THE FOURTH DIMENSION SIMPLY EXPLAINED

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Page 180 generating figure. Thus, the line with two limiting points gives the square four corners; the cube has eight corners and the four-square, on this basis, would have sixteen. The number of lines or edges connecting the corner points is as follows: in the square, twice the original line plus two lines traced by its ends; in the cube, four lines for each position of the square plus four lines described by its four corners. The number of edges of a figure then is seen to be twice the number of lines or edges in the generating figure plus an edge formed by each one of its corners. Therefore, our four-square would give edges as follows: 122 + 8=32. To sum up, our four-square would have eight containing cubes, sixteen corners and thirty-two edges; and if our generating cube measured two inches on an edge the content of this new figure would be represented by 24.

Curious as the above geometrical deductions may appear, they are surpassed by the dramatic results that would accompany a conception of the fourth dimension. To a creature with a knowledge of mere length and breadth, our physical representation of lines on a plane surface would prove as impassable a barrier as a stone wall unlimited in height would to us. Now, it is evident that we, as three-dimensional beings, may touch all portions of a plane figure (Fig. 3) without disturbing any of the containing lines. If, then, a number of two-dimensional creatures were placed in such an enclosure, imagine their surprise at finding that there existed an order of beings capable of penetrating matter, as they know it, without in any way disturbing it! A parallel case may be imagined in our own existence, if we suppose a being A of the three-dimensional order shut in a hermetically sealed armor-plate vault and suddenly confronted by a being, B, having a knowledge of the fourth dimension.
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It might seem possible from these considerations that, with such an advanced state of knowledge, we would be able to extract the pulp from fruit and the kernel from the nut without first removing the outer covering. Likewise, windows for the admission of light, or doors for communication with the outside world, would no longer be necessary, for the fourth dimension would destroy the present effectiveness of the barrier formed by the six sides of a room. It will be many centuries, if ever, before man can prove the probability of a dimension above the third; but, as we have shown in connection with Fig. 6, we are scarcely justified in denying such an advanced state merely because all matter can apparently be shown to occupy threedimensional space. The development of our perceptive senses proceeds very slowly and, according to the theory of evolution, depends upon the extent of the use of existing faculties. We may be justified, therefore, in presuming that we are infinitely nearer to a realization of the four-dimensional existence, if such exists, than we are to the first dawn of reason. We may consider this ideal state of mental development a possibility if we believe that, in the various stages of his progress, man carries over to each succeeding state a balance of inherent possibilities, which, in the new existence, prove the active influences determining the mental status of the next. In view of this it might seem possible that that quality of the mind, subconsciousness, is in reality but a subtle force at work evolving greater possibilities in the acquirement of knowledge by the multiplication of the perceptive senses.

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