k, and
it can be written in short 000, where the ijk symbols
are omitted.
The point immediately above is 001, for it is no dis-
tance in the i direction, and a distance of 1 in the k
direction. Again, looking at B, it is at a distance of 2
from A, or from the place ADC, in the i direction, 0 in the
j direction from the plane ABD, and 0 in the k direction,
measured from the plane ABC. Hence it is 200 written
for 2i, 0j, 0k.
Now, out of these twenty-seven “things” or compounds
of position and dimension, select those which are given by
the rule, every one of one kind with every other of every
other kind.
k Take 2 of the i kind. With this
we must have a 1 of the j kind,
and then by the rule we can only
have a 0 of the k kind, for if we
had any other of the k kind we
should repeat one of the kinds we
i 210 j already had. In 2i, 1j, 1k, for
Fig. 66. instance, 1 is repeated. The point
we obtain is that marked 210, fig. 66.
Proceeding in this way, we pick out the following
cluster of points, fig. 67. They are joined by lines,
dotted where they are hidden by the body of the cube,
and we see that they form a figure—a hexagon which
could be taken out of the cube and placed on a plane.

k It is a figure which will fill a
plane by equal repetitions of itself.
102 012 The plane being representing this
construction in his plane would
201
take three squares to represent the
021
cube. Let us suppose that he
takes the ij axes in his space and
i 210 120 j
k represents the axis running out
Fig. 67. of his space, fig. 68. In each of
the three squares shown here as drawn separately he
could select the points given by the rule, and he would
A D1 D
102 120
201 021
F K
210 120 G
Fig. 68.
then have to try to discover the figure determined by
the three lines drawn. The line from 210 to 210 is
given in the figure, but the line from 210 to 201 or FG
is not given. He can determine FG by making another set
of drawings and discovering in them what the relation
between these two extremities is.
D 012
102
K 021
201 A C1 C
G
120
B 210
Fig. 69.
Let him draw the i and k axes in his plane, fig. 69.
The j axis then runs out and he has the accompanying
figure. In the first of these three squares, fig. 69, he can
pick out by the rule the two points 201, 102—G, and K.
Here they occur in one plane and he can measure the
distance between them. In his first representation they
occur at G and K in separate figures.
Thus the plane being would find that the ends of each
of the lines was distant by the diagonal of a unit square
from the corresponding end of the last and he could then
place the three lines in their right relative position.
Joining them he would have the figure of a hexagon.
We may also notice that the plane being could make
a representation of the whole cube
simultaneously. The three squares,
shown in perspective in fig. 70, all
lie in one plane, and on these the
plane being could pick out any
selection of points just as well as on
three separate squares. He would
obtain a hexagon by joining the
Fig. 70.
points marked. This hexagon, as
drawn, is of the right shape, but it would not be so if
actual squares were used instead of perspective, because
the relation between the separate squares as they lie in
the plane figure is not their real relation. The figure,
however, as thus constructed, would give him an idea of
the correct figure, and he could determine it accurately
by remembering that distances in each square were
correct, but in passing from one square to another their
distance in the third dimension had to be taken into
account.
Coming now to the figure made by selecting according
to our rule from the whole mass of points given by four
axes and four positions in each, we must first draw a
catalogue figure in which the whole assemblage is shown.
We can represent this assemblage of points by four
solid figures. The first giving all those positions which
are at a distance 0 from our space in the fourth dimen-

sion, the second showing all those that are at a distance 1,
and so on.
These figures will each be cubes. The first two are
drawn showing the front faces, the second two the rear
faces. We will mark the points 0, 1, 2, 3, putting points
at those distances along each of these axes, and suppose
B C
i 3210 j
0h 1h
E2 E
2h 3h
Fig. 71.
all the points thus determined to be contained in solid

models of which our drawings in fig. 71 are represen-
tations. Here we notice that as on the plane 0i meant
the whole line from which the distance in the i direction
was measured, and as in space 0i means the whole plane
from which distances in the i direction are measured, so
now 0h means the whole space in which the first cube
stands—measuring away from that space by a distance
of one we come to the second cube represented.
Now selecting according to the rule every one of one

kind with every other of every other kind, we must take,
for instance, 3i, 2j, 1k, 0h. This point is marked
3210 at the lower star in the figure. It is 3 in the
i direction, 2 in the j direction, 1 in the k direction,
0 in the h direction.
With 3i we must also take 1j, 2k, 0h. This point
is shown by the second star in the cube 0h.
k
2031 0231
2130 1230
3021 0321
3120 1320
3210 2310
i j 3201 2301
0h 1h
1032 0132
1023 0123
3021 2013 0213

0312
2103 1203
3102 1302
2h 3h
Fig. 72.
In the first cube, since all the points are 0h points,

we can only have varieties in which i, j, k, are accom-
panied by 3, 2, 1.
The points determined are marked off in the diagram
fig. 72, and lines are drawn joining the adjacent pairs
in each figure, the lines being dotted when they pass
within the substance of the cube in the first two diagrams.
Opposite each point, on one side or the other of each
cube, is written its name. It will be noticed that the

figures are symmetrical right and left; and right and
left the first two numbers are simply interchanged.
Now this being our selection of points, what figure
do they make when all are put together in their proper
relative positions?
To determine this we must find the distance between
corresponding corners of the separate hexagons.
h
2013 0213
2103 1203
3012 0312
3102 1302
3201 2301
i j 3210 2310
0k 1k
1023 0123
1032 0132
2031 0231
3021 0321
2130 1230
3120 1320
2k 3k
Fig. 73.
To do this let us keep the axes i, j, in our space, and
draw h instead of k, letting k run out in the fourth
dimension, fig. 73.
Here we have four cubes again, in the first of which all
the points are 0k points; that is, points at a distance zero
in the k direction from the space of the three dimensions
ijh. We have all the points selected before, and some
of the distances, which in the last diagram led from figure
to figure are shown here in the same figure, and so capable
of measurement. Take for instance the points 3120 to

3021, which in the first diagram (fig. 72) lie in the first
and second figures. Their actual relation is shown in
fig. 73 in the cube marked 2k, where the points in ques-
tion are marked with a * in fig. 73. We see that the
distance in question is the diagonal of a unit square. In
like manner we find that the distance between corres-
ponding points of any two hexagonal figures is the
diagonal of a unit square. The total figure is now easily
constructed. An idea
of it may be gained by
drawing all the four T
R
V
S
W
R S
cubes in the catalogue P Q
figure in one (fig. 74).

These cubes are exact
repetitions of one
another, so one draw-
ing will serve as a
representation of the
whole series, if we
take care to remember
where we are, whether
in a 0h, a 1h, a 2h, Fig. 74.
or a 3h figure, when
we pick out the points required. Fig 74 is a represen-
tation of all the catalogue cubes put in one. For the sake
of clearness the front faces and the back faces of this
cube are represented separately.
The figure determined by the selected points is shown
below.
In putting the sections together some of the outlines
in them disappear. The line TW for instance is not
wanted.
We notice that PQTW and TWRS are each the half
of a hexagon. Now QV and VR lie in one straight line.
Hence these two hexagons fit together, forming one

hexagon, and the line TW is only wanted when we con-
sider a section of the whole figure, we thus obtain the
solid represented in the lower part of fig. 74. Equal
repetitions of this figure, called as tetrakaidekagon, will
fill up three-dimensional space.
To make the corresponding four-dimensional figure we
have to take five axes mutually at right angles with five
points on each. A catalogue of the positions determined
in five-dimensional space can be found thus.
Take a cube with five points on each of its axes, the
fifth point is at a distance of four units of length from the
first on any one of the axes. And since the fourth dimen-
sion also stretches to a distance of four we shall need to
represent the succes-
sive sets of points at
4L distances 0, 1, 2, 3, 4,
in the fourth dimen-
3L sion, five cubes. Now
all of these extend to
no distance at all in
2L the fifth dimension.
To represent what
1L lies in the fifth dimen-
sion we shall have to
draw, starting from
0L
each of our cubes,
0H 1H 2H 3H 4H
five similar cubes to
Fig. 75.
represent the four steps
on in the fifth dimension. By this assemblage we get a
catalogue of all the points shown in fig. 75, in which
L represents the fifth dimension.
Now, as we saw before, there is nothing to prevent us
from putting all the cubes representing the different
stages in the fourth dimension in one figure, if we take
note when we look at it, whether we consider it as a 0h, a

1h, a 2h, etc., cube. Putting then the 0h, 1h, 2h, 3h, 4h
cubes of each row in one, we have five cubes with the sides
of each containing five positions, the first of these five
cubes represents the 0l points, and has in it the i points
from 0 to 4, the j points from 0 to 4, the k points from
0 to 4, while we have to specify with regard to any
selection we make from it, whether we regard it as a 0h,
a 1h, a 2h, a 3h, or a 4h figure. In fig. 76 each cube is
represented by two drawings, one of the front part, the
other of the rear part.
Let then our five cubes be arranged before us and our
selection be made according to the rule. Take the first
figure in which all points are 0l points. We cannot
have 0 with any other letter. Then, keeping in the first
figure, which is that of the 0l positions, take first of all
that selection which always contains 1h. We suppose,
therefore, that the cube is a 1h cube, and in it we take
i, j, k in combination with 4, 3, 2 according to the rule.
The figure we obtain is a hexagon, as shown, the one
in front. The points on the right hand have the same
figures as those on the left, with the first two numerals
interchanged. Next keeping still to the 0l figure let
us suppose that the cube before us represents a section
at a distance 2 in the h direction. Let all the points
in it be considered as 2h points. We then have a 0l, 2h
region, and have the sets ijk and 431 left over. We
must then pick out in accordance with our rule all such
points as 4i, 3j, 1k.
These are shown in the figure and we find that we can
draw them without confusion, forming the second hexagon
from the front. Going on in this way it will be seen
that in each of the five figures a set of hexagons is picked
out, which put together form a three-space figure some-
thing like the tetrakaidekagon.
1042
2043 1034
2143 2041 1032
3042 3041
3142 2140 2031
3241 3240 3140
4032 4031 2130
4132 4130 3021
4231 4023 4230 4021 3120
4123 4120 3012
4321 4013 4012 3210
4210
4213 4320 3102
4310
4312 4103 4102 3201
4203 4201
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Fig. 76
These separate figures are the successive stages in

which the four-dimensional figure in which they
cohere can be apprehended.
The first figure and the last are tetrakaidekagons.
These are two of the solid boundaries of the figure. The
other solid boundaries can be traced easily. Some of
them are complete from one face in the figure to the
corresponding face in the next, as for instance the solid
which extends from the hexagonal base of the first figure
to the equal hexagonal base of the second figure. This
kind of boundary is a hexagonal prism. The hexagonal
prism also occurs in another sectional series, as for
instance, in the square at the bottom of the first figure,
the oblong at the base of the second and the square at
the base of the third figure.
Other solid boundaries can be traced through four of
the five sectional figures. Thus taking the hexagon at
the top of the first figure we find in the next a hexagon
also, of which some alternate sides are elongated. The
top of the third figure is also a hexagon with the other
set of alternate rules elongated, and finally we come in
the fourth figure to a regular hexagon.
These four sections are the sections of a tetrakaidekagon
as can be recognised from the sections of this figure
which we have had previously. Hence the boundaries
are of two kinds, hexagonal prisms and tetrakaidekagons.
These four-dimensional figures exactly fill four-dimen-
sional space by equal repetitions of themselves.
CHAPTER XI
NOMENCLATURE AND ANALOGIES PRELIM-
INARY TO THE STUDY OF FOUR - DIMEN -
SIONAL FIGURES
IN the following pages a method of designating different
regions of space by a systematic colour scheme has been
adopted. The explanations have been given in such a
manner as to involve no reference to models, the diagrams
will be found sufficient. But to facilitate the study a
description of a set of models is given in an appendix
which the reader can either make for himself or obtain.
If models are used the diagrams in Chapters XI. and XII.
will form a guide sufficient to indicate their use. Cubes
of the colours designated by the diagrams should be picked
out and used to reinforce the diagrams. The reader,
in the following description, should
suppose that a board or wall
e
stretches away from him, against

ng
d
ra
Re
which the figures are placed.

O
Take a square, one of those

w
llo
l
ul
Ye
shown in Fig. 77 and give it a

N
x
neutral colour, let this colour be
called “null,” and be such that it
Fig. 77.
makes no appreciable difference
136
NOMENCLATURE AND ANALOGIES 137
to any colour with which it is mixed. If there is no

such real colour let us imagine such a colour, and
assign to it the properties of the number zero, which
makes no difference in any number to which it is
added.
Above this square place a red square. Thus we symbolise
the going up by adding red to null.
Away from this null square place a yellow square, and
represent going away by adding yellow to null.
To complete the figure we need a fourth square.
Colour this orange, which is a mixture of red and
yellow, and so appropriately represents a going in a
direction compounded of up and away. We have thus
a colour scheme which will serve to name the set of
squares drawn. We have two axes of colours—red and
yellow—and they may oc-
cupy as in the figure the
l
ul
w
direction up and away, or

N
llo
l
ul
Ye
N
they may be turned about;

in any case they enable us
d
e
ng
Re
to name the four squares

d
ra
Re
drawn in their relation to

l
ul
w
one another.
N
llo
l
ul
Ye
N
x Now take, in Fig. 78,

nine squares, and suppose
that at the end of the
Fig. 78.
going in any direction the
colour started with repeats itself.
We obtain a square named as shown.
Let us now, in fig. 79, suppose the number of squares
to be increased, keeping still to the principle of colouring
already used.
Here the nulls remain four in number. There
are three reds between the first null and the null
above it, three yellows between the first null and the
null beyond it, while the oranges increase in a double

way.
w
w
l
ul
llo
l
lo
llo
ul
N
l
Ye
N
Ye
Ye
e
e
ng
ng
d
ng
d
Re
ra
ra
Re
ra
O
O
d
ng
e
e
Re
ng
ng
d
ra
Re
ra
ra
O
O
O
ge
d
e
e
Re
ng
ng
ra
ra
O
ra
d
O
Re
l
ul
w
llo
w
N
lo
Ye
llo
l
Ye
l
ul
Ye
N
Fig. 79.
Suppose this process of enlarging the number of the

Null Yellow Null squares to be indefinitely pursued and
the total figure obtained to be reduced
Red Orange Red in size, we should obtain a square of
Null
which the interior was all orange,
Null x
Yellow which the lines round it were red and
Fig. 80. yellow, and merely the points null
colour, as in fig. 80. Thus all the points, lines, and the
area would have a colour.
We can consider this scheme to originate thus:--Let
a small point move in a yellow direction and trace out a
yellow line and end in a null point. Then let the whole
line thus traced move in a red direction. The null points
at the ends of the line will produced red lines, and end in
null points. The yellow lines will trace out a yellow and
red, or orange square.
Now, turning back to fig. 78, we see that these two
ways of naming, the one we started with and the one we
arrived at, can be combined.
By its position in the group of four squares, in fig. 77,
the null square has a relation to the yellow and to the red
directions. We can speak therefore of the red line of the
null square without confusion, meaning thereby the line
AB, fig. 81, which runs up from the
initial null point A in the figure as
e
drawn. The yellow line of the null

ng
d
ra
Re
square is its lower horizontal line

O
B D
AC as it is situated in the figure.
w
llo
l
ul
If we wish to denote the upper

Ye
N
x
A C yellow line BD, fig. 81, we can speak
of it as the yellow r line, meaning
Fig. 81.
the yellow line which is separated
from the primary yellow line by the red movement.
In a similar way each of the other squares has null
points, red and yellow lines. Although the yellow square
is all yellow its line CD, for instance, can be referred to as
its red line.
This nomenclature can be extended.
If the eight cubes drawn in fig. 82 are put close
together, as on the right hand of the diagram, they form
a cube, and in them, as thus arranged, a going up is
represented by adding red to the zero, or null colour, a
going away by adding yellow, a going to the right by
adding white. White is used as a colour, as a pigment,
which produces a colour change in the pigment with which
it is mixed. From whatever cube of the lower set we
start, a motion up brings us to a cube showing a change
to red, thus light yellow becomes light yellow red, or
light orange, which is called ochre. And going to the
right from the null on the left we have a change involving

the introduction of white, while the yellow change runs
from front to back. There are three colour axes—the red,
Orange Ochre
nge Ochre
Red Pink Ora
Yellow Light nk
Pi Light
d
Yellow
Re
yellow
te
Null White l
hi
ul
W
N
x x
Fig. 82.
the white, the yellow—and these run in the position the

cubes occupy in the drawing—up, to the right, away—but
they could be turned about to occupy any positions in space.
Third
layer.
Second
layer.
First
layer.
x x
Fig. 83.
We can conveniently represent a block of cubes, by
three sets of squares, representing each the base of a cube.
Thus the block, fig. 83, can be represented by the
layers on the right. Here, as in the case of the plane,

the initial colours repeat themselves at the end of the
series.
Proceeding now to increase the number of the cubes,
we obtain fig. 84, in
n. wh. wh. wh. n.
y. l.y. l.y. l.y. y.
which the initial
5 letters of the colours
are given instead of
n. wh. wh. wh. n. their full names.
Here we see that
r. p. p. p. r.
there are four null
or. oc. oc. oc. or.
4
or. oc. oc. oc. or.
cubes as before, but
or. oc. oc. oc. or.
the series which spring
r. p. p. p. r.
from the initial corner
will tend to become
r. p. p. p. r.
lines of cubes, as also
or. oc. oc. oc. or.
3 the sets of cubes
or. oc. oc. oc. or.
parallel to them, start-
or. oc. oc. oc. or.
r. p. p. p. r.
ing from other corners.
Thus, from the initial
r. p. p. p. r.
null springs a line of
or. oc. oc. oc. or.
2 red cubes, a line of
or. oc. oc. oc. or.
white cubes, and a line
or. oc. oc. oc. or.
of yellow cubes.
r. p. p. p. r.
If the number of
n. wh. wh. wh. n.
the cubes is largely in-
1 creased, and the size
of the whole cube is
diminished, we get
x n. wh. wh. wh. n.
a cube with null
Fig. 84..
points, and the edges
coloured with these three colours.
The light yellow cubes increase in two ways, forming
ultimately a sheet of cubes, and the same is true of the
orange and pink sets. Hence, ultimately the cube
thus formed would have red, white, and yellow lines

surrounding pink, orange, and light yellow faces. The
ochre cubes increase in three ways, and hence ulti-
mately the whole interior of the cube would be coloured
ochre.
We have thus a nomenclature for the points, lines,
faces, and solid content of a cube, and it can be named
as exhibited in fig. 85.
We can consider the cube to be produced in the
Null
Ye following way. A null point
ite llo
W h w moves in a direction, to which
Null Light yellow Null we attach the colour indication
Ye e yellow; it generates a yellow line
llo
w hit
W
Red
Red
and ends in a null point. The

ge
k
an yellow line thus generated moves

Pin
Red
O r
Null Null in a direction to which we give
Ye e
llo x
w hit the colour indication red. This
W
Null lies up in the figure. The yellow
Fig. 85.
line traces out a yellow, red, or
orange square, and each of its null points trace out a
red line, and ends in a null point.
This orange square moves in a direction to which
we attribute the colour indication white, in this case
the direction is the right. The square traces out a
cube coloured orange, red, or ochre, the red lines trace
out red to white or pink squares, and the yellow
lines trace out light yellow squares, each line ending
in a line of its own colour. While the points each
trace out a null + white, or while line to end in a null
point.
Now returning to the first block of eight cubes we can
name each point, line, and square in them by reference to
the colour scheme, which they determine by their relation
to each other.
Thus, in fig. 86, the null cube touches the red cube by
a light yellow square; it touches the yellow cube by a

Orange Ochre pink square, and touches
the white cube by an
orange square.
nk
d
There are three axes

Re
Pi
yellow
ow
to which the colours red,
Light
Yell
te yellow, and white are

hi
l
ul
W
N
x assigned, the faces of

Fig. 86. each cube are designated
by taking these colours in pairs. Taking all the colours
together we get a colour name for the solidity of a cube.
Let us now ask ourselves how the cube would be pre-
sented to the plane being. Without going into the question
of how he could have a real experience of it, let us see
how, if we could turn it about and show it to him, he,
under his limitations, could get information about it.
If the cube were placed with its red and yellow axes
against a plane, that is resting against it by its orange
Null
Null Null White
Orange
Red nk Red
k
Red Red Pi
Pin
e
hit Null Null White Null wh.
W
face previously perceived
Null wh.
Fig. 87.
face, the plane being would observe a square surrounded
by red and yellow lines, and having null points. See the
dotted square, fig. 87.
We could turn the cube about the red line so that a
different face comes into juxtaposition with the plane.
Suppose the cube turned about the red line. As it
is turning from its first position all of it except the red
line leaves the plane—goes absolutely out of the range

of the plane being’s apprehension. But when the yellow
line points straight out from the plane then the pink
face comes into contact with it. Thus the same red line
remaining as he saw it at first, now towards him comes
a face surrounded by white and red lines.
If we call the direction to the right the unknown
direction, then the line he saw before, the yellow line,
goes out into this unknown direction, and the line which
before went into the unknown direction, comes in. It
comes in in the opposite direction to that in which the
yellow line ran before; the interior of the face now
against the plane is pink. It is a
A
property of two lines at right
angles that, if one turns out of a
O B O A given direction and stands at
right angles to it, then the other
B of the two lines comes in, but
Fig. 88. runs the opposite way in that
given direction, as in fig. 88.
Now these two presentations of the cube would seem
to the plane creature like perfectly different material
bodies, with only that line in common in which they
both meet.
Again our cube can be turned about the yellow line.
In this case the yellow square would disappear as before,
but a new square would come into the plane after the
cube had rotated by an angle of 90° about this line.
The bottom square of the cube would come in thus
in figure 89. The cube supposed in contact with the
plane is rotated about the lower yellow line and then
the bottom face is in contact with the plane.
Here, as before, the red line going out into the un-
known dimension, the white line white before ran in the
unknown dimension would come in downwards in the
opposite sense to that in which the red line ran before.

