SCIENTIFIC ROMANCES.
BY
C. H. HINTON, B.A.
[What is the Fourth Dimension?] [The Persian King.] [A Plane World.] [A Picture of Our Universe.] [Casting Out the Self.]
FIRST SERIES.
London.
SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO., LIM.,
Paternoster Square.
1886.
What is the Fourth Dimension?
CHAPTER I.
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 by the assumptions of our knowledge and supplemented by all the devices of intelligence. In such a state it is possible to conceive that a danger may arise, not only from a want of knowledge and practical skill, but even from the very presence and possession of them in any one department, if there is a lack of information in other departments. If, for instance, with our present knowledge of physical laws and mechanical skill, we were to build houses without regard to the conditions laid down by physiology, we should probably—to suit an apparent convenience—make them perfectly draught-tight, and the best-constructed mansions would be full of suffocating chambers. The knowledge of the construction of the body and the conditions of its health prevent it from suffering injury by the development of our powers over nature.