Abstract
As my name has been mentioned by Prof. Sylvester, at p. 238 of NATURE, in connection with this subject, I must ask you to allow me to make a brief remark thereupon. With the late Prof. Donkin I have not the least doubt as to this notion being “only a disguised form of algebraical formulisation.” I observe that Prof. Sylvester, while hypothetically mentioning his own blindness, backs up his belief by the names of seven great mathematicians, who are hypothetically assumed to have “an inner assurance of the reality” of space of four dimensions. A roll-call of great names is no evidence of a strong position, and in the present case the citation is somewhat unfortunate. My old friend Dr. Salmon, who is one of the seven mathematicians cited, would, I am sure, disclaim any such “inner assurance.” Without any breach of confidence I may quote his own reply to a question which I put to him long before the delivery of Prof. Sylvester's address. It was in these words: “I do not profess to be able to conceive affairs of four dimensions. . . I advise you to believe whatever Sylvester tells you, for he has the power of seeing things invisible to ordinary mortals.”
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INGLEBY, C. Transcendent Space. Nature 1, 289 (1870). https://doi.org/10.1038/001289b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/001289b0
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