Flatland: A Romance of Many DimensionsAbbott, Edwin Abbott
Science
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Abbott, Edwin Abbott
Fourth dimension
Those of my readers who recall the extracts I gave above from the
Legislative code concerning Women, will readily perceive that the
process of introduction by contact requires some care and discretion.
Otherwise the angles might inflict on the unwary Feeler irreparable
injury. It is essential for the safety of the Feeler that the Felt
should stand perfectly still. A start, a fidgety shifting of the
position, yes, even a violent sneeze, has been known before now to
prove fatal to the incautious, and to nip in the bud many a promising
friendship. Especially is this true among the lower classes of the
Triangles. With them, the eye is situated so far from their vertex
that they can scarcely take cognizance of what goes on at that
extremity of their frame. They are, moreover, of a rough coarse
nature, not sensitive to the delicate touch of the highly organized
Polygon. What wonder then if an involuntary toss of the head has ere
now deprived the State of a valuable life!
I have heard that my excellent Grandfather--one of the least irregular
of his unhappy Isosceles class, who indeed obtained, shortly before his
decease, four out of seven votes from the Sanitary and Social Board for
passing him into the class of the Equal-sided--often deplored, with a
tear in his venerable eye, a miscarriage of this kind, which had
occured to his great-great-great-Grandfather, a respectable Working Man
with an angle or brain of 59 degrees 30 minutes. According to his
account, my unfortunate Ancestor, being afflicted with rheumatism, and
in the act of being felt by a Polygon, by one sudden start accidentally
transfixed the Great Man through the diagonal; and thereby, partly in
consequence of his long imprisonment and degradation, and partly
because of the moral shock which pervaded the whole of my Ancestor's
relations, threw back our family a degree and a half in their ascent
towards better things. The result was that in the next generation the
family brain was registered at only 58 degrees, and not till the lapse
of five generations was the lost ground recovered, the full 60 degrees
attained, and the Ascent from the Isosceles finally achieved. And all
this series of calamities from one little accident in the process of
Feeling.
At this point I think I hear some of my better educated readers
exclaim, "How could you in Flatland know anything about angles and
degrees, or minutes? We can SEE an angle, because we, in the region of
Space, can see two straight lines inclined to one another; but you, who
can see nothing but one straight line at a time, or at all events only
a number of bits of straight lines all in one straight line--how can
you ever discern any angle, and much less register angles of different
sizes?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account