Now if we use i, j, k, for the three space directions,
i left to right, j from near away, k from below up; then,
using the colour names for the axes, we have that first
of all white runs i, yellow runs j, red runs k; then after
nk
Pi
ge
an
first appearance
Or Red
Null Yellow
x
Null y. Null White Null
White
Yellow
White
Yellow
Fig. 89.
the first turning round the k axis, white runs negative j,
yellow runs i, red runs k; thus we have the table:—
i j k
1st position white yellow red
2nd position yellow white— red
3rd position red yellow white—
Here white with a negative sign after it in the column
under j means that white runs in the negative sense of
the j direction.
We may express the fact in the following way:—
In the plane there is room for two axes while the body
has three. Therefore in the plane we can represent any
two. If we want to keep the axis that goes in the
unknown dimension always running in the positive
sense, then the axis which originally ran in the unknown
dimension (the white axis) must come in the negative
sense of that axis which goes out of the plane into the
unknown dimension.
It is obvious that the unknown direction, the direction
in which the white lines runs at first, is quite distinct from
any direction which the plane creature knows. The white
line may come in towards him, or running down. If he
is looking at a square, which is the face of a cube
(looking at it by a line), then any one of the bounding lines
remaining unmoved, another face of the cube may come
in, any one of the faces, namely, which have the white line
in them. And the white line comes sometimes in one of
the space directions he knows, sometimes in another.
Now this turning which leaves a line unchanged is
something quite unlike any turning he knows in the
plane. In the plane a figure turns round a point. The
square can turn round the null point in his plane, and
the red and yellow lines change places, only of course, as
with every rotation of lines at right angles, if red goes
where yellow went, yellow comes in negative of red’s old
direction.
This turning, as the plane creature conceives it, we
should call turning about an axis perpendicular to the
plane. What he calls turning about the null point we
call turning about the white line as it stands out from
his plane. There is no such thing as turning about a
point, there is always an axis, and really much more turns
than the plane being is aware of.
Taking now a different point of view, let us suppose the
cubes to be presented to the plane being by being passed
transverse to his plane. Let us suppose the sheet of
matter over which the plane being and all objects in his
world slide, to be of such a nature that objects can pass
through it without breaking it. Let us suppose it to be
of the same nature as the film of a soap bubble, so that
it closes around objects pushed through it, and, however
the object alters its shape as it passes through it, let us

suppose this film to run up to the contour of the object
in every part, maintaining its plane surface unbroken.
Then we can push a cube or any object through the
film and the plane being who slips about in the film will
know the contour of the cube just and exactly where
the film meets it.
Fig. 90 represents a cube passing through a plane film.
The plane being now comes into
contact with a very thin slice
te Y
Whi ello of the cube somewhere between
Null w
the left and right hand faces.
This very thin slice he thinks
ge
nk
Red
Pi of as having no thickness, and

an
Or
consequently his idea of it is

what we call a section. It is
Null White Yellow bounded by him by pink lines
front and back, coming from
Fig. 90..
the part of the pink face he is
in contact with, and above and
below, by light yellow lines. Its corners are not null-
coloured points, but white points, and its interior is
ochre, the colour of the interior of the cube.
If now we suppose the cube to be an inch in each
dimension, and to pass across, from right to left, through
the plane, then we should explain the appearances pre-
sented to the plain being by saying: First of all you
have the face of a cube, this lasts only a moment; then
you have a figure of the same shape but differently
coloured. This, which appears not to move to you in any
direction which you know of, is really moving transverse
to your plane world. Its appearance is unaltered, but
each moment it is something different—a section further
on, in the white, the unknown dimension. Finally, at the
end of the minute, a face comes in exactly like the face
you first saw. This finished up the cube—it is the further

face in the unknown dimension.
The white line, which extends in length just like the
red or the yellow, you do not see as extensive; you appre-
hend it simply as an enduring white point. The null
point, under the condition of movement of the cube,
vanishes in a moment, the lasting white point is really
your apprehension of a white line, running in the unknown
dimension. In the same way the red line of the face by
which the cube is first in contact with the plane lasts only
a moment, it is succeeded by the pink line, and this pink
line lasts for the inside of a minute. This lasting pink
line is your apprehension of a surface, which extends in
two dimensions just like the orange surface extends, as you
know it, when the cube is at rest.
But the plane creature might answer, “This orange
object is substance, solid substance, bounded completely
and on every side.”
Here, of course, the difficulty comes in. His solid is our
surface—his notion of a solid is our notion of an abstract
surface with no thickness at all.
We should have to explain to him that, from every point
of what he called a solid, a new dimension runs away.
From every point a line can be drawn in a direction
unknown to him, and there is a solidity of a kind greater
than that which he knows. This solidity can only be
realised by him by his supposing an unknown direction,
by motion in which what he conceives to be solid matter
instantly disappears. The higher solid, however, which
extends in this dimension as well as in those which he
knows, lasts when a motion of that kind takes place,
different sections of it come consecutively in the plane of
his apprehension, and take the place of the solid which he
at first sign conceives to be all. Thus, the higher solid—our
solid in contradistinction to his area solid, his two-
dimensional solid, must be conceived by him as something

which has duration in it, under circumstances in which his
matter disappears out of his world.
We may put the matter thus, using the conception of
motion.
A null point moving in a direction away generates a
yellow line, and the yellow line ends in a null point. We
suppose, that is, a point to move and mark out the
products of this motion in such a manner. Now
suppose this whole line as thus produced to move in
an upward direction; it traces out the two-dimensional
solid, and the plane being gets an orange square. The
null point moves in a red line and ends in a null point,
the yellow line moves and generates an orange square and
ends in a yellow line, the farther null point generates
a red line and ends in a null point. Thus, by move-
ment in two successive directions known to him, he
can imagine his two-dimensional solid produced with all
its boundaries.
Now we well him: “This whole two-dimensional solid
can move in a third or unknown dimension to you. The
null point moving in this dimension out of your world
generates a white line and ends in a null point. The
yellow line moving generates a light yellow two-
dimensional solid and ends in a yellow line, and this
two-dimensional solid, lying end on to your plane world,
is bounded on the far side by the other yellow line. In
the same way each of the lines surrounding your square
traces out an area, just like the orange area you know.
But there is something new produced, something which
you had no idea of before; it is that which is produced by
the movement of the orange square. That, then which
you can imagine nothing more solid, itself moves in a
direction open to it and produces a three-dimensional
solid. Using the addition of white to symbolise the
products of this motion this new kind of solid will be light

orange or ochre, and it will be bounded on the far side by
the final position of the orange square which traced it
out, and this final position we suppose to be coloured
like the square in its first position, orange with yellow and
red boundaries and null corners.”
This product of movement, which is so easy for us to
describe, would be difficult for him to conceive. But this
difficulty is connected rather with its totality than with
any particular part of it.
Any line, or plane of this, to him higher, solid we could
show to him, and put in his sensible world.
We have already seen how the pink square could be put
in his world by a turning of the cube about the red line.
And any section which we can conceive made of the cube
could be exhibited to him. You have simply to turn the
cube and push it through, so that the plane of his existence
is the plane which cuts out the given section of the cube,
then the section would appear to him as a solid. In his
world he would see the contour, get to any part of it by
digging down into it.
THE PROCESS BY WHICH A PLANE BEING WOULD GAIN

A NOTION OF A SOLID
If we suppose the plane being to have a general idea of

the existence of a higher solid—our solid—we must next
trace out in detail the method, the discipline, by which
he would acquire a working familiarity with our space
existence. The process begins with an adequate realisa-
tion of a simple solid figure. For this purpose we will
suppose eight cubes forming a larger cube, and first
we will suppose each cube to be coloured throughout
uniformly. Let the cubes in fig. 91 be the eight making a
large cube.
Now, although each cube is supposed to be coloured
entirely through with the colour, the name of which is
written on it, still we can speak of the faces, edges, and
corners of each cube as if the colour scheme we have
investigated held for it. Thus, on the null cube we can
speak of a null point, a red line, a white line, a pink face, and
so on. These colour designations are shown on No. 1 of
the views of the tesseract in the plate. Here these colour
Fig. 91.
names are used simply in their geometrical significance.
They denote what the particular line, etc., referred to would
have as its colour, if in reference to the particular cube
the colour scheme described previously were carried out.
If such a block of cubes were put against the plane and
then passed through it from right to left, at the rate of an
inch a minute, each cube being an inch each way, the
plane being would have the following appearances:—
First of all, four squares null, yellow, red, orange, lasting
each a minute; and secondly, taking the exact places
of these four squares, four others, coloured white, light
yellow, pink, ochre. Thus, to make a catalogue of the
solid body, he would have to put side by side in his world
two sets of four squares each, as in fig. 92. The first
are supposed to last a minute, and then the others to
come in in place of them

and also last a minute.
In speaking of them he
would have to denote
what part of the respective
cube each square repre-
sents. Thus, at the begin-
ning he would have null
cube orange face, and after
the motion had begun he
would have null cube ochre
Fig. 92..
section. As he could get
the same coloured section whichever way the cube passed
through, it would be best for him to call this section white
section, meaning that it is transverse to the white axis.
These colour-names, of course, are merely used as names,
and do not imply in this case that the object is really
coloured. Finally, after a minute, as the first cube was
passing beyond his plane he would have null cube orange
face again.
The same names will hold for each of the other cubes,
describing what face or section of them the plane being
has before him; and the second wall of cubes will come
on, continue, and go out in the same manner. In the
area he thus has he can represent any movement which
we carry out in the cubes, as long as it does not involve
a motion in the direction of the white axis. The relation
of parts that succeed one another in the direction of the
white axis is realised by him as a consecution of states.
Now, his means of developing his space apprehension
lies in this, that that which is represented as a time
sequence in one position of the cubes, can become a real
co-existence, if something that has a real co-existence
becomes a time sequence.
We must suppose the cubes turned round each of the
axes, the red line, and the yellow line, then something,
which was given as time before, will now be given as the
plane creature’s space; something, which was given as space
before, will now be given as a time series as the cube is
passed through the plane.
The three positions in which the cubes must be studied
are the ones given above and the two following ones. In
each case the original null point which was nearest to us
at first is marked by an asterisk. In fig. 93 and 94 the
1
2
x x
rt
ppo
of su
line
Fig. 93.
The cube swung round the red line, so that the white line points
towards us.
point marked with a star is the same in the cubes and in

the plane view.
In fig. 93 the cube is swung round the red line so as to
point towards us, and consequently the pink face comes
next to the plane. As it passes through there are two
varieties of appearance designated by the figures 1 and 2
in the plane. These appearances are named in the figure,
and are determined by the order in which the cubes
come in the motion of the whole block through the
plane.
With regard to these squares severally, however,
different names must be used, determined by their
relations in the block.
Thus, in fig. 93, when the cube first rests against the
plane the null cube is in contact by its pink face; as the
block passes through we get an ochre section of the null
cube, but this is better called a yellow section, as it is
made by a plane perpendicular to the yellow line. When
prev
io
x us line x
o f su
ppo
rt
Fig. 94.
The cube swung round yellow line, with red line running from left
to right, and white line running down.
the null cube has passed through the plane, as it is

leaving it, we get again a pink face.
The same series of changes take place with the cube
appearances which follow on those of the null cube. In
this motion the yellow cube follows on the null cube, and
the square marked yellow in 2 in the plane will be first
“yellow pink face,” then “yellow yellow section,” then
“yellow pink face.”
In fig. 94, in which the cube is turned about the yellow
line, we have a certain difficulty, for the plane being will
find that the position his squares are to be placed in will
lie below that which they first occupied. They will come
where the support was on which he stood his first set of
squares. He will get over this difficulty by moving his
support.
Then, since the cubes come upon his plane by the light
yellow face, he will have, taking the null cube as before for
an example, null, light yellow face; null, red section,
because the section is perpendicular to the red line; and
finally, as the null cube leaves the plane, null, light yellow
face. Then, in this case red following on null, he will
Null Null
Null r. y. wh. r. y. wh.
Red
w
llo
Ye
Null White 0 1 2 3 4
Null
Fig. 95.
have the same series of views of the red as he had of the
null cube.
There is another set of considerations which we will
briefly allude to.
Suppose there is a hollow cube, and a string extended
across it from null to null, r., y., wh., as we may call the
far diagonal point, how will this string appear to the
plane being as the cube moves transverse to his plane?
Let us represent the cube as a number of sections, say
5, corresponding to 4 equal divisions made along the white
line perpendicular to it.
We number these sections 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, corresponding
to the distance along the white line at which they are
taken, and imagine each section to come in successively,
taking the place of the preceding one.

These sections appear to the plane being, counting from
the first, to exactly coincide each with the preceding one.
But the section of the string occupies a different plane in
each to that which it does in the preceding section. The
section of the string appears in the position marked by
the dots. Hence the slant of the string appears as a
motion in the frame work marked out by the cube sides.
If we suppose the motion of the cube not be recognised,
then the string appears to the plane being as a moving
point. Hence extension on the unknown dimension
appears as duration. Extension sloping in the unknown
direction appears as continuous movement.
CHAPTER XII
THE SIMPLEST FOUR-DIMENSIONAL SOLID
A PLANE being, in learning to apprehend solid existence,
must first of all realise that there is a sense of direction
altogether wanting to him. That which we call right
and left does not exist in his perception. He must
assume a movement in a direction, and a distinction of
positive and negative in that direction, which has no
reality corresponding to it in the movements he can
make. This direction, this new dimension, he can only
make sensible to himself by bringing in time, and sup-
posing that changes, which take place in time, are due to
objects of a definite configuration in three dimensions
passing transverse to his plane, and the different sections
of it being apprehended as changes of one and the same
plane figure.
He must also acquire a distinct notion about his
plane world, he must no longer believe that it is the all
of space, but that space extends on both side of it. In
order, then, to prevent his moving off in this unknown
direction, he must assume a sheet, an extended solid sheet,
in two dimensions, against which, in contact with which,
all his movements take place.
When we come to think of a four-dimensional solid,
what are the corresponding assumptions which we must
make?
We must suppose a sense which we have not, a sense
157
of direction wanting in us, something which a being in

a four-dimensional world has, and which we have not. It
is a sense corresponding to a new space direction, a
direction which extends positively and negatively from
every point of our space, and which goes right away from
any space direction we know of. The perpendicular to a
plane is perpendicular, not only to two lines in it, but to
every line, and so we must conceive this fourth dimension
as running perpendicularly to each and every line we can
draw in our space.
And as the plane being had to suppose something
which prevented his moving off in the third, the
unknown dimension to him, so we have to suppose
something which prevents us moving off in the direction
unknown to us. This something, since we must be in
contact with it in every one of our movements, must not
be a plane surface, but a solid; it must be a solid, which
in every one of our movements we are against, not in. It
must be supposed as stretching out in every space dimension
that we know; but we are not in it, we are against it, we
are next to it, in the fourth dimension.
That is, as the plane being conceives himself as having
a very small thickness in the third dimension, of which
he is not aware in his new experience, so we must
suppose ourselves as having a very small thickness in
the fourth dimension, and, being thus four-dimensional
beings, to be prevented from realising that we are
such beings by a constraint which keeps us always in
contact with a vast solid sheet, which stretches on in
every direction. We are against that sheet, so that, if we
had the power of four-dimensional movement, we should
either go away from it or through it; all our space
movements as we know them being such that, performing
them, we keep in contact with this solid sheet.
Now consider the exposition a plane being would make
THE SIMPLEST FOUR-DIMENSIONAL SOLID 159
for himself as to the question of the enclosure of a square,

and of a cube.
He would say the square A, in Fig. 96, is completely
enclosed by the four squares, A far,
A near, A above, A below, or as they
are written, An, Af, Aa, Ab,
Aa If now he conceives the square A
to move in the, to him, unknown
An A Af dimension it will trace out a cube,
and the bounding spaces will form
Ab cubes. Will these completely sur-
round the cube generated by A? No;
there will be two faces of the cube
Fig. 96. made by A left uncovered; the first,
that face which coincident with the
square A in its first position; the next, that which coincides
with the square A in its final position. Against these two
faces cubes must be placed in order to completely
enclose the cube A. These may be called the cubes left
and right or Al and Ar. Thus each of the enclosing
squares of the square A becomes a cube and two more
cubes are wanted to enclose the cube formed by the
movement of A in the third dimension.
The plane being could not see the square A with the
squares An, Af, etc., placed about it,
Af because they completely hide it from
Aa view; and so we, in the analogous
case in our three-dimensional world,
Al Ar cannot see a cube surrounded by
An
six other cubes. These cubes we
Ab will call A near An, A far Af, A above
Fig, 97. Aa, A below Ab, A left Al, A right Ar,
shown in fig. 97. If now the cube A
moves in the fourth dimension right out of space, it
traces out a higher cube—a tesseract, as it may be called.
Each of the six surrounding cubes carried on in the same

motion will make a tesseract also, and these will be
grouped around the tesseract formed by A. But will they
enclose it completely?
All the cubes An, Af, etc., lie in our space. But there is
nothing between the cube A and that solid sheet in contact
with which every particle of matter is. When the cube A
moves in the fourth direction it starts from its position,
say Aκ, and ends in a final position Aα (using the words
“ana” and “kata” for up and down in the fourth dimen-
sion). Now the movement in this fourth dimension is
not bounded by any of the cubes An, Af, nor by what
they form when thus moved. The tesseract which A
becomes is bounded in the positive and negative ways in
this new direction by the first position of A and the last
position of A. Or, if we ask how many tesseracts lie
around the tesseract which A forms, there are eight, of
which one meets it by the cube A, and another meets it
by a cube like A at the end of its motion.
We come here to a very curious thing. The whole
solid cube A is to be looked on merely as a boundary of
the tesseract.
Yet this is exactly analogous to what the plane being
would come to in his study of the solid world. The
square A (fig. 96), which the plane being looks on as a
solid existence in his plane world, is merely the boundary
of the cube which he supposes generated by its motion.
The fact is that we have to recognise that, if there is
another dimension of space, our present idea of a solid
body, as one which has three dimensions only, does not
correspond to anything real, but is the abstract idea of a
three-dimensional boundary limiting a four-dimensional
solid, which a four-dimensional being would form. The
plane being’s thought of a square is not the thought
of what we should call a possibly existing real square,
but the thought of an abstract boundary, the face of

a cube.
Let us now take our eight coloured cubes, which form
a cube in space, and ask what additions we must make
to them to represent the simplest collection of four-dimen-
sional bodies—namely, a group of them of the same extent
in every direction. In plane space we have four squares.
In solid space we have eight cubes. So we should expect
in four-dimensional space to have sixteen four-dimen-
sional bodies—bodies which in four-dimensional space
correspond to cubes in three-dimensional space, and these
bodies we call tesseracts.
Given then the null, white, red, yellow cubes, and
those which make up the block, we
notice that we represent perfectly
well the extension in three directions
(fig. 98). From the null point of the
null cube, travelling one inch, we
x come to the white cube; travelling
one inch away we come to the yellow
cube; travelling one inch up we come
to the red cube. Now, if there is a
(Orange hidden) fourth dimension, then travelling
Fig. 98.
from the same null point for one
inch in that direction, we must come to the body lying
beyond the null region.
I say null region, not cube; for with the introduction
of the fourth dimension each of our cubes must become
something different from cubes. If they are to have
existence in the fourth dimension, they must be “filled
up from” in this fourth dimension.
Now we will assume that as we get a transference from
null to white going in one way, from null to yellow going
in another, so going from null in the fourth direction we
have a transference from null to blue, using thus the
colours white, yellow, red, blue, to denote transferences in

each of the four directions—right, away, up, unknown or
fourth dimension.
Hence, as the plane being must represent the solid re-
gions, he would come to by going right, as four squares lying
in some position in
his plane, arbitrarily
chosen, side by side
with his original four
squares, so we must
represent those eight
x four-dimensional re-
gions, which we
should come to by
Fig. 99.
A plane being’s representation of a block
going in the fourth
of eight cubes by two sets of four squares. dimension from
each of our eight
cubes, by eight cubes placed in some arbitrary position
relative to our first eight cubes.
Light
Purple purple
Light
Blue Light brown
blue
x
Light
Green green
(1) (2)
Orange hidden Brown hidden
Fig. 100.
Our representation of a block of sixteen tesseracts by
two blocks of eight cubes.*
Hence, of the two sets of eight cubes, each one will serve
* The eight cubes used here in 2 can be found in the second of the
model blocks. They can be taken out and used.

us as a representation of one of the sixteen tesseracts

which form one single block in four-dimensional space.
Each cube, as we have it, is a tray, as it were, against
which the real four-dimensional figure rests—just as each
of the squares which the plane being has is a tray, so to
speak, against which the cube it represents could rest.
If we suppose the cubes to be one inch each way, then
the original eight cubes will give eight tesseracts of the
same colours, or the cubes, extending each one inch in
the fourth dimension.
But after these there come, going on in the fourth di-
mension, eight other bodies, eight other tesseracts. They
must be there, if we suppose the four-dimensional body
we make up to have two divisions, one inch each in each
of four directions.
The colour we choose to designate the transference to
this second region in the fourth dimension is blue. Thus,
starting from the null cube and going in the fourth
dimension, we first go through one inch of the null
tesseract, then we come to a blue cube, which is the
beginning of a blue tesseract. This blue tesseract stretches
one inch further on in the fourth dimension.
Thus, beyond each of the eight tesseracts, which are of
the same colour as the cubes which are their bases, lie
eight tesseracts whose colours are derived from the colours
of the first eight by adding blue. Thus—
Null gives blue
Yellow ,, green
Red ,, purple
Orange ,, brown
White ,, light blue
Pink ,, light purple
Light yellow ,, light green
Ochre ,, light brown
The addition to blue of yellow gives green—this is a
natural supposition to make. It is also natural to suppose

that blue added to red makes purple. Orange and blue
can be made to give a brown, by using certain shades and
proportions. And ochre and blue can be made to give a
light brown.
But the scheme of colours is merely used for getting a
definite and realisable set of names and distinctions
visible to the eye. Their naturalness is apparent to any
one in the habit of using colours, and may be assumed to
be justifiable, as the sole purpose is to devise a set of
names which are easy to remember, and which will give
us a set of colours by which diagrams may be made easy
of comprehension. No scientific classification of colours
has been attempted.
Starting, then, with these sixteen colour names, we have
a catalogue of the sixteen tesseracts, which form a four-
dimensional block analogous to the cubic block. But
the cube which we can put in space and look at is not one
of the constituent tesseracts; it is merely the beginning,
the solid face, the side, the aspect, of a tesseract.
We will now proceed to derive a name for each region,
point, edge, plane face, solid and a face of the tesseract.
The system will be clear, if we look at a representation
in the plane of a tesseract with three, and one with four
divisions in its side.
The tesseract made up of three tesseracts each way
corresponds to the cube made up of three cubes each way,
and will give us a complete nomenclature.
In this diagram, fig. 101, 1 represents a cube of 27
cubes, each of which is the beginning of a tesseract.
These cubes are represented only by their lowest squares,
the solid content must be understood. 2 represents the
27 cubes which are the beginnings of the 27 tesseracts
one inch on in the fourth dimension. These tesseracts
are represented as a block of cubes put side by side with
the first block, but in their proper positions they could

not be in space with the first set. 3 represents 27 cubes
Fig. 101.
1 2 3
Each cube is the begin- Each cube is the begin- Each cube is the begin-
ning of the first tesseract ning of the second ning of the third
going in the fourth di- tesseract. tesseract.
mension
(forming a larger cube) which are the beginnings of the

tesseracts, which begin two inches in the fourth direction
from our space and continue another inch.
In fig. 102, we have the representation of a block of

