Let us now draw a pair of lines on a piece of paper or cardboard like
those in the diagram (Fig. 10). In this diagram the top of the page is
supposed to rest on the table, and the bottom of the page to be raised
and brought near the eye, so that the plane of the diagram slopes
upwards to the reader. Let Z denote the upward direction, and X the
direction from left to right. Let us turn the Block of cubes with its
front upon this slope _i.e._ so that Urna fits upon the square marked
Urna. Moles will be to the right and Ostrum above Urna, _i.e._ nearer
the eye. We might leave the block as it stands and put the piece of
cardboard against it; in this case our plane-world would be vertical. It
is difficult to fix the cubes in this position on the plane, and
therefore more convenient if the cardboard be so inclined that they will
not slip off. But the upward direction must be identified with Z. Now,
taking the slabs, let us compose what a plane-being would see of the
Block. He would perceive just the front faces of the cubes of the Block,
as it comes into his plane; these front faces we may call the Moenas of
the cubes. Let each of the slabs represent the Moena of its
corresponding cube, the Gold slab of the Gold cube and so on. They are
thicker than they should be; but we must overlook this and suppose we
simply see the thickness as a line. We thus build a square of nine slabs
to represent the appearance to a plane-being of the front face of the
Block. The middle one, Bidens Moena, would be completely hidden from him
by the others on all its sides, and he would see the edges of the eight
outer squares. If the Block now begin to move through the plane, that
is, to cut through the piece of paper at right angles to it, it will not
for some time appear any different. For the sections of Urna are all
Gold like the front face Moena, so that the appearance of Urna at any
point in its passage will be a Gold square exactly like Urna Moena, seen
by the plane-being as a line. Thus, if the speed of the Block’s passage
be one inch a minute, the plane-being will see no change for a minute.
In other words, this set of slabs lasting one minute will represent what
he sees.
When the Block has passed one inch, a different set of cubes appears.
Remove the front layer of cubes. There will now be in contact with the
paper nine new cubes, whose names we write in the order in which we
should see them through a piece of glass standing upright in front of
the Block:
Spicula Mala Mora Mala Oliva Mala
Uncus Mala Pallor Mala Tergum Mala
Frenum Mala Plebs Mala Sypho Mala
We pick out nine slabs to represent the Moenas of these cubes, and
placed in order they show what the plane-being sees of the second set
of cubes as they pass through. Similarly the third wall of the Block
will come into the plane, and looking at them similarly, as it were
through an upright piece of glass, we write their names:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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