Scientific Romances (First Series)

And perhaps the most mischievous is the expression, a curvature of space. Now of space as it is generally used, in its accepted significance, there can be no curvature. For spac...

In conclusion let us remark that we have supposed two different worlds—one of sensation in the first part, one of motion in the second part. And these have been treated as disti...

It seems to me that the subject of higher space is becoming felt as serious, and fraught with much that is of the deepest interest, not only as a scientific problem, but in othe...

The foregoing examples make it clear that beings can be conceived as living in a more limited space than ours. Is there a similar limitation in the space we know?

If a piece of indiarubber lying on the table be pressed downwards with the finger it will move up when the finger is removed. The yielding and the resuming its original form are...

When he had seen the wanderer safely housed he determined to go and visit a friend who had lived in a town not very far from the metropolis. This friend had been his most intima...

Besides these two principal buildings in the metropolis, there were other public buildings devoted to various purposes. And some of the most important were colleges devoted to t...

And the best plan is to take a typical instance, and to adopt the Arabic method of description. By the Arabic method of description is meant the same method which the Arabs used...

He made his way slowly to the patch of cultivated ground, he knocked at the door of the hut, and then he called out. No answer was made to the sound of his voice, he entered, an...

Let us now leave this supposition of framework and threads. Let us investigate the conception of a four-dimensional existence in a simpler and more natural manner—in the same wa...

The king being left thus with the children, applied himself to thought. He directed his rays to one of the children and caused it to stand up, and, following the counsel of the...

Having now passed in review some of the properties of four-dimensional figures, it remains to ask what relations beings in four dimensions, if they did exist, would have with us.

The most apparently simple movements are those which we see taking place on the surface of the earth, connected with the agency which we call gravitation. We see the rivers flow...

At the present time our actions are largely influenced by our theories. We have abandoned the simple and instinctive mode of life of the earlier civilisations for one regulated...

When they came to the metropolis the clerk brought many of his acquaintances to see the student. From his position in the council chamber, he was able to address and induce many...

The history of the events which took place in the valley in their due order and importance must be sought elsewhere. But let us return and look at the condition of the valley an...

Passing on to the other great building, where the other wise men meet, it is right to describe what may be called the intellectual development—as the foregoing was the moral dev...

On the next day the student rose early and went forth alone. He did not, as was his wont, go amongst the people, but he passed through the streets towards the open country. On h...

In Persia there was once a king. On one occasion when he was out hunting he came to the narrow entrance of a valley. It was shut in on either side by vast hills, seemingly the s...

There are certain respects in which our world resembles the valley. Instead of regarding pleasure, pain, and feeling, let us examine the world we live in with regard to motion i...

If we reflect cautiously on the history of our opinions, we find that we often fall into error in respect to our freedom in attributing causes. If we are unfortunate we are apt...

Suppose certain sets of numbers were being presented to us one after the other, and amongst these three consecutive sets were the following. First set: 3, 5, 6. Second set: 8, -...

When we observe any movement taking place we ask what is the cause of it? what is the force which produces it? But surely, if we confine our inquiry to this point, we have made...

In the preceding, however, it must be remembered that this conception of an ultimate medium was merely a supposition to enable us to see and roughly map out the relations of the...

Now when the king saw the inhabitants becoming more like the human beings he had known, he felt that he was solitary, and he desired to have some intercourse with them. But when...