4 × 4 × 4 × 4 or 256 tesseracts. They are given in
Fig. 102.*
1 2 3 4
A cube of 64 cubes, A cube of 64 cubes, A cube of 64 cubes, A cube of 64 cubes,
each 1 in. × 1 in. each 1 in. × 1 in. each 1 in. × 1 in. each 1 in. × 1 in.
× 1 in., the begin- × 1 in., the begin- × 1 in., the begin- × 1 in., the begin-
ning of a tesseract. ning of tesseracts ning of tesseracts. ning of tesseracts.
1 in. from our space 2 in. from our space starting 3 in. from
in the 4th dimen- in the 4th dimen- our space in the 4th
sion. sion. dimension.
four consecutive sections, each supposed to be taken one

inch apart in the fourth dimension, and on giving four
* The coloured plate, figs. 1, 2, 3, shows these relations more
conspicuously.
blocks of cubes, 64 in each block. He we see, com-

paring it with the figure of 81 tesseracts, that the number
of the different regions shows a different tendency of
increase. But taking five blocks of five divisions each way
this would become even more clear.
We see, fig. 102, that starting from the point at any
corner, the white coloured regions only extend out in
a line. The same is true for the yellow, red, and blue.
With regard to the latter is should be noticed that the
line of blues does not consist in regions next to each
other in the drawing, but in portions which come in in
different cubes. The portions which lie next to one
another in the fourth dimension must always be repre-
sented so, when we have a three-dimensional representation.
Again, those regions such as the pink one, go on increasing
in two dimensions. About the pink region this is seen
without going out of the cube itself, the pink regions
increase in length and height, but in no other dimension.
In examining these regions it is sufficient to take one as
a sample.
The purple increases in the same manner, for it comes
in in a succession from below to above in block 2, and in
succession from block to block in 2 and 3. Now, a
succession from below to above represents a continuous
extension upwards, and a succession from block to block
represents a continuous extension in the fourth dimension.
Thus the purple regions increase in two dimensions, the
upward and the fourth, so when we take a very great
many divisions, and let each become very small, the
purple region forms a two-dimensional extension.
In the same way, looking at the regions coloured in
light blue, which starts nearest a corner, we see that the
tesseracts occupying it increase in length from left to
right, forming a line, and that there are as many lines of
light blue tesseracts as there are sections between the
first and last section. Hence the light blue tesseracts

increase in number in two ways—in the right and left,
and in the fourth dimension. They ultimately form
what we may call a plane surface.
Now all those regions which contain a mixture of two
simple colours, white, yellow, red, blue, increase in two
ways. On the other hand, those which contain a mixture
of three colours increase in three ways. Take, for instance,
the ochre region; this has three colours, white, yellow,
red; and in the cube itself it increases in three ways.
Now regard the orange region; if we add blue to this
we get a brown. The region of the brown tesseracts
extends in two ways on the left of the second block,
No. 2 in the figure. It extends also from left to right in
succession from one section to another, from section 2
to section 3 in our figure.
Hence the brown tesseracts increase in number in three
dimensions upwards, to and fro, fourth dimension. Hence
they form a cubic, a three-dimensional region; this region
extends up and down, near and far, and in the fourth
direction, but is thin in the direction from left to right.
It is a cube which, when the complete tesseract is repre-
sented in our space, appears as a series of faces on the
successive cubic sections of the tesseract. Compare fig.
103 in which the middle block, 2, stands as representing a
great number of sections intermediate between 1 and 3.
In a similar way from the pink region by addition of
blue we have the light purple region, which can be seen
to increase in three ways as the number of divisions
becomes greater. The three ways in which this region of
tesseracts extends is up and down, right and left, fourth
dimension. Finally, therefore, it forms a cubic mass of
very small tesseracts, and when the tesseract is given in
space sections it appears on the faces containing the
upward and the right and left dimensions.
We get then altogether, as three-dimensional regions,

ochre, brown, light purple, light green.
Finally, there is the region which corresponds to a
mixture of all the colours; there is only one region such
as this. It is the one that springs from ochre by the
addition of blue—this colour we call light brown.
Looking at the light brown region we see that it
increases in four ways. Hence, the tesseracts of which it
is composed increase in number in each of four dimen-
sions, and the shape they form does not remain thin in
any of the four dimensions. Consequently this region
becomes the solid content of the block of tesseracts itself;
it is the real four-dimensional solid. All the other regions
are then boundaries of this light brown region. If we
suppose the process of increasing the number of tesseracts
and decreasing their size carried on indefinitely, then
the light brown coloured tesseracts become the whole
interior mass, the three-coloured tesseracts become three-
dimensional boundaries, thin in one dimension, and form
the ochre, the brown, the light blue, the light green.
The two-coloured tesseracts become two-dimensional
boundaries, thin in two dimensions, e.g., the pink, the
green, the purple, the orange, the light blue, the light
yellow. The one-coloured tesseracts become bounding
lines, thin in three dimensions, and the null points become
bounding corners, thin in four dimensions. From these
thin real boundaries we can pass in thought to the
abstractions—points, lines, faces, solids—bounding the
four-dimensional solid, which in this case is light brown
coloured, and under this supposition the light brown
coloured region is the only real one, is the only one which
is not an abstraction.
It should be observed that, in taking a square as the
representation of a cube on a plane, we only represent
one face, or the section between two faces. The squares,
as drawn by a plane being, are not the cubes themselves,

but represent the faces or the sections of a cube. Thus
in the plane being’s diagram a cube of twenty-seven cubes
“null” represents a cube, but is really, in the normal
position, the orange square of a null cube, and may be
called null, orange square.
A plane being would save himself confusion if he named
his representative squares, not by using the names of the
cubes simply, but by adding to the names of the cubes a
word to show what part of a cube his representative square
was.
Thus a cube null standing against his plane touches it
by null orange face, passing through his plane it has in
the plane a square as trace, which is null white section, if
we use the phrase white section to mean a section drawn
perpendicular to the white line. In the same way the
cubes which we take as representative of the tesseract are
not the tesseract itself, but definite faces or sections of it.
In the preceding figures we should say then, not null, but
“null tesseract ochre cube,” because the cube we actually
have is the one determined by the three axes, white, red,
yellow.
There is another way in which we can regard the colour
nomenclature of the boundaries of a tesseract.
Consider a null point to move tracing out a white line
one inch in length, and terminating in a null point,
see fig. 103 or in the coloured plate.
Then consider this white line with its terminal points
itself to move in a second dimension, each of the points
traces out a line, the line itself traces out an area, and
give two lines as well, its initial and final position.
Thus, if we call “a region” any element of the figure,
such as a point, or a line, etc., every “region” in moving
traces out a new kind of region, “a higher region,” and
give two regions of its own kind, an initial and a final
position. The “higher region” means a region with

another dimension in it.
Now the square can move and generate a cube. The
square light yellow moves and traces out the mass of the
cube. Letting the addition of red denote the region
made by the motion in the upward direction we get an
ochre solid. The light yellow face in its initial and
terminal positions give the two square boundaries of the
cube above and below. Then each of the four lines of the
light yellow square—white, yellow, and the white, yellow
opposite them—trace out a bounding square. So there
are in all six bounding squares, four of these squares being
designated in colour by adding red to the colour of the
generating lines. Finally, each point moving in the up
direction gives rise to a line coloured null + red, or red,
and then there are the initial and terminal positions of the
points giving eight points. The number of the lines is
evidently twelve, for the four lines of the light yellow
square give four lines in their initial, four lines in their
final position, while the four points trace out four lines,
that is altogether twelve lines.
Now the squares are each of them separate boundaries
of the cube, while the lines belong, each of them, to two
squares, thus the red line is that which is common to the
orange and pink squares.
Now suppose that there is a direction, the fourth
dimension, which is perpendicular alike to every one
of the space dimensions already used—a dimension
perpendicular, for instance, to up and to right hand,
so that the pink square moving in this direction traces
out a cube.
A dimension, moreover, perpendicular to the up and
away directions, so that the orange square moving in this
direction also traces out a cube, and the light yellow
square, too, moving in this direction traces out a cube.
Under this supposition, the whole cube moving in the

unknown dimension, traces out something new—a new
kind of volume, a higher volume. This higher volume
is a four-dimensional volume, and we designate it in colour
by adding blue to the colour of that which by moving
generates it.
It is generated by the motion of the ochre solid, and
hence it is of the colour we call light brown (white, yellow,
red, blue, mixed together). It is represented by a number
of sections like 2 in fig. 103.
Now this light brown higher solid has for boundaries:
first. the ochre cube in its initial position, second, the
same cube in its final position, 1 and 3, fig. 103. Each
of the squares which bound the cube, moreover, by move-
ment in this new direction traces out a cube, so we have
from the front pink faces of the cube, third, a pink blue or
light purple cube, shown as a light purple face on cube 2
in fig. 103, this face standing for any number of inter-
mediate sections; fourth, a similar cube from the opposite
pink face; fifth, a cube traced out by the orange face—
this is coloured brown and is represented by the brown
face of the section cube in fig. 103; sixth, a correspond-
ing brown cube on the right hand; seventh, a cube
starting from the light yellow square below; the unknown
dimension is at right angles to this also. This cube is
coloured light yellow and blue or light green; and
finally, eighth, a corresponding cube from the upper
light yellow face, shown as the light green square at the
top of the section cube.
The tesseract has thus eight cubic boundaries. These
completely enclose it, so that it would be invisible to a
four-dimensional being. Now, as to the other boundaries,
just as the cube has squares, lines, points, as boundaries,
so the tesseract has cubes, squares, lines, points, as
boundaries.
The number of squares is found thus—round the cube

are six squares, these will give six squares in their initial
and six in their final positions. Then each of the twelve
lines of a cube trace out a square in the motion in the
fourth dimension. Hence there will be altogether
12 + 12 = 24 squares.
If we look at any one of these squares we see that it
is the meeting surface of two of the cubic sides. Thus,
the red line by its movement in the fourth dimension
traces out a purple square—this is common to two
cubes, one of which is traced out by the pink square
moving in the fourth dimension, and the other is
traced out by the orange square moving in the same
way. To take another square, the light yellow one, this
is common to the ochre cube and the light green cube.
The ochre cube comes from the light yellow square
by moving it in the up direction, the light green cube
is made from the light yellow square by moving it in
the fourth dimension. The number of lines is thirty-
two, for the twelve lines of the cube give twelve lines
of the tesseract in their initial position, and twelve in
their final position, making twenty-four, while each of
the eight points traces out a line, thus forming thirty-
two lines altogether.
The lines are each of them common to three cubes, or
to three square faces; take, for instance, the red line.
This is common to the orange face, the pink face, and
that face which is formed by moving the red line in the
fourth dimension, namely, the purple face. It is also
common to the ochre cube, the pale purple cube, and the
brown cube.
The points are common to six square faces and to four
cubes; thus, the null point from which we start is common
to the three square faces—pink, light yellow, orange, and
to the three square faces made by moving the three lines
1 2 3
n. White n. Light blue bl. n. White n.
174
G
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the light green cube.

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w ow n een w ow
Null White n. Blue. Light blue bl. Null White n.
interior Ochre interior Light brown interior Ochre
Fig. 103.
six faces in all. The four cubes which meet in it are the
ochre cube, the light purple cube, the brown cube, and
white, yellow, red, in the fourth dimension, namely, the
light blue, the light green, the purple faces—that is, to
A complete view of the tesseract in its various space

The tesseract, red, white, yellow axes in space. In the lower line the three rear faces
are shown, the interior being removed.
6 5 4
n. Blue n. wh. Light blue wh. n. Blue
Ye Y L. L L. Ye Y
llo Green ello ye ight g yel llo Green ello
w w llo reen lo
w w w
n. w wh.
Pink
e Blue Blue
Red
Red
Light blue
e ge
ng hr e an
ra Oc l r
O le rp O le
rp pu rp
Pink
n. Ye wh. L. y n. Ye
Pink
t
Red
Red
u u
Red
h Red
llo
w P el
lo ig
llo
w P
w L
Light blue x
n. Blue Null wh. White n. Blue Null
interior Brown interior Light brown interior Brown

Fig. 104.
The tesseract, red, yellow, blue axes in space, the blue axis running to the left, opposite faces are coloured identically.
presentations is given in the following figures or catalogue

cubes, figs. 103-106. The first cube in each figure
175
176
7 8 9
White n. y. Light yellow y. White n.
the next chapter.

n. n.
Bl Lig B G Ligh
re
Gr Bl Lig B
ue ht b lu en t greeneen ue ht b lu
lue e lue e
n. y. n.
Red
Red
le White n Light yellow le White
Orange
o w
urp Br urp
P re P
nk G ch nk
Red
Red
O Null
Red
Red
Null x Blu Pi Yellow re Bl Pi
Orange
Orange
e en ue
White Light yellow White
n. n. y. y. n. n.
interior Light purple interior Light brown interior Light purple
Fig. 105.
The tesseract, with red, white, blue axes in space. Opposite faces are coloured identically.
it begins to pass transverse to our space. The intermediate
passing out. These figures will be explained in detail in

and the final figure represents the far end as it is just
figure represents a sectional view when it is partly through,
represents the view of a tesseract coloured as described as
10 11 12
White n. r. Pink r. White n.

n. Ye O O n. Ye
Ye Lig l r O
an chr a n r Ye Lig
llo ht ye low
w llow ge e ge llo ht ye l low
w llow
n. r. n.
x x
n Red Pink Blue
Purple
en NullWhite n
e Null White
re e r ow e re
G l u B rpl G ue
Y t b O p u Ye t bl
Blue
Blue
r. ra
Blue
Blue
n. ell o gh ht n. llo gh
Purple
Purple
w w
thirty-two lines, the sixteen points.

Li ng
e g Li
Li
White Pink White
n. n. r. r. n. n.
interior Light green. interior Light brown interior Light green.
Fig. 106.
The tesseract with blue, white, yellow axes in space. The blue axis runs downward from
the face of the ochre cube as it stood originally. Opposite faces are coloured
identically.
eight bounding cubes, the twenty-four square faces, the

regions of a tesseract; we can speak of any one of the
177
We have thus obtained a nomenclature for each of the

CHAPTER XIII
REMARKS ON THE FIGURES
AN inspection of above figures will give an answer to
many questions about the tesseract. If we have a
tesseract one inch each way, then it can be represented
as a cube—a cube having white, yellow, red axes, and
from this cube as a beginning, a volume extending into
the fourth dimension. Now suppose the tesseract to pass
transverse to our space, the cube of the red, yellow, white
axes disappears at once, it is indefinitely thin in the
fourth dimension. Its place is occupied by those parts of
the tesseract which lie further away from our space
in the fourth dimension. Each one of these sections
will last only for one moment, but the whole of them
will take up some appreciable time in passing. If we
take the rate of one inch a minute the sections will take
the whole of the minute in their passage across our
space, they will take the whole of the minute except the
moment which the beginning cube and the end cube
occupy in their crossing our space. In each one of the
cubes, the section cubes, we can draw lines in all directions
except in the direction occupied by the blue line, the
fourth dimension; lines in that direction are represented
by the transition from one section cube to another. Thus
to give ourselves an adequate representation of the
tesseract we ought to have a limitless number of section
cubes intermediate between the first bounding cube, the
178
REMARKS ON THE FIGURES 179
ochre cube, and the last bounding cube, the other ochre
cube. Practically three intermediate sectional cubes will
be found sufficient for most purposes. We will take then
a series of five figures—two terminal cubes and three
intermediate sections—and show how the different regions
appear in space when we take each set of three out
of the four axes of the tesseract as lying in our space.
In fig. 107 initial letters are used for the colours.
A reference to fig. 103 will show the complete nomen-
clature, which is merely indicated here.
b0 b1 b2 b3 b4
x
interior interior interior interior interior
Ochre L. Brown L. Brown L. Brown Ochre
Fig. 107.
In this figure the tesseract is shown in fig stages

distant from our face: first, zero; second 1⁄4 in.; third,
1⁄2 in.; fourth, 3⁄4 in.; fifth, 1 in.; which are called 0b, b1,
b2, b3, b4, because they are sections taken at distances
0, 1, 2, 3, 4 quarter inches along the blue line. All the
regions can be named from the first cube, the b0 cube,
as before, simply by remembering that transference along
the b axis gives the addition of blue to the colour of
the region in the ochre, the b0 cube. In the final cube
b4, the colouring of the original b0 cube is repeated.
Thus the red line moved along the blue axis gives a red
and blue or purple square. This purple square appears
as the three purple lines in the sections b1, b2, b3, taken
at 1⁄4, 1⁄2, 3⁄4 of an inch in the fourth dimension. If the
tesseract moves transverse to our space we have them in
this particular region, first of all a red line which lasts
for a moment, secondly a purple line which takes its
place. This purple line lasts for a minute—that is, all

of a minute, except the moment taken by the crossing
our space of the initial and final red line. The purple
line having lasted for this period is succeeded by a red
line, which lasts for a moment; then this goes and the
tesseract has passed across our space. The final red line
we call red bl., because it is separated from the initial
red line by a distance along the axis for which we use
the colour blue. Thus a line that lasts represents an
area duration; is in this mode of presentation equivalent
to a dimension of space. In the same way the white
line, during the crossing our space by the tesseract, is
succeeded by a light blue line which lasts for the inside
of a minute, and as the tesseract leaves our space, having
crossed it, the white bl. line appears as the final
termination.
Take now the pink face. Moved in the blue direction
it traces out a light purple cube. This light purple
cube is shown in sections in b1, b2, b3 and the farther
face of this cube in the blue direction is shown in b4--
a pink face, called pink bl. because it is distant from the
pink face we began with in the blue direction. Thus
the cube which we colour light purple appears as a lasting
square. The square face itself, the pink face, vanishes
instantly the tesseract begins to move, but the light
purple cube appears as a lasting square. Here also
duration is the equivalent of a dimension of space—a
lasting square is a cube. It is useful to connect these
diagrams with the views given in the coloured plate.
Take again the orange face, that determined by the
red and yellow axes; from it goes a brown cube in the
blue direction, for red and yellow and blue are supposed
to make brown. This brown cube is shown in three
sections in the faces b1, b2, b3. In b4 is the opposite
orange face of the brown cube, the face called orange bl.,
for it is distant in the blue direction from the orange

face. As the tesseract passes transverse to our space,
we have then in this region an instantly vanishing orange
square, followed by a lasting brown square, and finally
an orange face which vanishes instantly.
Now, as any three axes will be in our space, let us send
the white axis out into the unknown, the fourth dimen-
sion, and take the blue axis into our known space
dimension. Since the white and blue axes are perpen-
dicular to each other, if the white axis goes out into
the fourth dimension in the positive sense, the blue axis
will come into the direction the white axis occupied,
in the negative sense.
wh4 wh3 wh2 wh1 wh0
x
Fig. 108.
Hence, not to complicate matters by having to think

of two senses in the unknown direction, let us send the
white line into the positive sense of the fourth dimen-
sion, and take the blue one as running in the negative
sense of that direction which the white line has left;
let the blue line, that is, run to the left. We have
now the row of figures in fig. 108. The dotted cube
shows where we had a cube when the white line ran
in our space—now it has turned out of our space, and
another solid boundary, another cubic face of the tesseract
comes into our space. This cube has red and yellow
axes as before; but now, instead of a white axis running
to the right, there is a blue axis running to the left.
Here we can distinguish the regions by colours in a per-
fectly systematic way. The red line traces out a purple
square in the transference along the blue axis by which

this cube is generated from the orange face. This
purple square made by the motion of the red line is
the same purple face that we saw before as a series of
lines in the section b1, b2, b3. Here, since both red and
blue axes are in our space, we have no need of duration
to represent the area they determine. In the motion
of the tesseract across space this purple face would
instantly disappear.
From the orange face, which is common to the initial
cubes in fig. 107 and fig. 108, there goes in the blue
direction a cube coloured brown. This brown cube is
now all in our space, because each of its three axes run
in space directions, up, away, to the left. It is the same
brown cube which appeared as the successive faces on the
sections b1, b2, b3. Having all its three axes in our
space, it is given in extension; no part of it needs to
be represented as a succession. The tesseract is now
in a new position with regard to our space, and when
it moves across our space the brown cube instantly
disappears.
In order to exhibit the other region of the tesseract
we must remember that now the white line runs in the
unknown dimension. Where shall we put the section
at distances along the line? Any arbitrary position in
our space will do; there is no way by which we can
represent their real position.
However, as the brown cube comes off from the orange
face to the left, let us put these successive sections to
the left. We can call them wh0, wh1, wh2, wh3, wh4,
because they are sections along the white axis, which
now runs in the unknown dimension.
Running from the purple square in the white direction
we find the light purple cube. This is represented in the
sections wh1, wh2, wh3, fig. 108. It is the same cube
that is represented in the sections b1, b2, b3; in fig. 107

the red and white axes are in our space, the blue out of
it; in the other case, the red and blue are in our space,
the white out of it. It is evident that the face pink y.,
opposite the pink face in fig. 107, makes a cube shown
in squares in b1, b2, b3 on the opposite side to the light
purple squares. Also the light yellow face at the base
of the cube b0, makes a light green cube, shown as a series
of base squares.
The same light green cube can be found in fig. 108.
The base square in wh0, is a green square, for it is enclosed
by blue and yellow axes. From it goes a cube in the
white direction, this is then a light green cube and the
same as the one just mentioned as existing in the sections
b0, b1, b2, b3, b4.
The case is, however, a little different with the brown
cube. This cube we have altogether in space in the
section wh0, fig. 108, while it exists as a series of squares,
the left-hand ones, in the sections b0, b1, b2, b3, b4. The
brown cube exists as a solid in our space, as shown in
fig. 108. In the mode of representation of the tesseract
exhibited in fig. 107, the same brown cube appears as a
succession of squares. That is, as the tesseract moves
across space, the brown cube would actually be to us a
square—it would be merely the lasting boundary of another
solid. It would have no thickness at all, only extension
in two dimensions, and its duration would show its solidity
in three dimensions.
It is obvious that, if there is a four-dimensional space,
matter in three dimensions only is a mere abstraction; all
material objects must then have a slight four-dimensional
thickness. In this case the above statement will undergo
modification. The material cube which is used as the
model of the boundary of a tesseract will have a slight
thickness in the fourth dimension, and when the cube is
presented to us in another aspect, it would not be a mere

surface. But it is most convenient to regard the cubes
we use as having no extension at all in the fourth
dimension. This consideration serves to bring out a point
alluded to before, that, if there is a fourth dimension, our
conception of a solid is the conception of a mere abstraction,
and our talking about real three-dimensional objects would
seem to a four-dimensional being as incorrect as a two-
dimensional being’s telling about real squares, real
triangles, etc., would seem to us.
The consideration of the two views of the brown cube
shows that any section of a cube can be looked at by a
presentation of the cube in a different position in four-
dimensional space. The brown faces in b1, b2, b3, are the
very same brown sections that would be obtained by
cutting the brown cube, wh0, across at the right distances
along the blue line, as shown in fig. 108. But as these
sections are placed in the brown cube, wh0, they come
behind one another in the blue direction. Now, in the
sections wh1, wh2, wh3, we are looking at these sections
from the white direction—the blue direction does not
exist in these figures. So we see them in a direction at
right angles to that in which they occur behind one
another in wh0. They are intermediate views, which
would come in the rotation of a tesseract. These brown
squares can be looked at from directions intermediate
between the white and blue axes. It must be remembered
that the fourth dimension is perpendicular equally to all
three space axes. Hence we must take the combinations
of the blue axis, with each two of our three axes, white,
red, yellow, in turn.
In fig. 109 we take red, white, and blue axes in space,
sending yellow into the fourth dimension. If it goes into
the positive sense of the fourth dimension the blue line
will come in the opposite direction to that in which the
yellow line ran before. Hence, the cube determined by

the white, red, blue axes, will start from the pink plane
and run towards us. The dotted cube shows where the
ochre cube was. When it is turned out of space, the cube
coming towards from its front face is the one which comes
into our space in this turning. Since the yellow line now
runs in the unknown dimension we call the sections
y0, y1, y2, y3, y4, as they are made at distances 0, 1, 2, 3, 4,
quarter inches along the yellow line. We suppose these
cubes arranged in a line coming towards us—not that
that is any more natural than any other arbitrary series
of positions, but it agrees with the plan previously adopted.
y0 y1 y2 y3 y4
Fig. 109.
The interior of the first cube, y0, is that derived from

