THE FOURTH DIMENSION SIMPLY EXPLAINED

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see. The other plane cuts through the space along this line. These planes meet only at the point O. Indeed, two planes which do not lie entirely in one
Page 24 three-space can never have more than a point in common, and when two planes have just a point in common the most that we could see in any three-space would be one of the planes and a single line of the other.

If two planes are absolutely perpendicular to a third at two points O and O' they lie in a single three-space. In this three-space we should see them completely, and only a single line of the third plane. The line passes through O and O' and we see it as perpendicular to the two planes. On the other hand, in a three-space containing the third plane we can see all of it but only a single line of each of the two planes absolutely perpendicular to it.

[5] Some references are given at the end of this introduction. [6] Such a book has recently been written by C. H. Hinton "An Episode of Flatland." But much better is a little book by E. A. Abbot called "Flatland." There the interest rests entirely on the relations of space which this book is intended to explain, and we never for a moment lose sight of these relations. In Hinton's book the interest rests largely on the personalities and fortunes of the characters, and our attention is called away from the geometrical circumstances of their lives. Moreover, his circle-world is more unreal than the world of "Flatland," although, perhaps, more closely analogous to our earth as it exists in space of three dimensions. [7] A point starting from the center of a sphere in our space and moving off on a line perpendicular to our space will not approach any portion of the surface of the sphere, but will move away at the same rate from all points of this surface. This is the way an object can pass out of a closed room or box without penetrating the walls, as stated in many of the essays.

III.
We proceed to give some further account of the Four-dimensional Geometry. We do not intend to repeat what is given in the essays except so far as may be necessary in order to correct possible erroneous impressions, or to amplify certain points. It may be that the reader will find it better to read some of the essays before going on with this Introduction.8 When two planes are absolutely perpendicular at a point O, any point in one can go completely around O and around the other plane keeping all the time at the same distance from O and from the other plane. Thus we can go around a plane in space of four dimensions just as in our space we can go around a line. A two-dimensional being cannot go around a line in his plane; it divides the plane completely. And so we cannot go around a plane in our space for it divides
Page 25 our space completely. But in space of four dimensions a plane, though having two dimensions, lacks two, and in these we can go around the plane keeping all the time at a given distance from one particular point of it. If we can discard one of the dimensions of the plane, taking from the plane only a line, and put ourselves into a three-space that contains the absolutely perpendicular plane, we shall find that the path of the motion is all in view, appearing to us now as a path going around a line.

A plane can rotate on itself around one of its points. If two planes are absolutely perpendicular at a point O, one of them, rotating on itself in this way, remains absolutely perpendicular to the

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