But it is only by the bold formulation and ruthless rejection of hypotheses that progress is made, and even if we are compelled to abandon the Higher Space Hypothesis altogether—as is very possible—the negative information so gained will be of the greater value if the hypothesis has first been given the fullest possible trial.
W.W.S.
A Theory of The Mechanism of Survival
CHAPTER I
THE MEANING OF FOUR-DIMENSIONAL SPACE.
The main line of thought developed in these pages has no claims to originality. Professor Zöllner of Leipsic was an ardent exponent of the theory in the "seventies" and some authors hold that even the ancient writings of the East contain attempts to express Four-Dimensional concepts.
Whether this is actually so is open to doubt but it must be remembered that in the days when these writings were produced mathematical knowledge was itself in its infancy and that there was, therefore, no terminology available in which the Higher Space concepts could be suitably expressed even supposing that the ancient philosophers had them in mind.