pink by adding blue, or, as we call it, light purple. The
faces of the cube are light blue, purple, pink. As drawn,
we can only see the face nearest to us, which is not the
one from which the cube starts—but the face on the
opposite side has the same colour name as the face
towards us.
The successive sections of the series y0, y1, y2, etc., can
be considered as derived from sections of the b0 cube
made at distances along the yellow axis. What is distant
a quarter inch from the pink face in the yellow direction?
This question is answered by taking a section from a point
a quarter inch along the yellow axis in the cube b0, fig. 107.
It is an ochre section with lines orange and light yellow.
This section will therefore take the place of the pink face
in y1 when we go on in the yellow direction. Thus, the

first section, y1, will begin from an ochre face with light
yellow and orange lines. The colour of the axis which
lies in space towards us in blue, hence the regions of this
section-cube are determined in nomenclature, they will be
found in full in fig. 105.
There remains only one figure to be drawn, and that is
the one in which the red axis is replaced by the blue.
Here, as before, if the red axis goes out into the positive
sense of the fourth dimension, the blue line must come
into our space in the negative sense of the direction which
the red line has left. Accordingly, the first cube will
come in beneath the position of our ochre cube, the one
we have been in the habit of starting with.
r0 r1 r2 r3 r4
Fig. 110.
To show these figures we must suppose the ochre cube

to be on a moveable stand. When the red line swings out
into the unknown dimension, and the blue line comes in
downwards, a cube appears below the place occupied by
the ochre cube. The dotted cube shows where the ochre
cube was. That cube has gone and a different cube runs
downwards from its base. This cube has white, yellow,
and blue axes. Its top is a light yellow square, and hence
its interior is light yellow + blue or light green. Its front
face is formed by the white line moving along the blue
axis, and is therefore light blue, the left-hand side is
formed by the yellow line moving along the blue axis,
and therefore green.
As the red line now runs in the fourth dimension, the

successive sections can be called r0, r1, r2, r3, r4, these
letters indicating that at distances 0, 1⁄4. 1⁄2. 3⁄4, 1 inch along
the red axis we take all of the tesseract that can be found
in a three-dimensional space, this three-dimensional space
extending not at all in the fourth dimension, but up and
down, right and left, far and near.
We can see what should replace the light yellow face of
r0, when the section r1 comes in, by looking at the cube
b0, fig 107. What is distant in it one-quarter of an inch
from the light yellow face in the red direction? It is an
ochre section with orange and pink lines and red points;
see also fig. 103.
This square then forms the top square of r1. Now we
can determine the nomenclature of all the regions of r1 by
considering what would be formed by the motion of this
square along a blue axis.
But we can adopt another plan. Let us take a hori-
zontal section of r0 and finding that section in the figures,
of fig. 107 or fig. 103, from them determine what will
replace it, going in the red direction.
A section of the r0 cube has green, light blue, green,
light blue sides and blue points.
Now this square occurs on the base of each of the
section figures, b1, b2, etc. In them we see that 1⁄4 inch in
the red direction from it lies a section with brown and
light purple lines and purple corners, the interior being
of light brown. Hence this is the nomenclature of the
section which in r1 replaces the section of r0 made from a
point along the blue axis.
Hence the colouring as given can be derived.
We have thus obtained a perfectly named group of
tesseracts. We can take a group of eighty-one of them
3 × 3 × 3 × 3, in four dimensions, and each tesseract will
have its name null, red, white, yellow, blue, etc., and
whatever cubic view we take of them we can say exactly

what sides of the tesseracts we are handling, and how
they touch each other.*
Thus, for instance, if we have the sixteen tesseracts
shown below, we can ask how does null touch blue.
In the arrangement given in fig. 111 we have the axes
white, red, yellow, in space, blue running in the fourth
dimension. Hence we have the ochre cubes as bases.
Imagine now the tesseractic group to pass transverse to
our space—we have first of all null ochre cube, white
direction
Red
Red
axis
Ye axi
Ye rect
di
llo s
llo ion
w
x White White
axis direction
Light yellow hidden Light green hidden
A.b0 B.b1
Fig. 111.
ochre cube, etc.; these instantly vanish, and we get the
section shown in the middle cube in fig. 103, and finally,
just when the tesseract block has moved one inch trans-
verse to our space, we have null ochre cube, and then
immediately afterwards the ochre cube of blue comes in.
Hence the tesseract null touches the tesseract blue by its
ochre cube, which is in contact, each and every point
of it, with the ochre cube of blue.
How does null touch white, we may ask? Looking at
the beginning A, fig. 111, where we have the ochre
* At this point the reader will find it advantageous, if he has the
models, to go through the manipulations described in Appendix I.

cubes, we see that null ochre touches white ochre by an

orange face. Now let us generate the null and white
tesseracts by a motion in the blue direction of each of
these cubes. Each of them generates the corresponding
tesseract, and the plane of contact of the cubes generates
the cube by which the tesseracts are in contact. Now an
orange plane carried along a blue axis generates a brown
cube. Hence null touches white by a brown cube.
direction
Red
Red
axis
x White White
axis direction
C.y0 C.y1
di Bl
White re ue Light yellow
Bl xis
ct
ue
a
hidden io hidden
n
Fig. 112.
If we ask again how red touches light blue tesseract,
let us rearrange our group, fig. 112, or rather turn it
about so that we have a different space view of it; let
the red axis and the white axis run up and right, and let
the blue axis come in space towards us, then the yellow
axis runs in the fourth dimension. We have then two
blocks in which the bounding cubes of the tesseracts are
given, differently arranged with regard to us—the arrange-
ment is really the same, but it appears different to us.
Starting from the plane of the red and white axes we
have the four squares of the null, white, red, pink tesseracts
as shown in A, on the red, white plane, unaltered, only
from them now comes out towards us the blue axis.
Hence we have null, white, red, pink tesseracts in contact

with our space by their cubes which have the red, white,
blue axis in them, that is by the light purple cubes.
Following on these four tesseracts we have that which
comes next to them in the blue direction, that is the
four blue, light blue, purple, light purple. These are
likewise in contact with our space by their light purple
cubes, so we see a block as named in the figure, of which
each cube is the one determined by the red, white, blue
axes.
The yellow line now runs out of space; accordingly one
inch on in the fourth dimension we come to the tesseracts
which follow on the eight names in C, fig. 112, in the
yellow direction.
These are shown in C.y0, fig. 112. Between figure C
and C.y1 is that four-dimensional mass which is formed
by moving each of the cubes in C one inch in the fourth
dimension—that is, along a yellow axis; for the yellow
axis now runs in the fourth dimension.
In the block C we observe that red (light purple
cube) touches light blue (light purple cube) by a point.
Now these two cubes moving together remain in contact
during the period in which they trace out the tesseracts
red and light blue. This motion is along the yellow
axis, consequently red and light blue touch by a yellow
line.
We have seen that the pink face moved in a yellow
direction traces out a cube; moved in the blue direction it
also traces out a cube. Let us ask what the pink face
will trace out if it is moved in a direction within the
tesseract lying equally between the yellow and blue
directions. What section of the tesseract will it make?
We will first consider the red line alone. Let us take
a cube with the red line in it and the yellow and blue
axes.
The cube with the yellow, red, blue axes is shown in

4 fig. 113. If the red line is
3
2
moved equally in the yellow and
1 in the blue directions by four
0
equal motions of 1⁄4 inch each,
it takes the positions 11, 22, 33,
4 Red and ends as a red line.
3
2 Now the whole of this red,
Yellow 1
x yellow, blue, or brown cube ap-
Blue Null pears as a series of faces on the
Fig. 113. successive sections of the tes-
seract starting from the ochre
cube and letting the blue axis
run in the fourth dimension. Hence the plane traced out
by the red line appears as a series of lines in the
successive sections, in our ordinary way of representing
the tesseract; these lines are in different places in each
successive section.
4
1 2 3
r
4
Yellow x 1 2 3
Null White
b0 b1 b2 b3 b4
Fig. 114.
Thus drawing our initial cube and the successive
sections, calling them b0, b1, b2, b3, b4, fig. 115, we have
the red line subject to this movement appearing in the
positions indicated.
We will now investigate what positions in the tesseract
another line in the pink face assumes when it is moved in
a similar manner.
Take a sections of the original cube containing a vertical
line 4, in the pink plane, fig. 115. We have, in the
section, the yellow direction, but not the blue.
From this section a cube goes off in the fourth dimen-

sion, which is formed by moving each point of the section
in the blue direction.
L.
L ig h ye
t gr
e e n llo w
L. pur.
4 44 Pink
43 4
42
x 41
Null White Light blue White
Fig. 115. Fig. 116.
Drawing this cube we have fig. 116.

Now this cube occurs as a series of sections in our
original representation of the tesseract. Taking four steps
as before this cube appears as the sections drawn in b0, b1,
b2, b3, b4, fig. 117, and if the line 4 is subjected to a
movement equal in the blue and yellow directions, it will
occupy the positions designated by 4, 41, 42, 43, 44.
44
42 43
41
b0 b1 b2 b3 b4
Fig. 117.
Hence, reasoning in a similar manner about every line,
it is evident that, moved equally in the blue and yellow
directions, the pink plane will trace out a space which is
shown by the series of section planes represented in the
diagram.
Thus the space traced out by the pink face, if it is
moved equally in the yellow and blue directions, is repre-
sented by the set of planes delineated in Fig. 118, pink
face or 0, then 1, 2, 3, and finally pink face or 4. This

solid is a diagonal solid of the tesseract, running from a
pink face to a pink face. Its length is the length of the
diagonal of a square, its side is a square.
4
3
1 2
0
Pink
Null
b0 b1 b2 b3 b4
Fig. 118.
Let us now consider the unlimited space which springs
from the pink face extended.
This space, if it goes off in the yellow direction, gives
us in it the ochre cube of the tesseract. Thus, if we have
the pink face given and a point in the ochre cube, we
have determined this particular space.
Similarly going off from the pink face in the blue
direction is another space, which gives us the light purple
cube of the tesseract in it. And any point being taken in
the light purple cube, this space going off from the pink
face is fixed.
The space we are speaking of can be conceived as
swinging round the pink face, and in each of its positions
it cuts out a solid figure from the tesseract, one of which
we have seen represented in fig. 118.
Each of these solid figures is given by one position of
the swinging space, and by one only. Hence in each of
them, if one point is taken, the particular one of the
slanting space is fixed. Thus we see that given a plane
and a point out of it a space is determined.
Now, two points determine a line.
Again, think of a line and a point outside it. Imagine
a plane rotating round the line. At some time in its
rotation it passes through the point. Thus a line and a
point, or three points, determine a plane. And finally,

four points determine a space. We have seen that a
plane and a point determine a space, and that three
points determine a plane; so four points will determine
a space.
These four points may be any points, and we can take,
for instance, the four points at the extremities of the red,
white, yellow, blue axes, in the tesseract. These will
determine a space slanting with regard to the section
spaces we have been previously considering. This space
will cut the tesseract in a certain figure.
One of the simplest sections of a cube by a plan is
that in which the plane passes through the extremities
of the three edges which meet in a point. We see at
once that this plane would cut the cube in a triangle, but
we will go through the process by which a plane being
would most conveniently treat the problem of the deter-
mination of this shape, in order that we may apply the
method to the determination of the figure in which a
space cuts a tesseract when it passes through the 4
points at unit distance from a corner.
We know that two points determine a line, three points
determine a plane, and given any two points in a plane
the line between them lies wholly in the plane.
Let now the plane being study the section made by
a plane passing through the
Null r. l.y.
null r., null wh., and null y.
p.
or. points, fig. 119. Looking at
B the orange square, which, as
Null y.
usual, we suppose to be
x initially in his plane, he sees
Null A Null wh. that the line from null r. to
Fig. 119. null y., which is a line in the
section plane, the plane, namely, through the three
extremities of the edges meeting in null, cuts the orange
face in an orange line with null points. This then is one

of the boundaries of the section figure.
Let now the cube be so turned that the pink face
comes in his plane. The points null r. and null wh.
are now visible. The line between them is pink
with null points, and since this line is common to
the surface of the cube and the cutting plane, it is
a boundary of the figure in which the plane cuts the
cube.
Again, suppose the cube turned so that the light
yellow face is in contact with the plane being’s plane.
He sees two points, the null wh. and the null y. The
line between these lies in the cutting plane. Hence,
since the three cutting lines meet and enclose a portion
of the cube between them, he has determined the
figure he sought. It is a triangle with orange, pink,
and light yellow sides, all equal, and enclosing an
ochre area.
Let us now determine in what figure the space,
determined by the four points, null r., null y., null
wh., null b., cuts the tesseract. We can see three
of these points on the primary position of the tesseract
resting against our solid sheet by the ochre cube.
These three points determine a plane which lies in
the space we are considering, and this plane cuts
the ochre cube in a triangle, the interior of which
is ochre (fig. 119 will serve for this view), with pink,
light yellow and orange sides, and null points. Going
in the fourth direction, in one sense, from this place
we pass into the tesseract, in the other sense we pass
away from it. The whole area inside the triangle is
common to the cutting plane we see, and a boundary
of the tesseract. Hence we conclude that the triangle
drawn is common to the tesseract and the cutting
space.
Now let the ochre cube turn out and the brown cube
gr. Null r. come in. The dotted lines
show the position the ochre
or. pur. cube has left (fig. 120).
B Red Here we see three out
of the four points through
Yellow
x which the cutting space
Null b. Blue Null
passes, null r., null y., and
Fig. 120.
null b. The plane they
determine lies in the cutting space, and this plane
cuts out of the brown cube a triangle with orange,
purple and green sides, and null points. The orange line
of this figure is the same as the orange line in
the last figure.
Now let the light purple cube swing into our space,
towards us, fig. 121.
The cutting space which passes through the four points,
Null r. null r., y., wh., b., passes through
l. bl. the null r., wh., b., and there-
fore the plane these determine
r. pur.
P. lies in the cutting space.
This triangle lies before us.
x White Null wh. It has a light purple interior
Null
Blue and pink, light blue, and
Null b.
Fig. 121. purple edges with null points.
This, since it is all of the
plane that is common to it, and this bounding of the
tesseract, gives us one of the bounding faces of our
sectional figure. The pink line in it is the same as the
pink line we found in the first figure—that of the ochre
cube.
Finally, let the tesseract swing around the light yellow
plane, so that the light green cube comes into our space.
It will point downwards.
The three points, n. y., n. wh., n. b., are in the cutting
space, and the triangle they determine is common to

the tesseract and the cut-
ting space. Hence this
boundary is a triangle hav-
ing a light yellow line,
Null y.Y l. y. which is the same as the
ell x
ow Null wh. light yellow line of the first
N
ul White
l figure, a light blue line and
P. a green line.
Blue
Gr. l. bl. We have now traced the

cutting space between every
Null b. set of three that can be
Fig. 122. made out of the four points
in which it cuts the tesseract, and have got four faces
which all join on to each other by lines.
The triangles are shown in fig. 123 as they join on to
n.b. pur. n.r. pur. n.b. the triangle in the ochre cube. But
br. l.pur. they join on each to the other in an
or.
l.
och.
gr .
p.
exactly similar manner; their edges

l. b
n.y. l.y n.wh.

l. gr. are all identical two and two. They
l.
gr .
l. b
form a closed figure, a tetrahedron,

n.b. enclosing a light brown portion which
Fig. 123. is the portion of the cutting space
which lies inside the tesseract.
We cannot expect to see this light brown portion, any
more than a plane being could expect to see the inside
of a cube if an angle of it were pushed through his
plane. All he can do is to come upon the boundaries
of it in a different way to that in which he would if it
passed straight through his plane.
Thus in this solid section; the whole interior lies per-
fectly open in the fourth dimension. Go round it as
we may we are simply looking at the boundaries of the
tesseract which penetrates through our solid sheet. If
the tesseract were not to pass across so far, the triangle
would be small; if it were to pass farther, we should

have a different figure, the outlines of which can be
determined in a similar manner.
The preceding method is open to the objection that
it depends rather on our inferring what must be, than
our seeing what is. Let us therefore consider our
sectional space as consisting of a number of planes, each
very close to the last, and observe what is to be found
in each place.
The corresponding method in the case of two dimen-
sions is as follows:--the plane
Null r. l.y.
p. being can see that line of the
or. sectional plane through null
Red y., null b., null r., which lies
Null y. in the orange plane. Let him
x now suppose the cube and the
Null Null wh.
section plane to pass half way
Fig. 124. though his plane. Replacing
the red and yellow axes are lines parallel to them, sections
of the pink and light yellow faces.
Where will the section plane cut these parallels to
the red and yellow axes?
Let him suppose the cube, in the position of the
drawing, fig. 124, turned so that the pink face lies
against his plane. He can see the line from the null r.
point to the null wh. point, and can see (compare fig. 119)
that it cuts as a parallel to his red axis, drawn at a point
half way along the white line, in a point n., half way up.
I shall speak of the axis as having the length of an edge
of the cube. Similarly, by letting the cube turn so that
the light yellow square swings in against his plane, he can
see (compare fig. 119) that a parallel to his yellow axis
drawn from a point half-way along the white axis, is cut
at half its length by the trace of the section plane in the
light yellow face.
Hence when this cube had passed half-way through he

would have—instead of the orange line with null points,
which he had at first—an ochre line of half its length,
with pink and light yellow points. Thus, as the cube
passed slowly through his plane, he would have a suc-
cession of lines gradually diminishing in length and
forming an equilateral triangle. The whole interior would
be ochre, the line from which it started would be orange.
The succession of points at the ends of the succeeding
lines would form pink and light yellow lines and the
final point would be null. Thus looking at the successive
lines in the section plane as it and the cube passed across
his plane he would determine the figure cut out bit
by bit.
Coming now to the section of the tesseract, let us
imagine that the tesseract and its cutting space pass
slowly across our space; we can examine portions of it,
and their relation to portions of the cutting space. Take
the section space which passes through the four points,
null r., wh., y., b.; we can see in the ochre cube (fig. 119)
the plane belonging to this section space, which passes
through the three extremities of the red, white, yellow
axes.
Now let the tesseract pass half way through out space.
Instead of our original axes we have parallels to them,
purple, pink and green, each of the same length as the
first axes, for the section of the tesseract is of exactly
the same shape as its ochre cube.
But the sectional space seen at this stage of the trans-
ference would not cut the section of the tesseract in a
plane disposed as at first.
To see where the sectional space would cut these
parallels to the original axes let the tesseract swing so
that, the orange face remaining stationary, the blue line
comes in to the left.
Here (fig. 125) we have the null r., y., b. points, and of
Green Null r.
the sectional space all we
see is the plane through these
three points in it.
Orange
Purple
Red In this figure we can draw
the parallels to the red and
Yellow
x yellow axes and see that, if
Null b. Blue Null
they started at a point half
Fig. 125. way along the blue axis, they
would each be cut at a point so as to be half of their
previous length.
Swinging the tesseract into our space about the pink
face of the ochre cube we likewise find that the parallel
to the white axis is cut at half its length by the sectional
space.
Hence in a section made when the tesseract had passed
half across our space the parallels to the red, white, yellow
Light green axes, which are now in our
space, are cut by the section
Brown
space, each of them half way

Light purple
along, and for this stage of
bl. the traversing motion we
Green should have fig. 126. The
Blue L. blue bl.
Section b2 interior Light brown section made of this cube by
Fig. 126. the plane in which the sec-
tional space cuts it, is an
equilateral triangle with purple, l. blue, green points,
and l. purple, brown, l. green lines.
Thus the original ochre triangle, with null points and
pink, orange, light yellow lines, would be succeeded by a
triangle coloured in manner just described.
This triangle would initially be only a very little smaller
than the original triangle, it would gradually diminish,
until it ended in a point, a null point. Each of its
edges would be of the same length. Thus the successive
sections of the successive planes into which we analyse

the cutting space would be a tetrahedron of the description
shown (fig. 123) and the whole interior of the tetrahedron
would be light brown.
n.r.
.
or
pi
r.
n.y. och. l. pur. n.b. n.r.

.
l. or
pu
b br.
l.
r.
l.
y.
x
n.y. n.b.
Null
l. gr.
b l.
l.
l.
y.
x
Null
Front view The rear faces.
Fig. 127.
In fig. 127 the tetrahedron is represented by means of
its faces as two triangles which meet in the p. line, and
two rear triangles which join on to them, the diagonal
of the pink face being supposed to run vertically
upward.
We have now reached a natural termination. The
reader may pursue the subject in further detail, but will
find no essential novelty. I conclude with an indication
as to the manner in which figures previously given may
be used in determining sections by the method developed
above.
Applying this method to the tesseract, as represented
in Chapter IX., sections made by a space cutting the axes
equidistantly at any distance can be drawn, and also the
sections of tesseracts arranged in a block.
If we drawn a plane, cutting all four axes at a point
six units distance from null, we have a slanting space.
This space cuts the red, white, yellow axes in the
points LMN (fig. 128), and so in the region of our space

