Of itself untrammelled and unclogged by matter, it vibrates and shakes with the speed and rapidity of the vibrations of light. But when matter lies on it—when air, even in its rarest condition, lies on it—its proper movement is damped and some of its quick shakings that are light, slow down to the obscure vibrations of heat. Thus of itself it will not take up the vibration of a hot body, but selects only those orbs which are glowing with radiant light wherefrom to take its thrilling messages. But when matter lies on it, it takes obediently the less vivacious movements of terrestrial fires. A being able to lay hold of the æther by any means would, unless he were instantly lost from amongst us by his staying still while the earth dashes on—he would be able to pass in any space direction in our world. He would not need to climb by stairs, nor to pass along resting on the ground. And such a being, even as thin as ourselves, and as limited, if not even in physical powers, but merely in thought he became aware of his true relation to the æther, he would see all things differently. From all shapes would fall that limitation of thought which makes us see them differently to what they are; and in largeness and liberty of possible movement his mind would travel where ours but creeps, and soar and extend where ours journeys and diverges. It is impossible in contemplating the rudiments of four-dimensional existence to prevent a sense of largeness and liberty penetrating even through the profoundness of our ignorance. Whether we shall find beings other than ourselves, when we have explored this larger space, cannot be said. But there is a path which holds out a more distinct promise. When the conditions of life on a plane are realized it becomes evident that much of that which is to us merely natural—obvious from the very conditions of our life—could only be attained by beings on the plane as the result of artificial contrivances and modifications of their natural tendencies. In their progress and development they would, as it were, represent on the plane the features of the normal and undeveloped life of three-dimensional beings, and they would attain, as a result of moral labour and energy, a position which children in our higher life are born to without trouble or thought. And so we in our advancing civilization may to the eyes of some higher beings represent in our arrangements and institutions an approach to the simplest matters of fact in their existence. We are separated from such a view by our bodily conditions, but we are not to be prevented from taking it with our minds. By building up the conception of higher space, by framing the mechanics of such a higher world, we may arrive at a fairly accurate knowledge of the conditions of life in it.