Abstract
THIS work consists of seven chapters. The first four—the land of no dimensions, the land of one dimension, the land of two dimensions, and the land of three dimensions—consist of large extracts from “Flatland,” with a running commentary upon them, bringing out their salient facts. Indeed, had not “Flatland” been published, the author admits his own book would not have been written. In, Chapter V., the land of four dimensions is mathematically considered, and here we have stated, from analogy; the relations of a being in one dimension with that above him and its inhabitants, e.g. one in the third dimension (our world) with the fourth; and in Chapter VI. the land of four dimensions is considered in relation to ours of three. Chapter VII. considers generally the land of four dimensions, with facts and analogies. The fourth dimension is not discussed on the lines of Mr. Hinton's “What is the Fourth Dimension?” but after the mathematical side of the question has been considered, our author “further considers the actual facts around us bearing on the question, and compares the deduced laws of the fourth dimension with some of the claims of Christianity as stated in the Bible.” Here we must close our notice-as we cannot go into an examination of these topics in our columns—with saying that there is much of interest in the pages before us, and for some readers the speculations of the later chapters may have as much interest as the mathematical certainties of the earlier chapters have for others.
Another World; or, The Fourth Dimension.
By A. T. Schofield (London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1888.)
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Our Book Shelf . Nature 38, 363 (1888). https://doi.org/10.1038/038363a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/038363a0