Red axis before we go off into
N the fourth dimension,
we have the plane
represented by LMN
E F
extended. This is what
is common to the
slanting space and our
White axis
L C M space.
Fig. 128. Yellow axis This plane cuts the
ochre cube in the triangle EFG.
Comparing this with (fig. 72) oh, we see that the
hexagon there drawn is part of the triangle EFG.
Let us now imagine the tesseract and the slanting
space both together to pass transverse to our space, a
distance of one unit, we have in 1h a section of the
tesseract, whose axes are parallels to the previous axes.
The slanting space cuts them at a distance of five units
along each. Drawing the plane through these points in
1h it will be found to cut the cubical section of the
tesseract in the hexagonal figure drawn. In 2h (fig. 72) the
slanting space cuts the parallels to the axes at a distance
of four along each, and the hexagonal figure is the section
of this section of the tesseract by it. Finally when 3h
comes in the slanting space cuts the axes at a distance
of three along each, and the section is a triangle, of which
the hexagon drawn is a truncated portion. After this
the tesseract, which extends only three units in each of
the four dimensions, has completely passed transverse
of our space, and there is no more of it to be cut. Hence,
putting the plane sections together in the right relations,
we have the section determined by this particular slanting
space: namely an octahedron.
CHAPTER XIV *
A RECAPITULATION AND EXTENSION OF
THE PHYSICAL ARGUMENT
THERE are two directions of inquiry in which the
research for the physical reality of a fourth dimension
can be prosecuted. One is the investigation of the
infinitely great, the other is the investigation of the
infinitely small.
By the measurement of the angles of vast triangles,
whose sides are the distances between the stars, astronomers
have sought to determine if there is any deviation from
the values given by geometrical deduction. If the angles
of a celestial triangle do not together equal two right
angles, there would be an evidence for the physical reality
of a fourth dimension.
This conclusion deserves a word of explanation. If
space is really four-dimensional, certain conclusions follow
which must be brought clearly into evidence if we are to
frame the questions definitely which we put to nature.
To account for our limitation let us assume a solid material
sheet against which we move. This sheet must stretch
alongside every object in every direction in which it
* The contents of this chapter are taken from a paper read before
the Philosophical Society of Washington. The mathematical portion

of the paper has appeared in part in the Transcations of the Royal
Irish Academy under the title, “Cayley’s formulæ of orthogonal
transformation.”
203
visibly moves. Every material body must slip or slide

along this sheet, not deviating from contact with it in
any motion which we can observe.
The necessity for this assumption is clearly apparent, if
we consider the analogous case of a suppositionary plane
world. If there were any creatures whose experiences
were confined to a plane, we must account for their
limitation. If they were free to move in every space
direction, they would have a three-dimensional motion;
hence they must be physically limited, and the only way
in which we can conceive such a limitation to exist is by
means of a material surface against which they slide.
The existence of this surface would only be known to
them indirectly. It does not lie in any direction from
them in which the kinds of motion they know of leads
them. If it were perfectly smooth and always in contact
with every material object, there would be no difference in
their relations to it which would direct their attention to it.
But if this surface were curved—if it were, say, in the
form of a vast sphere—the triangles they drew would
really be triangles of a sphere, and then these triangles
are large enough the angles diverge from the magnitudes
they would have for the same lengths of sides if the
surface were plane. Hence by the measurement of
triangles of very great magnitude a plane being might
detect a difference from the laws of a plane world in his
physical world, and so be led to the conclusion that there
was in reality another dimension to space—a third
dimension—as well as the two which his ordinary experi-
ence made him familiar with.
Now, astronomers have thought it worth while to
examine the measurements of vast triangles drawn from
one celestial body to another with a view to determine if
there is anything like a curvature in our space—that is to
say, they have tried astronomical measurements to find
RECAPITULATION AND EXTENSION 205
out if the vast solid sheet against which, on the sup-

position of a fourth dimension, everything slides is
curved or not. These results have been negative. The
solid sheet, if it exists, is not curved or, being curved, has
not a sufficient curvature to cause any observable deviation
from the theoretical value of the angles calculated.
Hence the examination of the infinitely great leads to
no decisive criterion. It neither proves nor disproves the
existence of a fourth dimension.
Coming now to the prosecution of the inquiry in the
direction of the infinitely small, we have to state the
question thus: Our laws of movement are derived from
the examination of bodes which move in three-dimensional
space. All our conceptions are founded on the sup-
position of a space which is represented analytically by
three independent axes and variations along them—that
is, it is a space in which there are three independent
movements. Any motion possible in it can be compounded
out of these three movements, which we may call: up,
right, away.
To examine the actions of the very small portions of
matter with the view of ascertaining if there is any
evidence in the phenomena for the supposition of a fourth
dimension of space, we must commence by clearly defining
what the laws of mechanics would be on the supposition
of a fourth dimension. It is of no use asking if the
phenomena of the smallest particles of matter are like—
we do not know what. We must have a definite con-
ception of what the laws of motion would be on the
supposition of the fourth dimension, and then inquire if
the phenomena of the activity of the smaller particles of
matters resemble the conceptions which we have elaborated.
Now, the task of forming these conceptions is by no
means one to be lightly dismissed. Movement in space
has many features which differ entirely from movement
on a plane; and when we set about to form the con-

ception of motion in four dimensions, we find that there
is at least as great a step as from the plane to three-
dimensional space.
I do not say that the step is difficult, but I want to
point out that it must be taken. When we have formed
the conception of four-dimensional motion, we can ask a
rational question of Nature. Before we have elaborated
our conceptions we are asking if an unknown is like an
unknown—a futile inquiry.
As a matter of fact, four-dimensional movements are in
every way simple and more easy to calculate than three-
dimensional movements, for four-dimensional movements
are simply two sets of plane movements put together.
Without the formation of an experience of four-
dimensional bodies, their shapes and motions, the subject
can be but formal—logically conclusive, not intuitively
evident. It is to this logical apprehension that I must
appeal.
It is perfectly simple to form an experiential familiarity
with the facts of four-dimensional movement. The
method is analogous to that which a plane being would
have to adopt to form an experiential familiarity with
three-dimensional movements, and may be briefly
summed up as the formation of a compound sense by
means of which duration is regarded as equivalent to
extension.
Consider a being confined to a plane. A square enclosed
by four lines will be to him a solid, the interior of which
can only be examined by breaking through the lines.
If such a square were to pass transverse to his plane, it
would immediately disappear. It would vanish, going
in no direction to which he could point.
If, now, a cube be placed in contact with his plane, its
surface of contact would appear like the square which we
have just mentioned. But if it were to pass transverse to

his plane, breaking through it, it would appear as a lasting
square. The three-dimensional matter will give a lasting
appearance in circumstances under which two-dimensional
matter will at once disappear.
Similarly, a four-dimensional cube, or, as we may call
it, a tesseract, which is generated from a cube by a
movement of every part of the cube in a fourth dimension
at right angles to each of the three visible directions in
the cube, if it moved transverse to our space, would
appear as a lasting cube.
A cube of three-dimensional matter, since it extends to
no distance at all in the fourth dimension, would instantly
disappear, if subjected to a motion transverse to our space.
It would disappear and be gone, without it being possible
to point to any direction in which it had moved.
All attempts to visualise a fourth dimension are futile. It
must be connected with a time experience in three space.
The most difficult notion for a plane being to acquire
would be that of rotation about a line. Consider a plane
being facing a square. If he were told that rotation
about a line were possible, he would move his square this
way and that. A square in a plane can rotate about a
point, but to rotate about a line would seem to the plane
being perfectly impossible. How could those parts of his
square which were on one side of an edge come to the
other side without the edge moving? He could under-
stand their reflection in the edge. He could form an
idea of the looking-glass image of his square lying on the
opposite side of the line of an edge, but by no motion
that he knows of can he make the actual square assume
that position. The result of the rotation would be like
reflection in the edge, but it would be a physical im-
possibility to produce it in the plane.
The demonstration of rotation about a line must be to
him purely formal. If he conceived the motion of a cube

stretching out in an unknown direction away from his
plane, then he can see the base of it, his square in the
plane, rotating round a point. He can likewise apprehend
that every parallel section taken at successive intervals in
the unknown direction rotates in like manner round a
point. Thus he would come to conclude that the whole
body rotates round a line—the line consisting of the
succession of points round which the plane sections rotate.
Thus, given three axes, x, y, z, if x rotates to take
the place of y, and y turns so as to point to negative x,
then the third axis remaining unaffected by this turning
is the axis about which the rotation takes place. This,
then, would have to be his criterion of the axis of a
rotation—that which remains unchanged then a rotation
of every plane section of a body takes place.
There is another way in which a plane being can think
about three-dimensional movements; and, as it affords
the type by which we can most conveniently think about
four-dimensional movements, it will be no loss of time to
consider it in detail.
We can represent the plane being and his object by
figures cut out of paper, which slip on a smooth surface.
The thickness of these bodies must be taken as so minute
y that their extension in the third di-
mension escapes the observation of the
C D plane being, and he thinks about them
as if they were mathematical plane
A’ B’ figures in a plane instead of being
material bodies capable of moving on
A B x a plane surface. Let Ax, Ay be any two
Fig. 1 (129). axes and ABCD a square. As far as
movements in the plane are concerned, the square can
rotate about a point A, for example. It cannot rotate
about a side, such as AC.
But if the plane being is a aware of the existence of a

third dimension he can study the movements possible in
the ample space, taking his figure portion by portion.
His plane can only hold two axes. But, since it can
hold two, he is able to represent a turning into the third
dimension if he neglect one of his axes and represent the
third axis as lying in his plane. He can make a drawing
in his plane of what stands up perpendicularly from his
z plane. Let Ax be the axis, which
stands perpendicular to his plane at
A. He can draw in his plane two
B1 lines to represent the two axes, Ax
and Az. Let Fig. 2 be this draw-
ing. Here the x axis has taken
x
A B the place of the y axis, and the
Fig. 2 (130). plane of Ax Az is represented in his
plane. In this figure all that exists of the square ABCD
will be the line AB.
The square extends from this line in the y direction,
but none of that direction is represented in Fig. 2. The
plane being can study the turning of the line AB in this
diagram. It is simple a case of plane turning around the
point A. The line AB occupies intermediate portions like AB1
and after half a revolution will lie on Ax produced through A.
Now, in the same way, the plane being can take
another point, A’, and another line, A’B’, in his square.
He can make the drawing of the two directions at A’, one
along A’B’, the other perpendicular to his plane. He
will obtain a figure precisely similar to Fig. 2, and will
see that, as AB can turn around A, so A’B’ around A’.
In this turning AB and A’B’ would not interfere with
each other, as they would if they moved in the plane
around the separate points A and A’.
Hence the plane being would conclude that a rotation
round a line was possible. He could see his square as it
began to make this turning. He could see it half way

round when it came to lie on the opposite side of the line
AC. But in intermediate portions he could not see it,
for it runs out of the plane.
Coming now to the question of a four-dimensional body,
let us conceive of it as a series of cubic sections, the first
in our space, the rest at intervals, stretching away from
our space in the unknown direction.
We must not think of a four-dimensional body as
formed by moving a three-dimensional body in any
direction which we can see.
Refer for a moment to Fig. 3. The point A, moving to
the right, traces out the line AC. The line AC, moving
away in a new direction, traces out the square AEGC at
the base of the cube. The square AEGC, moving in a
new direction, will trace out the cube ACEGBDHF. The
vertical direction of this last motion is not identical with
any motion possible in the plane at the base of the cube.
It is an entirely new direction, at right angles to every
line that can be drawn in the base. To trace out a
tesseract the cube must move in a new direction—a
direction at right angles to any and every line that can
be drawn in the space of the cube.
The cubic sections of the tesseract are related to the
cube we see, as the square sections of the cube are related
to the square of its base which a plane being sees.
Let us imagine the cube in our space, which is the base
of a tesseract, to turn about one of its edges. The rotation
will carry the whole body with it, and each of the cubic
sections will rotate. The axis we see in our space will
remain unchanged, and likewise the series of axes parallel
to it about which each of the parallel cubic sections
rotate. The assemblage of all of these is a plane.
Hence in four dimensions a body rotates about a plane.
There is no such thing as rotation round an axis.
We may regard the rotation from a different point of

view. Consider four independent axes each at right
angles to all the others, drawn in a four-dimensional body.
Of these four axes we can see any three. The fourth
extends normal to our space.
Rotation is the turning of one axis into a second, and
the second turning to take the place of the negative of
the first. It involves two axes. Thus, in this rotation of
a four-dimensional body, two axes change and two remain
at rest. Four-dimensional rotation is therefore a turning
about a plane.
As in the case of a plane being, the result of rotation
about a line would appear as the production of a looking-
glass image of the original object on the other side of the
line, so to us the result of a four-dimensional rotation
would appear like the production of a looking-glass image
of a body on the other size of a plane. The plane would
be the axis of the rotation, and the path of the body
between its two appearances would be unimaginable in
three-dimensional space.
Let us now apply the method by which a plane being
z could examine the nature of rota-
F H tion about a line in our examination
of rotation about a plane. Fig. 3
D
represents a cube in our space, the
B
y three axes x, y, z denoting its
G
E three dimensions. Let us represent
the fourth dimension. Now, since
A C x in our space we can represent any
Fig. 3 (131). three dimensions, we can, if we
choose, make a representation of what is in the space
determined by the three axes x, z, w. This is a three-
dimensional space determined by two of the axes we have
drawn, x and z, and in place of y the fourth axis, w. We
cannot, keeping x and z, have both y and w in our space;
so we will let y go and draw w in its place. What will be

our view of the cube?
Evidently we shall have simply the square that is in
z the plane of xz, the square ACDE.
The rest of the cube stretches in
B D the y direction, and, as we have
w
none of the space so determined,
x
we have only the face of the cube.
C This is represented in fig. 4.
A
Now, suppose the whole cube
Fig. 4 (132).
to be turned from the x to the w
direction. Conformably with out method, we will not
take the whole of the cube into consideration at once, but
will begin with the face ABCD.
z Let this face begin to turn. Fig. 5
represents one of the positions it will
D occupy; the line AB remains on the x
w B
axis. The rest of the face extends
between the x and the w direction.
C
Now, since we can take any three
A x axes, let us look at what lies in the
Fig. 5 (133). space of xyw, and examine the
turning there. We must now let the z axis disappear
and let the w axis run in the direction in which the z ran.
w Making this representation, what
do we see of the cube? Obviously
y
we see only the lower face. The rest
E G of the cube lies in the space of xyz.
x In the space of xyw we have merely
A C
Fig. 6 (134). the base of the cube lying in the
plane of xy, as shown in fig. 6.
Now let the x to w turning take place. The square
ACEG will turn about the line AE. This edge will
remain alone the y axis and will be stationary, however
far the square turns.
Thus, if the cube be turned by an x to w turning, both

the edge AB and the edge AC remain
w stationary; hence the whole face
ABEF in the yz plane remains fixed.
y G The turning has taken place about
E C the face ABEF.
Suppose this turning to continue
A x
till AC runs to the left from A.
Fig. 7 (135).
The cube will occupy the position
shown in fig. 8. This is the looking-glass image of the
cube in fig. 3. By no rotation in three-dimensional space
H F z can the cube be brought from
the position in fig. 3 to that
D shown in fig. 8.
y B
We can think of this turning
G E as a turning of the face ABCD
about AB, and a turning of each
C x x
A section parallel to ABCD round
2nd position 1st position
the vertical line in which it
Fig. 8 (136). intersects the face ABEF, the
space in which the turning takes place being a different
one from that in which the cube lies.
One of the conditions, then, of our inquiry in the
direction of the infinitely small is that we form the con-
ception of a rotation about a plane. The production of a
body in a state in which it presents the appearance of a
looking-glass image of its former state is the criterion
for a four-dimensional rotation.
There is some evidence for the occurrence of such trans-
formations of bodies in the change of bodies from those
which produce a right-handed polarisation of light to
those which produce a left-handed polarisation; but this
is not a point to which any very great importance can
be attached.
Still, in this connection, let me quote a remark from
Prof. John G. McKendrick’s address on Physiology before

the British Association at Glasgow. Discussing the
possibility of the hereditary production of characteristics
through the material structure of the ovum, he estimates
that in it there exist 12,000,000,000 biophors, or ultimate
particles of living matter, a sufficient number to account
for hereditary transmission, and observes: “Thus it is
conceivable that vital activities may also be determined
by the kind of motion that takes place in the molecules
of that which we speak of as living matter. It may be
different in kind from some of the motions known to
physicists, and it is conceivable that life may be the
transmission to dead matter, the molecules of which have
already a special kind of motion, of a form of motion
sui generis.”
Now, in the realm of organic beings symmetrical struc-
tures—those with a right and left symmetry—are every-
where in evidence. Granted that four dimensions exist,
the simplest turning produces the image form, and by a
folding-over structures could be produced, duplicated
right and left, just as in the case of symmetry in a
plane.
Thus one very general characteristic of the forms of
organisms could be accounted for by the supposition that
a four-dimensional motion was involved in the process of
life.
But whether four-dimensional motions correspond in
other respects to the physiologist’s demand for a special
kind of motion, or not, I do not know. Our business is
with the evidence for their existence in physics. For
this purpose it is necessary to examine into the signifi-
cance of rotation round a plane in the case of extensible
and of fluid matter.
Let us dwell a moment longer on the rotation of a rigid
body. Looking at the cube in fig. 3, which turns about
the face of ABFE, we see that any line in the face can
take the place of the vertical and horizontal lines we have
examined. Take the diagonal line AF and the section
through it to GH. The portions of matter which were on
one side of AF in this section in fig. 3 are on the
opposite side of it in fig. 8. They have gone round the
line AF. Thus the rotation round a face can be considered
as a number of rotations of sections round parallel lines
in it.
The turning about two different lines is impossible in
three-dimensional space. To take another illustration,
suppose A and B are two parallel lines in the xy plane,
and let CD and EF be two rods crossing them. Now, in
the space of xyz if the rods turn round the lines A and B
in the same direction they
z
will make two independent
circles.
When the end F is going
D F down the end C will be coming
G H up. They will meet and con-
x
flict.
C E But if we rotate the rods
about the plane of AB by the
y
A B z to w rotation these move-
Fig. 9 (137). ments will not conflict. Sup-
pose all the figure removed
with the exception of the plane xz, and from this plane
drawn the axis of w, so that we are looking at the space
of xzw.
Here, fig. 10, we cannot see the lines A and B. We
see the points G and H, in which A and B intercept
the x axis, but we cannot see the lines themselves, for
they run in the y direction, and that is not in our
drawing.
Now, if the rods move with the x to w rotation they will
turn in parallel planes, keeping their relative positions.

z The point B, for instance, will
describe a circle. At one time
it will be above the line A, at
D F
another time below it. Hence
it rotates round A.
G H Not only two rods but any
x number of rotes crossing the
C E plane will move round it har-
w moniously. We can think of
Fig. 10 (138). this rotation by supposing the
rods standing up from one line
to move round that line and remembering that it is
not inconsistent with this rotation for the rods standing
up along another line also to move round it, the relative
positions of all the rods being preserved. Now, if the
rods are thick together, they may represent a disk of
matter, and se see that a disk of matter can rotate
round a central plane.
Rotation round a plane is exactly analogous to rotation
round an axis in three dimensions. If we want a rod to
turn round, the ends must be free; so if we want a disk
of matter to turn round its central plane by a four-dimen-
sional turning, all the contour must be free. The whole
contour corresponds to the ends of the rod. Each point
of the contour can be looked on as the extremity of an
axis in the body, round each point of which there is a
rotation of the matter in the dis.
If the one end of a rod be clamped, we can twist the
rod, but not turn it round; so if any part of the contour
of a disk is clamped we can impart a twist to the disk,
but not turn it round its central plane. In the case of
extensible materials a long, thin rod will twist round its
axis, even when the axis is curved, as, for instance, in the
case of a ring of India rubber.
In an analogous manner, in four dimensions we can have

rotation round a curved plane, if I may use the expression.
A sphere can be turned inside out in four dimensions.
Let fig. 11 represent a
z spherical surface, on each
side of which a layer of
F
matter exists. The thick-
D ness of the matter is rep-
resented by the rods CD and
EF, extending equally with-
y out and within.
Now, take the section of
the sphere by the yz plane,
we have a circle—fig. 12.
Now, let the w axis be drawn
Fig. 11 (139). in place of the x axis so that
we have the space of yzw
represented. In this space all that there will be seen of
the sphere is the circle drawn.
Here we see that there is no obstacle to prevent the
z rods turning round. If
the matter is so elastic
F that it will give enough
E D for the particles at E and
C C to be separated as they
are at F and D, they
y can rotate round to the
position D and F, and a
w similar motion is possible
for all other particles.
There is no matter or
obstacle to prevent them
Fig. 12 (140).
from moving out in the
w direction, and then on round the circumference as an
axis. Now, what will hold for one section will hold for
all, as the fourth dimension is at right angles to all the

sections which can be made of the sphere.
We have supposed the matter of which the sphere is
composed to be three-dimensional. If the matter had a
small thickness in the fourth dimension, there would be
a slight thickness in fig. 12 above the plane of the paper
—a thickness equal to the thickness of the matter in the
fourth dimension. The rods would have to be replaced
by thin slabs. But this would make no difference as to
the possibility of the rotation. This motion is discussed
by Newcomb in the first volume of the American Journal
of Mathematics.
Let us now consider, not a merely extensible body, but
a liquid one. A mass of rotating liquid, a whirl, eddy, or
vortex, has many remarkable properties. On first
consideration we should expect the rotating mass of
liquid immediately to spread off and lose itself in the
surrounding liquid. The water flies off a wheel whirled
round, and we should expect the rotating liquid to be
dispersed. But see the eddies in a river strangely per-
sistent. The rings that occur in puffs of smoke and last
so long are whirls or vortices curved round so that their
opposite ends join together. A cyclone will travel over
great distances.
Helmholtz was the first to investigate the properties of
vortices. He studied them as they would occur in a perfect
fluid—that is, one without friction of one moving portion
or another. In such a medium vortices would be inde-
structible. They would go on for ever, altering their
shape, but consisting always of the same portion of the
fluid. But a straight vortex could not exist surrounded
entirely by the fluid. The ends of a vortex must reach to
some boundary inside or outside the fluid.
A vortex which is bent round so that its opposite ends
join is capable of existing, but no vortex has a free end in
the fluid. The fluid round the vortex is always in motion,

and one produces a definite movement in another.
Lord Kelvin has proposed the hypothesis that portions
of a fluid segregated in vortices account for the origin of
matter. The properties of the ether in respect of its
capacity of propagating disturbances can be explained
by the assumption of vortices in it instead of by a pro-
perty of rigidity. It is difficult to conceive, however,
of any arrangement of the vortex rings and endless vortex
filaments in the ether.
Now, the further consideration of four-dimensional
rotations shows the existence of a kind of vortex which
would make an ether filled with a homogenous vortex
motion easily thinkable.
To understand the nature of this vortex, we must go
on and take a step by which we accept the full signifi-
cance of the four-dimensional hypothesis. Granted four-
dimensional axes, we have seen that a rotation of one into
another leaves two unaltered, and these two form the
axial plane about which the rotation takes place. But
what about these two? Do they necessarily remain
motionless? There is nothing to prevent a rotation of
these two, one into the other, taking place concurrently
with the first rotation. This possibility of a double
rotation deserves the most careful attention, for it is the
kind of movement which is distinctly typical of four
dimensions.
Rotation round a plane is analogous to rotation round
an axis. But in three-dimensional space there is no
motion analogous to the double rotation, in which, while
axis 1 changes into axis 2, axis 3 changes into axis 4.
Consider a four-dimensional body, with four independent
axes, x, y, z, w. A point in it can move in only one
direction at a given moment. If the body has a velocity
of rotation by which the z axis changes into the y axis
and all parallel sections move in a similar manner, then

the point will describe a circle. If, now, in addition to
the rotation by which the x axis changes into the y axis the
body has a rotation by which the z axis turns into the
w axis, the point in question will have a double motion
in consequence of the two turnings. The motions will
compound, and the point will describe a circle, but not
the same circle which it would describe in virtue of either
rotation separately.
We know that if a body in three-dimensional space is
given two movements of rotation they will combine into a
single movement of rotation round a definite axis. It is
in no different condition from that in which it is sub-
jected to one movement of rotation. The direction of
the axis changes; that is all. The same is not true about
a four-dimensional body. The two rotations, x to y and
z to w, are independent. A body subject to the two is in a
totally different condition to that which it is in when
subject to one only. When subject to a rotation such as
that of x to y, a whole plane in the body, as we have
seen, is stationary. When subject to the double rotation
no part of the body is stationary except the point common
to the two planes of rotation.
If the two rotations are equal in velocity, every point
in the body describes a circle. All points equally distant
from the stationary point describe circles of equal size.
We can represent a four-dimensional sphere by means
of two diagrams, in one of which we take the three axes,
x, y, z; in the other the axes x, w, and z. In fig. 13 we
have the view of a four-dimensional sphere in the space of
xyz. Fig 13. shows all that we can see of the four
sphere in the space of xyz, for it represents all the
points in that space, which are at an equal distance from
the centre.
Let us now take the xz section, and let the axis of w
take the place of the y axis. Here, in fig. 14, we have

the space of xzw. In this space we have to take all the
points which are at the same distance from the centre,
consequently we have another sphere. If we had a three-
dimensional sphere, as has been shown before, we should
have merely a circle in the xzw space, the xz circle seen
in the space of xzw. But now, taking the view in the
space of xzw, we have a sphere in that space also. In a
similar manner, whichever set of three axes we take, we
obtain a sphere.
z z
Showing axes Showing axes

p’ xyz p xwz
p
y w
p’
x x
z’ z’
Fig. 13 (141). Fig. 14 (142).
In fig. 13, let us imagine the rotation in the direction

xy to be taking place. The point x will turn to y, and p
to p’. The axis zz’ remains stationary, and this axis is all
of the plane xw which we can see in the space section
exhibited in the figure.
In fig. 14, imagine the rotation from x to w to be taking
place. The w axis now occupies the position previously
occupied by the y axis. This does not mean that the
w axis can coincide with the y axis. It indicates that we
are looking at the four-dimensional sphere from a different
point of view. Any three-space view will show us three
axes, and in fig. 14 we are looking at xzw.
The only part that is identical in the two diagrams is
the circle of the x and z axes, which axes are contained
in both diagrams. Thus the plane zxz’ is the same in
both, and the point p represents the same point in both
diagrams. Now, in fig. 14 let the zw rotation take place,

the x axis will turn toward the point w of the w axis, and
the point p will move in a circle about the point x.
Thus in fig. 13 the point p moves in a circle parallel to
the xy plane: in fig. 14 it moves in a circle parallel to the
zw plane, indicated by the arrow.
Now, suppose both of these independent rotations com-
pounded, the point p will move in a circle, but this circle
will coincide with neither of the circles in which either
one of the rotations will take it. The circle the point p
will move in will depend on its position on the surface of
the four sphere.
In this double rotation, possible in four-dimensional
space, there is a kind of movement totally unlike any
with which we are familiar in three-dimensional space.
It is a requisite preliminary to the discussion of the
behaviour of the small particles of matter, with a view to
determining whether they show the characteristics of four-
dimensional movements, to become familiar with the main
characteristics of this double rotation. And here I must
rely on a formal and logical assent rather than on the
intuitive apprehension, which can only be obtained by a
more detailed study.
In the first place this double rotation consists in two
varieties or kinds, which we will call the A and B kinds.
Consider four axes, x, y, z, w. The rotation of x to y can
be accompanied with the rotation of z to w. Call this
the A kind.
But also the rotation of x to y can be accompanied by
the rotation, of not z to w, but w to z. Call this the
B kind.
They differ in only one of the component rotations. One
is not the negative of the other. It is the semi-negative.
The opposite of an x to y, z to w rotation would be y to x,
w to z. The semi-negative is x to y and w to z.
If four dimensions exist and we cannot perceive them,

because the extension of matter is so small in the fourth
dimension that all movements are withheld from direct
observation except those which are three-dimensional, we
should not observe these double rotations, but only the
effects of them in three-dimensional movements of the
type with which we are familiar.
If matter in its small particles is four-dimensional,
we should expect this double rotation to be a universal
characteristic of the atoms and molecules, for no portion
of matter is at rest. The consequences of this corpus-
cular motion can be perceived, but only under the form
of ordinary rotation or displacement. Thus, if the theory
of four dimensions is true, we have in the corpuscles of
matter a whole world of movement, which we can never
study directly, but only by means of inference.
The rotation A, as I have defined it, consists of two
equal rotations—one about the plane of zw, the other
about the plane of xy. It is evident that these rotations
are not necessarily equal. A body may be moving with a
double rotation, in which these two independent com-
ponents are not equal; but in such a case we can consider
the body to be moving with a composite rotation—a
rotation of the A or B kind and, in addition, a rotation
about a plane.
If we combine an A and a B movement, we obtain a
rotation about a plane; for the first being x to y and
x to w, and the second being x to y and w to z, when they
are put together the z to w and w to z rotations neutralise
each other, and we obtain an x to y rotation only, which
is a rotation about the plane of zw. Similarly, if we
take a B rotation, y to x and z to w, we get, on combining
this with the A rotation, a rotation of z to w about the
xy plane. In this case the plane of rotation is in the
three-dimensional space of xyz, and we have—what has
been described before—a twisting about a plane in our

space.
Consider now a portion of a perfect liquid having an A
motion. It can be proved that it possesses the properties
of a vortex. It forms a permanent individuality—a
separated-out portion of the liquid—accompanied by a
motion of the surrounding liquid. It has properties
analogous to those of a vortex filament. But it is not
necessary for its existence that its ends should reach the
boundary of the liquid. It is self-contained and, unless
disturbed, is circular in every section.
If we suppose the ether to have its properties of trans-
mitting vibration given it by such vortices, we must
inquire how they lie together in four-dimensional space.
Placing a circular disk on a plane and surrounding it by
six others, we find that if the central one is given a motion
of rotation, it imparts to the others a rotation which is
antagonistic in every two ad-
jacent ones. If A goes round,
B
as shown by the arrow, B and
C will be moving in opposite
A C ways, and each tends to de-
stroy the motion of the other.
Now, if we suppose spheres
to be arranged in a corre-
sponding manner in three-
Fig. 15 (143). dimensional space, they will
be grouped in figures which
are for three-dimensional space what hexagons are for
plane space. If a number of spheres of soft clay be
pressed together, so as to fill up the interstices, each will
assume the form of a fourteen-sided figure called a
tetrakaidekagon.
Now, assuming space to be filled with such tetrakai-
dekagons, and placing a sphere in each, it will be found
that one sphere is touched by six others. The remaining

eight spheres of the fourteen which surround the central
one will not touch it, but will touch three of those in
contact with it. Hence, if the central sphere rotates, it
will not necessarily drive those around it so that their
motions will be antagonistic to each other, but the
velocities will not arrange themselves in a systematic
manner.
In four-dimensional space the figure which forms the
next term of the series hexagon, tetrakaidekagon, is a
thirty-sided figure. It has for its faces ten solid tetra-
kaidekagons and twenty hexagonal prisms. Such figures
will exactly fill four-dimensional space, five of them meet-
ing at every point. If, now, in each of these figures we
suppose a solid four-dimensional sphere to be placed, any
one sphere is surrounded by thirty others. Of these it
touches ten, and, if it rotates, it drives the rest by means
of these. Now, if we imagine the central sphere to be
given an A or B rotation, it will turn the whole mass of
sphere round in a systematic manner. Suppose four-
dimensional space to be filled with such spheres, each
rotating with a double rotation, the whole mass would
form one consistent system of rotation, in which each one
drove every other one, with no friction or lagging behind.
Every sphere would have the same kind of rotation. In
three-dimensional space, if one body drives another round
the second body rotates with the opposite kind of rotation;
but in four-dimensional space these four-dimensional
spheres would each have the double negative of the rotation
of the one next it, and we have seen that the double
negative of an A or B rotation is still an A or B rotation.
Thus four-dimensional space could be filled with a system
of self-preservative living energy. If we imagine the
four-dimensional spheres to be of liquid and not of solid
matter, then, even if the liquid were not quite perfect and
there were a slight retarding effect of one vortex on

another, the system would still maintain itself.
In this hypothesis we must look on the ether as
possessing energy, and its transmission of vibrations, not
as the conveying of a motion imparted from without, but
as a modification of its own motion.
We are now in possession of some of the conceptions of
four-dimensional mechanics, and will turn aside from the
line of their development to inquire if there is any
evidence of their applicability to the processes of nature.
Is there any mode of motion in the region of the
minute which, giving three-dimensional movements for
its effect, still in itself escapes the grasp of our mechanical
theories? I would point to electricity. Through the
labours of Faraday and Maxwell we are convinced that the
phenomena of electricity are of the nature of the stress
and strain of a medium; but there is still a gap to be
bridged over in their explanation—the laws of elasticity,
which Maxwell assumes are not those of ordinary matter.
And, to take another instance: a magnetic pole in the
neighbourhood of a current tends to move. Maxwell has
shown that the pressures on it are analogous to the
velocities in a liquid which would exist if a vortex took
the place of the electric current: but we cannot point out
the definite mechanical explanation of these pressures.
There must be some mode of motion of a body or of the
medium in virtue of which a body is said to be
electrified.
Take the ions which convey charges of electricity 500
times greater in proportion to their mass than are carried
by the molecules of hydrogen in electrolysis. In respect
of what motion can these ions be said to be electrified?
It can be shown that the energy they possess is not
energy of rotation. Think of a short rod rotating. If it
is turned over it is found to be rotating in the opposite
direction. Now, if rotation in one direction corresponds to

positive electricity, rotation in the opposite direction cor-
responds to negative electricity, and the smallest electrified
particles would have their charges reversed by being
turned over—an absurd supposition.
If we fix on a mode of motion as a definition of
electricity, we must have two varieties of it, one for
positive and one for negative; and a body possessing the
one kind must not become possessed of the other by any
change in its position.
All three-dimensional motions are compounded of rota-
tions and translations, and note of them satisfy this first
condition for serving as a definition of electricity.
But consider the double rotation of the A and B kinds.
A body rotating with the A motion cannot have its
motion transformed into the B kind by being turned over
in any way. Suppose a body has the rotation x to y and
z to w. Turning it about the xy plane, we reverse the
direction of the motion x to y. But we also reverse the
z to w motion, for the point at the extremity of the
positive z axis is now at the extremity of the negative z
axis, and since we have not interfered with its motion it
goes in the direction of position w. Hence we have y to
x and w to z, which is the same as x to y and z to w.
Thus both components are reversed, and there is the A
motion over again. The B kind is the semi-negative,
with only one component reversed.
Hence a system of molecules with the A motion would
not destroy it in one another, and would impart it to a
body in contact with them. Thus A and B motions
possess the first requisite which must be demanded in
any mode of motion representative of electricity.
Let us trace out the consequences of defining positive
electricity as an A motion and negative electricity as a B
motion. The combination of positive and negative
electricity produces a current. Imagine a vortex in the

ether of the A kind and unite with the one of the B kind.
An A motion and B motion produce rotation round a plane,
which is in the ether a vortex round an axial surface.
It is a vortex of the kind we represent as part of a
sphere turning inside out. Now such a vortex must have
its rim on a boundary of the ether—on a body in the
ether.
Let us suppose that a conductor is a body which has
the property of serving as the terminal abutment of such
a vortex. Then the conception we must form of a closed
current is of a vortex sheet having its edge along the
circuit of the conducting wire. The whole wire will then
be like the centres on which a spindle turns in three-
dimensional space, and any interruption of the continuity
of the wire will produce a tension in place of a continuous
revolution.
As the direction of the rotation of the vortex is from a
three-space direction into the fourth dimension and back
again, there will be no direction of flow to the current;
but it will have two sides, according to whether z goes
to w or z goes to negative w.
We can draw any line from one part of the circuit to
another; then the ether along that line is rotating round
its points.
This geometric image corresponds to the definition of
an electric circuit. It is known that the action does not
lie in the wire, but in the medium, and it is known that
there is no direction of flow in the wire.
No explanation has been offered in three-dimensional
mechanics of how an action can be impressed throughout
a region and yet necessarily run itself out along a closed
boundary, as is the case in an electric current. But this
phenomenon corresponds exactly to the definition of a
four-dimensional vortex.
If we take a very long magnet, so long that one of its

poles is practically isolated, and put this pole in the
vicinity of an electric circuit, we find that it moves.
Now, assuming for the sake of simplicity that the wire
which determines the current is in the form of a circle,
if we take a number of small magnets and place them all
pointing in the same direction normal to the plane of the
circle, so that they fill it and the wire binds them round,
we find that this sheet of magnets has the same effect on
the magnetic pole that the current has. The sheet of
magnets may be curved, but the edge of it must coincide
with the wire. The collection of magnets is then
equivalent to the vortex sheet, and an elementary magnet
to a part of it. Thus, we must think of a magnet as
conditioning a rotation in the ether round the plane
which bisects at right angles the line joining its poles.
If a current is started in a circuit, we must imagine
vortices like bowls turning themselves inside out, starting
from the contour. In reaching a parallel circuit, if the
vortex sheet were interrupted and joined momentarily to
the second circuit by a free rim, the axis plane would lie
between the two circuits, and a point on the second circuit
opposite a point on the first would correspond to a point
opposite to it on the first; hence we should expect a
current in the opposite direction in the second circuit.
Thus the phenomena of induction are not inconsistent
with the hypothesis of a vortex about an axial plane.
In four-dimensional space, in which all four dimensions
were commensurable, the intensity of the action transmitted
by the medium would vary inversely as the cube of the
distance. Now, the action of a current on a magnetic
pole varies inversely as the square of the distance; hence,
over measurable distances the extension of the ether in
the fourth dimension cannot be assumed as other than
small in comparison with these distances.
If we suppose the ether to be filled with vortices in the

shape of four-dimensional spheres rotating with the A
motion, the B motion would correspond to electricity in
the one-fluid theory. There would thus be a possibility
of electricity existing in two forms, statically, by itself,
and combined with the universal motion, in the form of
a current.
To arrive at a definite conclusion it will be necessary
to investigate the resultant pressures which accompany
the collocation of solid vortices with surface ones.
To recapitulate:
The movements and mechanics of four-dimensional
space are definite and intelligible. A vortex with a
surface as its axis affords a geometric image of a closed
circuit, and there are rotations which by their polarity
afford a possible definition of statical electricity.
APPENDIX I
THE MODELS
IN Chapter XI. a description has been given which will
enable any one to make a set of models illustrative of the
tesseract and its properties. The set here supposed to be
employed consists of:—
1. Three sets of twenty-seven cubes each.
2. Twenty-seven slabs.
3. Twelve cubes with points, lines, faces, distinguished
by colours, which will be called the catalogue cubes.
The preparation of the twelve catalogue cubes involves
the expenditure of a considerable amount of time. It is
advantageous to use them, but they can be replaced by
the drawing of the views of the tesseract or by a reference
to figs. 103, 104, 105, 106 of the text.
The slabs are coloured like the twenty-seven cubes of
the first cubic block in fig. 101, the one with red,
white, yellow axes.
The colours of the three sets of twenty-seven cubes are
those of the cubes shown in fig. 101.
The slabs are used to form the representation of a cube
in a plane, and can well be dispensed with by any one
who is accustomed to deal with solid figures. But the
whole theory depends on a careful observation of how
the cube would be represented by these slabs.
In the first step, that of forming a clear idea how a
231
plane being would represent three-dimensional space, only

one of the catalogue cubes and one of the three blocks is
needed.
APPLICATION TO THE STEP FROM PLANE TO SOLID.

Look at fig. 1 of the view of the tesseract, or, what
comes to the same thing, take catalogue cube No. 1 and
place it before you with the red line running up, the
white line running to the right, the yellow line running
away. The three dimensions of space are then marked
out by these lines or axes. Now take a piece of card-
board, or a book, and place it so that it forms a wall
extending up and down, not opposite to you, but run-
ning away parallel to the wall of the room on your
left hand.
Placing the catalogue cube against this wall we see
that it comes into contact with it by the red and yellow
lines, and by the included orange face.
In the plane being’s world the aspect he has of the
cube would be a square surrounded by red and yellow
lines with grey points.
Now, keeping the red line fixed, turn the cube about it
so that the yellow line goes out to the right, and the
white line comes into contact with the plane.
In this case a different aspect is presented to the plane
being, a square, namely, surrounded by red and white
lines, and grey points. You should particularly notice
that when the yellow line goes out, at right angles to the
plane, and the white comes in, the latter does not run in
the same sense that the yellow did.
From the fixed grey point at the base of the red line
the yellow line ran away from you. The white line now
runs towards you. This turning at right angles makes
the line which was out of the plane before, come into it
APPENDIX I: THE MODELS 233
in an opposite sense to that in which the line ran which

has just left the plane. If the cube does not break
through the plane this is always the rule.
Again turn the cube back to the normal position with
red running up, white to the right, and yellow away, and
try another turning.
You can keep the yellow line fixed, and turn the cube
about it. In this case, the red line going out to the
right, the white line will come in pointing downwards.
You will be obliged to elevate the cube form the table
in order to carry out this turning. It is always necessary
when a vertical axis goes out of a space to imagine a
movable support which will allow the line which ran out
before to come in below.
Having looked at the three ways of turning the cube
so as to present different faces to the plane, examine what
would be the appearance if a square hole were cut in the
piece of cardboard, and the cube were to pass through it.
A hole can be actually cut, and it will be seen that in the
normal position, with red axis running up, yellow away,
and white to the right, the square first perceived by the
plane being—the one contained by red and yellow lines—
would be replaced by another square of which the line
towards you is pink—the section line of the pink face.
The line above is light yellow, below is light yellow and
on the opposite side away from you is pink.
In the same way the cube can be pushed through a
square opening in the plane from any of the positions
which you have already turned it into. In each case
the plane being will perceive a different set of contour
lines.
Having observed these facts about the catalogue cube,
turn now to the first block of twenty-seven cubes.
You notice that the colour scheme on the catalogue cube
and that of this set of blocks is the same.
Place them before you, a grey or null cube on the

table, above it a red cube, and on the top a null cube
again. Then away from you place a yellow cube, and
beyond it a null cube. Then to the right place a white
cube and beyond it another null. Then complete the
block, according to the scheme of the catalogue cube,
putting in the centre of all an ochre cube.
You now have a cube like that which is described in
the text. For the sake of simplicity, in some cases, this
cubic block can be reduced to one of eight cubes, by
leaving out the terminations in each direction. Thus,
instead of null, red, null, three cubes, you can take null,
red, two cubes, and so on.
It is useful, however, to practise the representation in
a plane of a block of twenty-seven cubes. For this
purpose take the slabs, and build them up against the
piece of cardboard, or the book, in such a way as to
represent the different aspects of the cube.
Proceed as follows:—
First, cube in normal position.
Place nine slabs against the cardboard to represent
the nine cubes in the wall of the red and yellow axes,
facing the cardboard; these represent the aspect of the
cube as it touches the plane.
Now push these along the cardboard and make a
different set of nine slabs to represent the appearance
which the cube would present to a plane being if it were
to pass half way through the plane.
There would be a white slab, above it a pink one, above
that another white one, and six others, representing what
would be the nature of a section across the middle of the
block of cubes. The section can be thought of as a thin
slice cut out by two parallel cuts across the cube.
Having arranged these nine slabs, push them along the
plane, and make another set of nine to represent what
would be the appearance of the cube when it had almost

completely gone through. This set of nine will be the
same as the first set of nine.
Now we have in the plane three sets of nine slabs
each, which represent three sections of the twenty-seven
block.
They are put alongside one another. We see that it
does not matter in what order the three sets of nine are put.
As the cube passes through the plane they represent ap-
pearances which follow the one after the other. If they
were what they represented, they could not exist in the
same plane together.
This is a rather important point, namely, to notice that
they should not co-exist on the plane, and that the order
in which they are placed is indifferent. When we
represent a four-dimensional body our solid cubes are to
us in the same position that the slabs are to the plane
being. You should also notice that each of these slabs
represents only the very thinnest slice of a cube. The
set of nine slabs first set up represents the side surface of
the block. It is, as it were, a kind of tray—a beginning
from which the solid cube goes off. The slabs as we use
them have thickness, but this thickness is a necessity of
construction. They are to be thought of as merely of the
thickness of a line.
If now the block of cubes passed through the plane
at the rate of an inch a minute the appearance to a plane
being would be represented by:—
1. The first set of nine slabs lasting for one minute.
2. The second set of nine slabs lasting for one minute.
3. The third set of nine slabs lasting for one minute.
Now the appearances which the cubes would present
to the plane being in other positions can be shown by
means of these slabs. The use of such slabs would be
the means by which a plane being could acquire a
familiarity with out cube. Turn the catalogue cube (or

imagine the coloured figure turned) so that the red line
runs up, the yellow line out to the right, and the white
line towards you. Then turn the block of cubes to
occupy a similar position.
The block has now a different wall in contact with
the plane. Its appearance to a plane being will not be
the same as before. He has, however, enough slabs to
represent this new set of appearances. But he must
remodel his former arrangement of them.
He must take a null, a red, and a null slab from the
first of his sets of slabs, then a white, a pink, and a white
from the second, and then a null, a red, and a null from
the third set of slabs.
He takes the first column from the first set, the first
column from the second set, and the first column from
the third set.
To represent the half-way-through appearance, which
is as if a very thin slice were cut out half way through the
block, he must take the second column of each of his
sets of slabs, and to represent the final appearance, the
third column of each set.
Now turn the catalogue cube back to the normal
position, and also the block of cubes.
There is another turning—a turning about the yellow
line, in which the white axis comes below the support.
You cannot break through the surface of the table, so
you must imagine the old support to be raised. Then
the top of the block of cubes in its new position is at the
level at which the base of it was before.
Now representing the appearance on the plane, we must
draw a horizontal line to represent the old base. The
line should be drawn three inches high on the cardboard.
Below this the representative slabs can be arranged.
It is easy to see what they are. The old arrangements
have to be broken up, and the layers taken in order, the

first layer of each for the representation of the aspect of
the block as it touches the plane.
Then the second layers will represent the appearance
half way through, and the third layers will represent the
final appearance.
It is evident that the slabs individually do not represent
the same portion of the cube in these different presenta-
tions.
In the first case each slab represents a section or a face
perpendicular to the white axis, in the second case a
face or a section which runs perpendicularly to the yellow
axis, and in the third case a section or a face perpendicular
to the red axis.
But by means of these nine slabs the plane being can
represent the whole of the cubic block. He can touch
and handle each portion of the cubic block, there is no
part of it which he cannot observe. Taking it bit by bit,
two axes at a time, he can examine the whole of it.
OUR REPRESENTATION OF A BLOCK OF TESSERACTS.

Look at the views of the tesseract 1, 2, 3, or take the
catalogue cubes 1, 2, 3, and place them in front of you,
in any order, say running from left to right, placing 1 in
the normal position, the red axis running up, the white
to the right, and yellow away.
Now notice that in catalogue cube 2 the colours of each
region are derived from those of the corresponding region
of cube 1 by the addition of blue. Thus null + blue =
blue, and the corners of number 2 are blue. Again,
red + blue = purple, and the vertical lines of 2 are purple.
Blue + yellow = green, and the line which runs away is
coloured green.
By means of these observations you may be sure that
catalogue cube 2 is rightly placed. Catalogue cube 3 is

just like number 1.
Having these cubes in what we may call their normal
position, proceed to build up the three sets of blocks.
This is easily done in accordance with the colour scheme
on the catalogue cubes.
The first block we already know. Build up the second
block, beginning with a blue corner cube, placing a purple
on it, and so on.
Having these three blocks we have the means of
representing the appearances of a group of eighty-one
tesseracts.
Let us consider a moment what the analogy in the case
of the plane being is.
He has his three sets of nine slabs each. We have our
three sets of twenty-seven cubes each.
Our cubes are like his slabs. As his slabs are not the
things which they represent to him, so our cubes are not
the things they represent to us.
The plane being’s slabs are to him the faces of cubes.
Our cubes then are the faces of tesseracts, the cubes by
which they are in contact with our space.
As each set of slabs in the case of the plane being
might be considered as a sort of tray from which the solid
contents of the cubes came out, so our three blocks of
cubes may be considered as three-space trays, each of
which is the beginning of an inch of the solid contents
of the four-dimensional solids starting from them.
We want now to use the names null, red, white, etc.,
for tesseracts. The cubes we use are only tesseract faces.
Let us denote that fact by calling the cube of null colour,
null face; or, shortly, null f., meaning that it is the face
of a tesseract.
To determine which face it is let us look at the catalogue
cube 1 or the first of the views of the tesseract, which
can be used instead of the models. It has three axes,

red, white, yellow, in our space. Hence the cube deter-
mined by these axes is the face of the tesseract which we
now have before us. It is the ochre face. It is enough,
however, simply to say null f., red f. for the cubes which
we use.
To impress this in your mind, imagine that tesseracts
do actually run from each cube. Then, when you move the
cubes about, you move the tesseracts about with them.
You move the face but the tesseract follows with it, as the
cube follows when its face is shifted in a plane.
The cube null in the normal position is the cube which
has in it the red, yellow, white axes. It is the face
having these, but wanting the blue. In this way you can
define which face it is you are handling. I will write an
“f.” after the name of each tesseract just as the plane
being might call each of his slabs null slab, yellow slab,
etc., to denote that they were representations.
We have then in the first block of twenty-seven cubes,
the following—null f., red f., null f., going up; white f., null
f., lying to the right, and so on. Starting from the null
point and travelling up one inch we are in the null region,
the same for the away and the right-hand directions.
And if we were to travel in the fourth dimension for an
inch we should still be in a null region. The tesseract
stretches equally all four ways. Hence the appearance we
have in this first block would do equally well if the
tesseract block were to move across our space for a certain
distance. For anything less than an inch of their trans-
verse motion we would still have the same appearance.
You must notice, however, that we should not have null
face after the motion had begun.
When the tesseract, null for instance, had moved ever
so little we should not have a face of null but a section of
null in our space. Hence, when we think of the motion
across our space we must call our cubes tesseract sections.

Thus on null passing across we should see first null f., then
null s., and then, finally, null f. again.
Imagine now the whole first block of twenty-seven
tesseracts to have moved transverse to our space a distance
of one inch. Then the second set of tesseracts, which
originally were an inch distant from our space, would be
ready to come in.
Their colours are shown in the second block of twenty-
seven cubes which you have before you. These represent
the tesseract faces of the set of tesseracts that lay before
an inch away from our space. They are ready now to
come in, and we can observe their colours. In the place
which null f. occupied before we have blue f., in place of
red f. we have purple f., and so on. Each tesseract is
coloured like the one whose place it takes in this motion
with the addition of blue.
Now if the tesseract block goes on moving at the rate
of an inch a minute, this next set of tesseracts will occupy
a minute in passing across. We shall see, to take the null
one for instance, first of all null face, then null section,
then null fact again.
At the end of the second minute the second set of
tesseracts has gone through, and the third set comes in.
This, as you see, is coloured just like the first. Altogether,
these three sets extend three inches in the fourth
dimension, making the tesseract block of equal
magnitude in all dimensions.
We have now before us a complete catalogue of all the
tesseracts in our group. We have seen them all, and we
shall refer to this arrangement of the blocks as the
“normal position.” We have seen as much of each
tesseract at as time as could be done in a three-dimen-
sional space. Each part of each tesseract has been in
our space, and we could have touched it.
The fourth dimension appeared to us as the duration

of the block.
If a bit of our matter were to be subjected to the same
motion it would be instantly removed out of our space.
Being thin in the fourth dimension it is at once taken
out of our space by a motion in the fourth dimension.
But the tesseract block we represent, having length in
the fourth dimension remains steadily before our eyes for
three minutes, when it is subjected to this transverse
motion.
We have now to form representations of the other
views of the same tesseract group which are possible in
our space.
Let us then turn the block of tesseracts so that another
face of it comes into contact with our space, and then by
observing what we have, and what changes come when
the block traverses our space, we shall have another view
of it. The dimension which appeared as duration before
will become extension in one of our known dimensions,
and a dimension which coincides with one of our space
dimensions will appear as duration.
Leaving catalogue cube 1 in the normal position,
remove the other two, or suppose them removed. We
have in space the red, the yellow, and the white axes.
Let the white axis go out into the unknown, and occupy
the position the blue axis holds. Then the blue axis,
which runs in that direction now will come into space.
But it will not come in pointing in the same way that
the white axis does now. It will point in the opposite
sense. It will come in running to the left instead of
running to the right as the white axis does now.
When this turning takes place every part of the cube 1
will disappear except the left-hand face—the orange face.
And the new cube that appears in our space will run to
the left from this orange face, having axes, red, yellow, blue.
Take models 4, 5, 6. Place 4, or suppose No. 4 of the

tesseract views place, with its orange face coincident with
the orange face of 1, red line to red line, and yellow line
to yellow line, with the blue line pointing to the left.
Then remove cube 1 and we have the tesseract face
which comes in when the white axis runs in the positive
unknown, and the blue axis comes into our space.
Now place catalogue cube 5 in some position, it does
not matter which, say to the left; and place it so that
there is a correspondence of colour corresponding to the
colour of the line that runs out of space. The line that
runs out of space is white, hence, every part of this
cube 5 should differ from the corresponding part of 4 by
an alteration in the direction of white.
Thus we have white points in 5 corresponding to the
null points in 4. We have a pink line corresponding to
a red line, a light yellow line corresponding to a yellow
line, an ochre face corresponding to an orange face. This
cube section is completely named in Chapter XI. Finally
cube 6 is a replica of 4.
These catalogue cubes will enable us to set up our
models of the block of tesseracts.
First of all for the set of tesseracts, which beginning
in our space reach out one inch in the unknown, we have
the pattern of catalogue cube 4.
We see that we can build up a block of twenty-seven
tesseract faces after the colour scheme of cube 4, by
taking the left-hand wall of block 1, then the left-hand
wall of block 2, and finally that of block 3. We take,
that is, the first three walls of our previous arrangement
to form the first cubic block of this new one.
This will represent the cubic faces by which the group
of tesseracts in its new position touches our space.
We have running up, null f., red f., null f. In the next
vertical line, on the side remote from us, we have yellow f.,
orange f., yellow f., and then the first colours over again.
Then the three following columns are, blue f., purple f.,
blue f.; green f., brown f., green f.; blue f., purple f., blue f.
The last three columns are like the first.
These tesseracts touch our space, and none of them are
by any part of them distant more than an inch from it.
What lies beyond them in the unknown?
This can be told be looking at catalogue cube 5.
According to its scheme of colour we see that the second
wall of each of our old arrangements must be taken.
Putting them together we have, as the corner, white f.
above it, pink f. above it, white f. The column next to
this remote from us is as follows:—light yellow f., ochre f.,
light yellow f., and beyond this a column like the first.
Then for the middle of the block, light blue f., above
it light purple, then light blue. The centre column has,
at the bottom, light green f., light brown f. in the centre
and at the top light green f. The last wall is like the
first.
The third block is made by taking the third walls of
our previous arrangement, which we called the normal
one.
You may ask what faces and what sections our cubes
represent. To answer this question look at what axes
you have in our space. You have red, yellow, blue.
Now these determine brown. The colours red,
yellow, blue are supposed by us when mixed to produce
a brown colour. And that cube which is determined
by the red, yellow, blue axes we call the brown cube.
When the tesseract block in its new position begins to
move across our space each tesseract in it gives a section
in our space. This section is transverse to the white
axis, which now runs in the unknown.
As the tesseract in its present position passes across
our space, we should see first of all the first of the block
of cubic faces we have put up—these would last for a

minute, then would come the second block and then the
third. At first we should have a cube of tesseract faces,
each of which would be brown. Directly the movement
began, we should have tesseract sections transverse to the
white line.
There are two more analogous positions in which the
block of tesseracts can be placed. To find the third
position, restore the blocks to the normal arrangement.
Let us make the yellow axis go out into the positive
unknown, and let the blue axis, consequently, come in
running towards us. The yellow ran away, so the blue
will come in running towards us.
Put catalogue cube 1 in its normal position. Take
catalogue cube 7 and place it so that its pink face
coincides with the pink face of cube 1, making also its
red axis coincide with the red axis of 1 and its white
with the white. Moreover, make cube 7 come
towards us from cube 1. Looking at it we see in our
space, red, white, and blue axes. The yellow runs out.
Place catalogue cube 8 in the neighbourhood of
7—observe that every region in 8 has a change in
the direction of yellow from the corresponding region
in 7. This is because it represents what you come
to now in going in the unknown, when the yellow axis
runs out of our space. Finally catalogue cube 9,
which is like number 7, shows the colours of the third
set of tesseracts. Now evidently, starting from the
normal position, to make up our three blocks of tesseract
faces we have to take the near wall from the first block,
the near wall from the second, and then the near wall
from the third block. This gives us the cubic block
formed by the faces of the twenty-seven tesseracts which
are now immediately touching our space.
Following the colour scheme of catalogue cube 8,
we make the next set of twenty-seven tesseract faces,

representing the tesseracts, each of which begins one inch
off from our space, by putting the second walls of our
previous arrangement together, and the representation
of the third set of tesseracts is the cubic block formed of
the remaining three walls.
Since we have red, white, blue axes in our space to
begin with, the cubes we see at first are light purple
tesseract faces, and after the transverse motion begins
we have cubic sections transverse to the yellow line.
Restore the blocks to the normal position, there
remains the case in which the red axis turns out of
space. In this case the blue axis will come in down-
wards, opposite to the sense in which the red axis ran.
In this case take catalogue cubes 10, 11, 12. Lift up
catalogue cube 1 and put 10 underneath it, imagining
that it goes down from the previous position of 1.
We have to keep in space the white and the yellow
axes, and let the red go out, the blue come in.
Now, you will find on cube 10 a light yellow face; this
should coincide with the base of 1, and the white and
yellow lines on the two cubes should coincide. Then, the
blue axis running down, you have the catalogue cube
correctly placed, and it forms a guide for putting up the
first representative block.
Catalogue cube 11 will represent what lies in the fourth
dimension—now the red line runs in the fourth dimen-
sion. Thus the change from 10 to 11 should be towards
red; corresponding to a null point is a red point, to a
white line is a pink line, to a yellow line an orange
line, and so on.
Catalogue cube 12 is like 10. Hence we see that to
build up our blocks of tesseract faces we must take the
bottom layer of the first block, hold that up in the air,
underneath it place the bottom layer of the second block,
and finally underneath this last the bottom layer of the

last of our normal blocks.
Similarly we make the second representative group by
taking the middle courses of our three blocks. The last
is made by taking the three topmost layers. The three
axes in our space before the transverse motion begins
are blue, white, yellow, so we have light green tesseract
faces, and after the motion begins sections transverse to
the red light.
These three blocks represent the appearances as the
tesseract group in its new position passes across our space.
The cubes of contact in this case are those determined by
the three axes in our space, namely, the white, the
yellow, the blue. Hence they are light green.
It follows from this that light green is the interior
cube of the first block of representative cubic faces.
Practice in the manipulations described, with a
realisation in each case of the face or section which
is in our space, is one of the best means of a thorough
comprehension of the subject.
We have to learn how to get any part of these four-
dimensional figures into space, so that we can look at
them. We must first learn to swing a tesseract, and a
group of tesseracts about in any way.
When these operations have been repeated and the
method of arrangement of the set of blocks has become
familiar, it is a good plan to rotate the axes of the normal
cube 1 about a diagonal, and then repeat the whole series
of turnings.
Thus, in the normal position, red goes up, white to the
right, yellow away. Make white go up, yellow to the right,
and red away. Learn the cube in this position by putting
up the set of blocks of the normal cube, over and over
again till it becomes as familiar to you as in the normal
position. Then when this is learned, and the corre-
sponding changes to the arrangements of the tesseract

groups are made, another change should be made: let,
in the normal cube, yellow go up, red to the right, and
white away.
Learn the normal block of cubes in this new position
by arranging them and re-arranging them till you know
without thought where each one goes. Then carry out
all the tesseract arrangements and turnings.
If you want to understand the subject, but do not see
your way clearly, if it does not seem natural and easy to
you, practise these turnings. Practise, first of all, the
turning of a block of cubes round, so that you know it
in every position as well as in the normal one. Practice
by gradually putting up the set of cubes in their new
arrangements. Then put up the tesseract blocks in their
arrangements. This will give you a working conception
of higher space, you will gain the feeling of it, whether
you take up the mathematical treatment of it or not.
APPENDIX II
A LANGUAGE OF SPACE
THE mere naming the parts of the figures we consider
involves a certain amount of time and attention. This
time and attention leads to no result, for with each
new figure the nomenclature applied is completely
changed, every letter or symbol is used in a different
significance.
Surely it must be possible in some way to utilise the
labour thus at present wasted!
Why should we not make a language for space itself, so
that every position we want to refer to would have its
own name? Then every time we named a figure in order
to demonstrate its properties we should be exercising
ourselves in the vocabulary of place.
If we use a definite system of names, and always refer
to the same space position by the same name, we create
as it were a multisided of little hands, each prepared to
grasp a special point, position, or element, and hold it
for us in its proper relations.
We make, to use another analogy, a kind of mental
paper, which has somewhat of the properties of a sensitive
plate, in that it will register, without effort, complex,
visual, or tactual impressions.
But of far more importance than the application of a
space language to the plane and solid space is the
248
APPENDIX II: A LANGUAGE OF SPACE 249
facilitation it brings with it to the study of four-dimen-

sional space.
I have delayed introducing a space language because
all the systems I made turned out, after giving them a
fair trial, to be intolerable. I have now come upon one
which seems to present features of permanence, and I
will here give an outline of it, so that it can be applied to
the subject of the text, and in order that it may be
subjected to criticism.
The principle on which the language is constructed is
to sacrifice every other consideration for brevity.
It is indeed curious that we are able to talk and
converse on every subject of thought except the funda-
mental one of space. The only way of speaking about
the spatial configurations that underlie every subject
of discursive thought is a co-ordinate system of numbers.
This is so awkward and incommodious that it is never
used. In thinking also, in realising shapes, we do not
use it; we confine ourselves to a direct visualisation.
Now, the use of words corresponds to the storing up
of our experience in a definite brain structure. A child,
in the endless tactual, visual, mental manipulations it
makes for itself, is best left to itself, but in the course
of instruction the introduction of space names would
make the teachers’ work more cumulative, and the child’s
knowledge more social.
Their full use can only be appreciated if they are
introduced early in the course of education; but in a
minor degree any one can convince himself of their
utility, especially in our immediate subject of handling
four-dimensional shapes. The sum total of the results
obtained in the preceding pages can be compendiously and
accurately expressed in nine words of the Space Language.
In one of Plato’s dialogues Socrates makes an experi-
ment on a slave boy standing by. He makes certain
perceptions of space awake in the mind of Meno’s slave

by directing his close attention to some simple facts of
geometry.
By means of a few words and some simple forms we can
repeat Plato’s experiment on new ground.
Do we by directing our close attention on the facts of
four dimensions awaken a latent faculty in ourselves?
The old experiment of Plato’s, it seems to me, has come
down to us as novel as the day he incepted it, and its
significance not better understood through all the dis-
cussion of which it has been the subjects.
Imagine a voiceless people living in a region where
everything had a velvety surface, and who were thus
deprived of all opportunity of experiencing what sound is.
They could observe the slow pulsations of the air caused
by their movements, and arguing from analogy, they
would no doubt infer that more rapid vibrations were
possible. From the theoretical side they could determine
all about these more rapid vibrations. They merely differ,
they would say, from slower ones, by the number that
occur in a given time; there is a merely formal difference.
But suppose they were to take the trouble, go to the
pains of producing these more rapid vibrations, then a
totally new sensation would fall on their rudimentary ears.
Probably at first they would only be dimly conscious of
Sound, but even from the first they would become aware
that a merely formal difference, a mere difference in point
of number in this particular respect, made a great difference
practically, as related to them. And to us the difference
between three and four dimensions is merely formal,
numerical. We can tell formally all about four dimensions,
calculate the relations that would exist. But that the
difference is merely formal does not prove that it is a
futile and empty task, to present to ourselves as closely as
we can the phenomena of four dimensions. In our formal
knowledge of it, the whole question of its actual relation

to us, as we are, is left in abeyance.
Possibly a new apprehension of nature may come to us
through the practical, as distinguished from the mathe-
matical and formal, study of four dimensions. As a child
handles and examines the objects with which he comes in
contact, so we can mentally handle and examine four-
dimensional objects. The point to be determined is this.
Do we find something cognate and natural to our faculties,
or are we merely building up an artificial presentation of
a scheme only formally possible, conceivable, but which
has no real connection with any existing or possible
experience?
This, it seems to me, is a question which can only be
settled by actually trying. This practical attempt is the
logical and direct continuation of the experiment
devised in the “Meno.”
Why do we think true? Why, by our process of
thought, can we predict what will happen, and correctly
conjecture the constitution of the things around us?
This is a problem which every modern philosopher has
considered, and of which Descartes, Leibnitz, Kant, to
name a few, have given memorable solutions. Plato was
the first to suggest it. And as he had the unique position
of being the first devisor of the problem, so his solution
is the most unique. Later philosophers have talked about
consciousness and its laws, sensations, categories. But
Plato never used such words. Consciousness apart from a
conscious being meant nothing to him. His was always
an objective search. He made man’s intuitions the basis
of a new kind of natural history.
In a few simple words Plato puts us in an attitude
with regard to psychic phenomena—the mind—the ego—
“what we are,” which is analogous to the attitude scientific
men of the present day have with regard to the phenomena
of outward nature. Behind this first apprehension of ours

of nature there is an infinite depth to be learned and
known. Plato said that behind the phenomena of mind
that Meno’s slave boy exhibited, there was a vast, an
infinite perspective. And his singularity, his originality,
comes out most strongly marked in this, that the per-
spective, the complex phenomena beyond were, according
to him, phenomena of personal experience. A footprint
in the sand means a man to a being that has the con-
ception of a man. But to a creature that has no such
conception, it means a curious mark, somehow resulting
from the concatenation of ordinary occurrences. Such a
being would attempt merely to explain how causes known
to him could so coincide as to produce such a result;
he would not recognise its significance.
Plato introduced the conception which made a new
kind of natural history possible. He said that Meno’s
slave boy thought true about things he had never
learned, because his “soul” had experience. I know this
will sound absurd to some people, and it flies straight
in the face of the maxim, that explanation consists in
showing how an effect depends on simple causes. But
what a mistaken maxim that is! Can any single instance
be shown of a simple cause? Take the behaviour of
spheres, for instance; say those ivory spheres, billiard balls,
for example. We can explain their behaviour by supposing
they are homogenous elastic solids. We can give formulæ
which will account for their behaviour in every variety.
But are they homogenous elastic solids? No, certainly
not. They are complex in physical and molecular structure,
and atoms and ions beyond open an endless vista. Our
simple explanation is false, false as it can be. The balls
act as if they were homogenous elastic spheres. There is
a statistical simplicity in the resultant of very complex
conditions, which makes that artificial conception useful.
But its usefulness must not blind us to the fact that it is

artificial. If we really look deep into nature, we find a
much greater complexity than we at first suspect. And
so behind this simple “I,” this myself, is there not a
parallel complexity? Plato’s “soul” would be quite
acceptable to a large class of thinkers, if by “soul” and
the complexity he attributes to it, he meant the product
of a long course of evolutionary change, whereby simple
forms of living matter endowed with rudimentary sensation
had gradually developed into fully conscious beings.
But Plato does not mean by “soul” a being of such a
kind. His soul is a being whose faculties are clogged by
its bodily environment, or at least hampered by the
difficulty of directing its bodily frame—a being which
is essentially higher than the account it gives of itself
through its organs. At the same time Plato’s soul is
not incorporeal. It is a real being with a real experience.
The question of whether Plato had the conception of non-
spatial existence has been much discussed. The verdict
is, I believe, that even his “ideas” were conceived by him
as beings in space, or, as we should say, real. Plato’s
attitude is that of Science, inasmuch as he thinks of a
world in Space. But, granting this, it cannot be denied
that there is a fundamental divergence between Plato’s
conception and the evolutionary theory, and also an
absolute divergence between his conception and the
genetic account of the origin of the human faculties.
The functions and capacities of Plato’s “soul” are not
derived by the interaction of the body and its environment.
Plato was engaged on a variety of problems, and his
religious and ethical thoughts were so keen and fertile
that the experimental investigation of his soul appears
involved with many other motives. In one passage Plato
will combine matter of thought of all kinds and from all
sources, overlapping, interrunning. And in no case is he
more involved and rich than in this question of the soul.

In fact, I wish there were two words, one denoting that
being, corporeal and real, but with higher faculties than
we manifest in our bodily actions, which is to be taken as
the subject of experimental investigation; and the other
word denoting “soul” in the sense in which it is made
the recipient and the promise of so much that men desire.
It is the soul in the former sense that I wish to investigate,
and in a limited sphere only. I wish to find out, in con-
tinuation of the experiment in the Meno, what the “soul”
in us thinks about extension, experimenting on the
grounds laid down by Plato. He made, to state this
matter briefly, the hypothesis with regard to the thinking
power of a being in us, a “soul.” This soul is not acces-
sible to observation by sight or touch, but it can be
observed by its functions; it is the object of a new kind
of natural history, the materials for constructing which
lie in what it is natural for us to think. With Plato
“thought” was a very wide-reaching term, but still I
would claim in his general plan of procedure a place for
the particular question of extension.
The problem comes to be, “What is it natural to us to
think about matter qua extended?”
First of all, I find that the ordinary intuition of any
simple object is extremely imperfect. Take a block of
differently marked cubes, for instance, and become ac-
quainted with them in their positions, You may think
you know them quite well, but when you turn them round
–rotate the block round a diagonal, for instance—you
will find that you have lost track of the individuals in
their new positions. You can mentally construct the
block in its new position, by a rule, by taking the remem-
bered sequences, but you don’t know it intuitively. By
observation of a block of cubes in various positions, and
very expeditiously by a use of Space names applied to the
cubes in their different presentations, it is possible to get

an intuitive knowledge of the block of cubes, which is not
disturbed by any displacement. Now, with regard to this
intuition, we moderns would say that I have formed it by
my tactual visual experiences (aided by hereditary pre-
disposition). Plato would say that the soul had been
stimulated to recognise an instance of shape which it
knew. Plato would consider the operation of learning
merely as a stimulus; we as completely accounting for
the result. The latter is the more common-sense view.
But, on the other hand, it presupposes the generation of
experience from physical change. The world of sentient
experience, according to the modern view, is closed and
limited; only the physical world is ample and large and
of ever-to-be-discovered complexity. Plato’s world of soul,
on the other hand, is at least as large and ample as the
world of things.
Let us now try a crucial experiment. Can I form an
intuition of a four-dimensional object? Such an object
is not given in the physical range of my sense contacts.
All I can do is present to myself the sequences of solids,
which would mean the presentation to me under my con-
ditions of a four-dimensional object. All I can do is to
visualise and tactualise different series of solids which are
alternative sets of sectional views of a four-dimensional
shape.
If now, on presenting these sequences, I find a power
in me of intuitively passing from one of these sets of
sequences to another, of, being given one, intuitively
constructing another, not using a rule, but directly appre-
hending it, then I have found a new fact about my soul,
that it has a four-dimensional experience; I have observed
it by a function it has.
I do not like to speak positively, for I might occasion
a loss of time on the part of others, if, as may very well
be, I am mistaken. But for my own part, I think there

are indications of such an intuition; from the results of
my experiments, I adopt the hypothesis that that which
thinks in us has an ample experience, of which the intui-
tions we use in dealing with the world of real objects
are a part; of which experience, the intuition of four-
dimensional forms and motions is also a part. The process
we are engaged in intellectually is the reading the obscure
signals of our nerves into a world of reality, by means of
intuitions derived from the inner experience.
The image I form is as follows. Imagine the captain
of a modern battle-ship directing its course. He has
his charts before him; he is in communication with his
associates and subordinates; can convey his messages and
commands to every part of the ship, and receive informa-
tion from the conning-tower and the engine-room. Now
suppose the captain immersed in the problem of the
navigation of his ship over the ocean, to have so absorbed
himself in the problem of the direction of his craft over
the plane surface of the sea that he forgets himself. All
that occupies his attention is the kind of movement that
his ship makes. The operations by which that movement
is produced have sunk below the threshold of his con-
sciousness, his own actions, by which he pushes the buttons,
gives the orders, are so familiar as to be automatic, his
mind is on the motion of the ship as a whole. In such
a case we can imagine that he identifies himself with his
ship; all that enters his conscious thought is the direction
of its movement over the plane surface of the ocean.
Such is the relation, as I imagine it, of the soul to the
body. A relation which we can imagine as existing
momentarily in the case of the captain is the normal
one in the case of the soul with its craft. As the captain
is capable of a kind of movement, an amplitude of motion,
which does not enter into his thoughts with regard to the
directing the ship over the plane surface of the ocean, so

the soul is capable of a kind of movement, has an ampli-
tude of motion, which is not used in its task of directing
the body in the three-dimensional region in which the
body’s activity lies. If for any reason it became necessary
for the captain to consider three-dimensional motions with
regard to his ship. If for any reason it becomes necessary
for the captain to consider three-dimensional motions with
regard to his ship, it would not be difficult for him to
gain the materials for thinking about such motions; all
he has to do is to call his own intimate experiences into
play. As far as the navigation of the ship, however, is
concerned, he is not obliged to call on such experience.
The ship as a whole simply moves on a surface. The
problem of three-dimensional movement does not ordinarily
concern its steering. And thus with regard to ourselves
all the movements and activities which characterise our
bodily organs are three-dimensional; we never need to
consider the ampler movements. But we do more than
use the movements of our body to effect our aims by
direct means; we have now come to the pass when we act
indirectly on nature, when we call processes into play
which lie beyond the reach of any explanation we can
give by the kind of thought which has been sufficient for
the steering of our craft as a whole. When we come to
the problem of what goes on in the minute, we find our
habitual conceptions inadequate.
The captain in us must wake up to his own intimate
nature, realise these functions of movement which are his
own, and in virtue of his knowledge of them apprehend
how to deal with the problem he has come to.
Think of the history of man. When has there been a
time, in which his thoughts of form and movement were
not exclusively of such varieties as were adapted for his
bodily performance? We have never had a demand to
conceive what our own most intimate powers are. But,
just as little as by immersing himself in the steering of

his ship over the plane surface of the ocean, a captain
can loose the faculty of thinking about what he actually
does, so little can the soul loose its own nature. It
can be roused to an intuition that is not derived from
the experience which the senses give. All that is
necessary is to present some few of those appearances
which, while inconsistent with three-dimensional matter,
are yet consistent with our formal knowledge of four-
dimensional matter, in order for the soul to wake up and
not begin to learn, but of its own intimate feeling fill up
the gaps in the presentiment, grasp the full orb of possi-
bilities from the isolated points presented to it. In relation
to this question of our perceptions, let me suggest another
illustration, not taking it too seriously, only propounding
it to exhibit the possibilities in a broad and general way.
In the heavens, amongst the multitude of stars, there
are some which, when the telescope is directed on them,
seem not to be single stars, but to be split up into two.
Regarding these twin stars through a spectroscope, an
astronomer sees in each a spectrum of bands of colour and
black lines. Comparing these spectrums with one another,
he finds that there is a slight relative shifting of the dark
lines, and from that shifting he knows that the stars are
rotating round one another, and can tell their relative
velocity with regard to the earth. By means of his
terrestrial physics he reads this signal of the skies. This
shifting of lines, the mere slight variation of a black line
in a spectrum, is very unlike that which the astronomer
knows it means. But it is probably much more like what
it means that the signals which the nerves deliver are
like the phenomena of the outer world.
No picture of an object is conveyed through the nerves.
No picture of motion, in the sense in which we postulate
its existence, is conveyed through the nerves. The actual
deliverances of which our consciousness takes account are

probably identical for eye and ear, sight and touch.
If for a moment I take the whole earth together and
regard it as a sentient being, I find that the problem of
its apprehension is a very complex one, and involves a
long series of personal and physical events. Similarly the
problem of our apprehension is a very complex one. I
only use this illustration to exhibit my meaning. It has
this special merit, that, as the process of conscious
apprehension takes place in our case in the minute, so
with regard to this earth being, the corresponding process
takes place in what is relatively to it very minute.
Now, Plato’s view of a soul leads us to the hypothesis
that that which we designate as an act of apprehension
may be a very complex event, both physically and per-
sonally. He does not seek to explain what an intuition
is; he makes it a basis from whence he sets out on a
voyage of discovery. Knowledge means knowledge; he
puts conscious being to account for conscious being. He
makes an hypothesis of the kind that is so fertile in
physical science—an hypothesis making no claim to
finality, which marks out a vista of possible determination
behind determination, like the hypothesis of space itself,
the type of serviceable hypotheses.
And, above all, Plato’s hypothesis is conducive to ex-
periment. He gives the perspective in which real objects
can be determined; and, in our present enquiry, we are
making the simplest of all possible experiments—we are
enquiring what it is natural to the soul to think of matter
as extended.
Aristotle says we always use a “phantasm” in thinking,
a phantasm of our corporeal senses a visualisation or a
tactualisiation. But we can so modify that visualisation
or tactualisation that it represents something not known
by the senses. Do we by that representation wake up an
intuition of the soul? Can we by the presentation of

these hypothetical forms, that are the subject of our
present discussion, wake ourselves up to higher intuitions?
And can we explain the world around by a motion that we
only know by our souls?
Apart from all speculation, however, it seems to me
that the interest of these four-dimensional shapes and
motions is sufficient reason for studying them, and that
they are the way by which we can grow into a fuller
apprehension of the world as a concrete whole.
SPACE NAMES.
If the words written on the squares drawn in fig. 1 are
used as the names of the squares in the positions in
which they are placed, is it evident that a
*
en et el
combination of these names will denote
a figure composed of the designated
an at al squares. It is found to be most con-
venient to take as the initial square that
in it il
marked with an asterisk, so that the
Fig. 1. directions of progression are towards the
observer and to the right. The directions
of progression, however, are arbitrary, and can be chosen
at will.
Thus et, at, it an, al, will denote a figure in the form of a
cross composed of five squares.
Here, by means of the double sequence, e, a, i, and n, t, l, it
is possible to name a limited collection of space elements.
The system can obviously be extended by using letter
sequences of more numbers.
But, without introducing such a complexity, the
principles of a space language can be exhibited, and a
nomenclature obtained adequate to all the considerations
of the preceding pages.
1. Extension.
Call the large squares in fig. 2 by the names written
1 2 3 4 in them. It is evident that each
En Et El can be divided as shown in fig. 1.
Then the small square marked 1
will be “en” in “En,” or “Enen.”
An At Al
The square marked 2 will be “et”
in “En” or “Enet,” while the
In It Il square marked 4 will be “em” in
5 “Et” or “Eten.” Thus the square
Fig. 2. 5 will be called “Ilil.”
This principle of extension can
be applied in any number of dimensions.
2. Application to Three-Dimensional Space.

To name a three-dimensional collocation of cubes take
the upward direction first, secondly the
len let lel
direction towards the observer, thirdly
lan lat lal the direction to his right hand.
These form a word in which the first
lin lit lil
latter gives the place of the cube
upwards, the second letter its place
towards the observer, the third letter its
ten tet tel
place to the right.
tan tat tal We have thus the following scheme,
which represents the set of cubes of
tin tit til column 1, fig. 101, page 165.
We begin with the remote lowest
* cube at the left hand, where the asterisk is
nen net nel placed (this proves to be by far the most
nan nat nal convenient origin to take for the normal
system).
nin nit nil Thus “nen” is a “null” cube, “ten”
a red cube on it, and “len” a “null”
cube above “ten.”
By using a more extended sequence of consonants and

vowels a larger set of cubes can be named.
To name a four-dimensional block of tesseracts it is
simply necessary to prefix an “e,” an “a,” or an “i” to
the cube names.
Thus the tesseract blocks schematically represented on
page 165, fig. 101 are named as follows:—
elen elet elel alen alet alel ilen ilet ilel
elan elat elal alan alat alal ilan ilat ilal
elin elit elil alin alit alil ilin ilit ilil
eten etet etel aten atet atel iten itet itel
etan etat etal atan atat atal itan itat ital
etin etit etil atin atit atil itin itit itil
*
enen enet enel anen anet anel inen inet inel
enan enat enal anan anat anal inan inat inal
enin enit enil anin anit anil inin init inil
1 2 3
2. DERIVATION OF POINT, LINE, FACE, ETC. NAMES.

The principle of derivation can be shown as follows:
Taking the square of squares
*
en et el
an at al
in it il
the number of squares in it can be enlarged and the

whole kept the same size.
*
en et et el
an at at al
an at at al
in it it il
Compare fig. 79, p. 138, for instance, or the bottom layer

of fig. 84.
Now use an initial “s” to denote the result of carrying
this process on to a great extent, and we obtain the limit
names, that is the point, line, area names for a square.
“Sat” is the whole interior. The corners are “sen,”
”sel,” “sin,” “sil,” while the lines
sen set sel are “san,” “sal,” “set,” “sit.”
I find that by the use of the
san sat sal
initial “s” these names come to be
practically entirely disconnected with
the systematic names for the square
sin sit sil from which they are derived. They
are easy to learn, and when learned
can be used readily with the axes running in any
direction.
To derive the limit names for a four-dimensional rect-
angular figure, like the tesseract, is a simple extension of
this process. These point, line, etc., names include those
which apply to a cube, as will be evident on inspection
of the first cube of the diagrams which follow.
All that is necessary is to place an “s” before each of the
names given for a tesseract block. We then obtain
apellatives which, like the colour names on page 174,
fig. 103, apply to all the points, lines, faces, solids, and to
the hypersolid of the tesseract. These names have the

advantage over the colour marks that each point, line, etc.,
has its own individual name.
In the diagrams I give the names corresponding to
the positions shown in the coloured plate or described on
p. 174. By comparing cubes 1, 2, 3 with the first row of
cubes in the coloured plate, the systematic names of each
of the points, lines, faces, etc., can be determined. The
asterisk shows the origin from which the names run.
These point, line, face, etc. names should be used in
connection with the corresponding colours. The names
should call up coloured images of the parts named in their
right connection.
It is found that a certain abbreviation adds vividness
of distinction to these names. If the final “en” be dropped
wherever it occurs the system is improved. Thus instead
of “senen,” “seten,” “selen,” it is preferable to abbreviate
to “sen,” “set,” “sel,” and also use “san,” “sin” for
“sanen,” “sinen.”
1 2 3
Selen Selet Selel Salen Salet Salel Silen Silel
or Sel or Sal or Sil
Selat Salat Silat
Se
Sa
Si
Se
Sa
Si
la
la
la
la
or Set
Seten
la
or Sat
Saten
la
or Sit
Siten
l
l
Selin Selil Salin Salil Silin Silil

n
Selit Salit Salit

Se Se
Sa S a
Si
Setin
Setil
Satin
Satil
Sitin
Sitil
ta ina
ta
ta na
Senen Setit Satit Sitit

n
n an
or Sen
S
Sanen Sinen
n
or San or Sin
n
Senin Senil Sanin Sanil Sinin Sinil

Senit Sanit Sinit
Setel
Satel
Sitel
Setet Satet Sitet

Se Se
Sa Sa
Si
ta
ta ina
ta na
Senet Senel Sanet Sanel Sinet Sinel

l
l
*
S
Senat Sanat Sinat

na
l
l
l
Interior Setat Interior Satat Interior Sitat

4 5 6
Sil Sal Sel Silet Salet Selet Silel Salel Selel
Salan Salat
Se
Salal
Si
Se
Se
Si
Si
l
la
l
la
la
an
la
at
n
Silin Selin
t
Sitet
l
l
Silit Selit Silil Selil
Sit
Sitel
Salin Salit Salil
Si
Si
Si
ta Sina
ta ina
ta ina
Sitit
Setit
Setin
Setill
Satin
Sitin
Sitil
Satit Satel
n
l
Sin
S
S
Sinet Sinel
t
l
n
Sinin Senin Sinit Senit Sinil Senil

Sanin Sanit Sanil
Sat
Set
Setet
Satet
Setel
Satel
Se Se
Se Se
Se
t a na
ta na
ta Sen
San Sen Sanet Senet Sanel Senel
n
l
*
Sanan Sanat Sanal
n
a
t
l
Interior Satan Interior Satat Interior Satal
7 8 9
Sil Silet Silel Silan Silat Silal Silin Silit Silil
Salet Salat
Sa
Salit
Sa
Sa
Sa
Sa
Sa
le
la
l
lil
la
lin
Sitan
l
Sel Selel
l
Selan Selal Selin Selil

n
Sit
Sitin
Selet Selat Selit

Sa
Sa S a
Sa
Setel
Setan
Setal
Setin
Setill
t
ta na
tin ani
Setet
Set
Setat Setit
n
Sin
S
Sa
Sinan Sinin
n
n
n
Sen Senel Senan Senal Senin Senil

Senet Senat Senit
Sitel
Sitet Sitat
Sital
Sitil
Sitit
Sa Sa
Sa Sa
Sa
t e ne
t a na
Sinet Sinel Sinat Sinal Sinit Sinil

il
l
Sa
Sanet Sanat Sanit

ni
l
l
Interior Satet Interior Satat Interior Satit

10 11 12
Sen Senet Senel Set Setet Setel Selet Selel
* Senat Selat
Se
Setat
Se
Se
Se
Se
Se
l
n
la
ta
al
ta
an
al Selin Selil
n
Senin Senil
l
Setin Setil
n
San
Sat
Senit Setit Salit
Sa
Sa
Sa
na Sina
Sanin
la ilan
ta itan
Satin
Satil
Salin
Salit
Sanil
Sanit
Salil
Satit
n
n
n
Sin
S
Sit S
n
Sinin Sinil Sitin Sitil Silin Silil

Sinit Sitit Silit
Sanel
Salet
Salel
Sanet
Satel
Satet
Sa
Sa Sin
Sa
la Silal
na
ta Sita
Sinet Sinel Sitet Sitel Silet Silet
l
l
l
Sinat Sitat Silat

al
Interior Sanat Interior Satat Interior Salat
We can now name any section. Take e.g. the line in

the first cube from senin to senel, we should call the line
running from senin to senel, senin senat senel, a line
light yellow in colour with null points.
Here senat is the name for all of the line except its ends.
Using “senat” in this way does not mean that the line is
the whole of senat, but what there is of it is senat. It is
a part of the senat region. Thus also the triangle, which
has its three vertices in senin, senel, selen, is named thus:
Area: setat.
Sides: setan, senat, setet.
Vertices: senin, senel, sel.
The tetrahedron section of the tesseract can be thought
of as a series of plane sections in the successive sections of
the tesseract shown in fig. 114, p. 191. In b0 the section
is the one written above. In b1 the section is made by a
plane which cuts the three edges from sanen intermediate

of their lengths and thus will be:
Area: satat.
Sides: satan, sanat, satet.
Vertices: sanan, sanet, sat.
The sections in b2, b3 will be like the section in b1 but

smaller.
Finally in b4 the section plane simply passes through
the corner named sin.
Hence, putting these sections together in their right
relation, from the face setat, surrounded by the lines and
points mentioned above, there run:
3 faces: satan, sanat, satet

3 lines: sanan, sanet, sat
and these faces and lines run to the point sin. Thus
the tetrahedron is completely named.
The octahedron section of the tesseract, which can be
traced from fig. 72, p. 129 by extending the lines there
drawn, is named:
Front triangle selin, selat, selel, setal, senil, setit, selin
with area setat.
The sections between the front and rear triangle, of
which one is shown in 1b, another in 2b, are thus named,
points and lines, salan, salat, salet, satet, satel, satal, sanal,
sanat, sanit, satit, satin, satan, salan.
The rear triangle found in 3b by producing lines is sil,
sitet, sinel, sinat, sinin, sitan, sil.
The assemblage of sections constitute the solid body of
the octahedron satat with triangular faces. The one from
the line selat to the point sil, for instance, is named
selin, selat, selel, salet, salat, salan, sil. The whole

interior is salat.
Shapes can be easily cut out of cardboard which, when
folded together, form not only the tetrahedron and the
octahedron, but also samples of all the sections of the
tesseract taken as it passes cornerwise through our space.
To name and visualise with appropriate colours a series of
these sections is an admirable exercise for obtaining
familiarity with the subject.
EXTENSION AND CONNECTION WITH NUMBERS
By extending the letter sequence it is of course possible

to name a larger field. By using the limit names the
corners of each square can be named.
Thus “en sen,” “an sen,” etc. will be the names of the
points nearest the origin in “en” and in “an.”
A field of points in which each one is indefinitely small
is given by the names written below.
ensen etsen elsen
ansen atsen alsen
insen itsen ilsen
The squares are shown in dotted lines, the names

denote the points. These points are not mathematical
points, but really minute areas.
Instead of starting with a set of squares and naming
them, we can start with a set of points.
By an easily remembered convention we can give
names so such a region of points.
Let the space names with a final “e” added denote the
mathematical points at the corner of each square nearest
the origin. We have then
0 1 2
0 ene ete ele
1 ane ate ale
2 ine ite ile
for the set of mathematical points indicated. This

system is really completely independent of the area
system and is connected with it merely for the purpose
of facilitating the memory process. The word “ene” is
pronounced like “eny,” with just sufficient attention to
the final vowel to distinguish it from the word “en.”
Now, connecting the numbers 0, 1, 2 with the sequence
e, a, i, and also with the sequence n, t, l, we have a set of
points named as with numbers in a co-ordinate system.
Thus “ene” is (0, 0); “ata” is (1, 1); “ite” is (2, 1).
To pass to the area system the rule is that the name of
the square is formed from the name of its point nearest
to the origin by dropping the final e.
By using a notation analogous to the decimal system
a larger field of points can be named. It remains to
assign a letter sequence to the numbers from positive 0
to positive 9, and from negative 0 to negative 9, to obtain
a system which can be used to denote both the usual
co-ordinate system of mapping and a system of named
squares. The names denoting the points all end with e.
Those that denote squares end with a consonant.
There are many considerations which must be attended
to in extending the sequences to be used, such as
uniqueness in the meaning of the words formed, ease
of pronunciation, avoidance of awkward combinations.
I drop “s” altogether from the consonant series and

short “u” from the vowel series. It is convenient to
have unsignificant letters at disposal. A double consonant
like “st” for instance can be referred to without giving it
a local significance by calling it “ust.” I increase the
number of vowels by considering a sound like “ra” to
be a vowel, using, that is, the letter “r” as forming a
compound vowel.
The series is as follows:—
CONSONANTS
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
positive n t l p f sh k ch nt st
negative s d th h v m g j nd sp
VOWELS.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
positive e a i ee æ ai ar ra ri ree
negative er o oo io œ iu or ro roo rio
Pronunciation.—e as in men; a as in man; i as in in;

ee as in between; æ as ay in may; ai as i in mine; ar as
in art; er as ear in earth; o as in on; oo as oo in soon;
io as in clarion; œ as oa in oat; iu pronounced like yew.
To name a point such as (23, 41) it is considered as
(3, 1) on from (20, 40) and is called “ifeete.” It is the
initial point of the square ifeet of the area system.
The preceding amplification of a space language has
been introduced merely for the sake of completeness. As
has already been said nine words and their combinations,
applied to a few simple models suffice for the purposes of
our present enquiry.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
This e-text of The Fourth Dimension was initially key-entered
from a poor quality facsimile of the first edition. Some sections
in that printing (perpetrated by Kessinger Publications in Kila,
Montana) were illegible and the colour plate was photocopied in
black and white rendering it useless; these have been corrected
based on other copies of the text; the colour plate has been
reconstructed based on a colour photo-copy of the first edition
and the descriptions in the text.
“A Language of Space” was not part of the first edition; it was
issued as a pamphlet around the same time, and was bound in at
the start of the Kessinger printing, separately paginated. In 1906
and subsequent printings of The Fourth Dimension it was
included at the end as a second appendix.
All figures have been redrawn as vector art. In some of the
views of the cube and tesseract in chapters XI-XIII, figures have
been coloured instead of, or in addition to, placing the colour
names or their initials on the figure. To make the nomenclature
clear, wherever a particular colour is first used, the name is also
printed. These colours are the same as those used in the colour
plate; I have followed the original printing in rendering “null” as
a light grey.
A few obvious typographical errors have been fixed, and some
minor changes in punctuation made for the sake of clarity. Some
errors in the mnemonics for the syllogism on p. 101 have been
corrected.
In the first paragraph on p. 173 the second sentence originally
ran “Then each of the eight lines of the cube …” and the
calculation of the number of bounding squares of the tesseract
was thus given as 12 + 8 = 20. This has been corrected as an
obvious error (similarly in the last paragraph on p. 177).
Love is the law, love under will.
T.S.
271
Celephaïs Press
Ulthar - Sarkomand - Inquanok - Leeds

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THE FOURTH DIMENSION

Views of the Tesseract.

No. 1. No. 2. No. 3.

No. 4. No. 5. No. 6.

No. 7. No. 8. No. 9.

No. 10. No. 11. No. 12.

Reprinted 1906, 1912, 1921, 1934, 1951.

“A Language of Space” first published as a pamphlet

This electronic edition issued by

of treating this subject of higher space, and of this

II. THE ANALOGY OF A PLANE WORLD . . . 6

III. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF A FOUR-DIMENSIONAL

IV. THE FIRST CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF FOUR

V. THE SECOND CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF FOUR

VI. THE HIGHER WORLD . . . . . . . 61

VII. THE EVIDENCES FOR A FOURTH DIMENSION . 76

VIII. THE USE OF FOUR DIMENSIONS IN THOUGHT . 85

IX. APPLICATION TO KANT’S THEORY OF EXPERIENCE 107

X. A FOUR-DIMENSIONAL FIGURE . . . . 122

XI. NOMENCLATURE AND ANALOGIES . . . 136

XII. THE SIMPLEST FOUR-DIMENSIONAL SOLID . . 157

XIII. REMARKS ON THE FIGURES . . . . . 176

XIV. A RECAPITULATION AND EXTENSION OF THE

APPENDIX I.—THE MODELS . . . . . . 231

APPENDIX II.—A LANGUAGE OF SPACE . . . 248

to realise it through our emotions we are always taking the

existence spatially higher than that which we realise

another begins is a point, and the straight line itself can

Bringing in a third quantity, say sharpness, I can draw,

him. The plane surface over which he slips and with

Let the reader imagine himself, as he looks along the

to any other, by means of two straight lines drawn at

being’s world then we must attribute to it a very small

Again, just as the plane being can represent any

his plane, each lying in the third dimension a little

sections, each lying a little further off in the unknown

As the plane being can think of the cube as consisting

Take the face A and conceive it to exist as simply a

theory of mechanics—motions would take place which

ring with a current in it in one direction be taken up

turn the ring over, and when we reverse the direction of

the images of insects, sometimes practised by children.

surely be the best way of grouping the phenomena and

being, despite his bodily environment, has come to recog-

a mechanical system in which the volition and aim

the cause he advocates. It is as if from his firm foothold

If we pass a spiral through the film the intersection

Thus we can imagine a plane world, in which all the

the plane has a share in that volition by which the

Transferring our conceptions to those of an existence in

between the posits is one of order not of distance--

Thus we may say that the point value of the square

on the diagonal is equal to the sum of the squares on

not the same meaning to them which it has for us.

kind of permanence. He formed the conception of a

things to a region of perfect certainty, where it beholds

In the allegory which I have already alluded to, Plato

relation to fact, so Aristotle, in discussing the philosophy

either hand, towards whose existence all experience

which it separates, so the plane is inconceivable without