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The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells [1898] `
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The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) `
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was expounding a recondite matter to us. His grey eyes shone and `
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twinkled, and his usually pale face was flushed and animated. The `
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fire burned brightly, and the soft radiance of the incandescent `
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lights in the lilies of silver caught the bubbles that flashed and `
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passed in our glasses. Our chairs, being his patents, embraced and `
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caressed us rather than submitted to be sat upon, and there was that `
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luxurious after-dinner atmosphere when thought roams gracefully `
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free of the trammels of precision. And he put it to us in this `
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way--marking the points with a lean forefinger--as we sat and lazily `
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admired his earnestness over this new paradox (as we thought it) `
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and his fecundity. `
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'You must follow me carefully. I shall have to controvert one or two `
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ideas that are almost universally accepted. The geometry, for `
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instance, they taught you at school is founded on a misconception.' `
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'Is not that rather a large thing to expect us to begin upon?' said `
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Filby, an argumentative person with red hair. `
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'I do not mean to ask you to accept anything without reasonable `
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ground for it. You will soon admit as much as I need from you. You `
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know of course that a mathematical line, a line of thickness _nil_, `
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has no real existence. They taught you that? Neither has a `
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mathematical plane. These things are mere abstractions.' `
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'That is all right,' said the Psychologist. `
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'Nor, having only length, breadth, and thickness, can a cube have a `
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real existence.' `
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'There I object,' said Filby. 'Of course a solid body may exist. All `
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real things--' `
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'So most people think. But wait a moment. Can an _instantaneous_ `
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cube exist?' `
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'Don't follow you,' said Filby. `
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'Can a cube that does not last for any time at all, have a real `
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existence?' `
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Filby became pensive. 'Clearly,' the Time Traveller proceeded, 'any `
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real body must have extension in _four_ directions: it must have `
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Length, Breadth, Thickness, and--Duration. But through a natural `
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infirmity of the flesh, which I will explain to you in a moment, we `
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incline to overlook this fact. There are really four dimensions, `
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three which we call the three planes of Space, and a fourth, Time. `
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There is, however, a tendency to draw an unreal distinction between `
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the former three dimensions and the latter, because it happens that `
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our consciousness moves intermittently in one direction along the `
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latter from the beginning to the end of our lives.' `
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'That,' said a very young man, making spasmodic efforts to relight `
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his cigar over the lamp; 'that ... very clear indeed.' `
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'Now, it is very remarkable that this is so extensively overlooked,' `
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continued the Time Traveller, with a slight accession of `
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cheerfulness. 'Really this is what is meant by the Fourth Dimension, `
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though some people who talk about the Fourth Dimension do not know `
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they mean it. It is only another way of looking at Time. _There is `
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no difference between Time and any of the three dimensions of Space `
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except that our consciousness moves along it_. But some foolish `
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people have got hold of the wrong side of that idea. You have all `
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heard what they have to say about this Fourth Dimension?' `
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'_I_ have not,' said the Provincial Mayor. `
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'It is simply this. That Space, as our mathematicians have it, is `
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spoken of as having three dimensions, which one may call Length, `
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Breadth, and Thickness, and is always definable by reference to `
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three planes, each at right angles to the others. But some `
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philosophical people have been asking why _three_ dimensions `
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particularly--why not another direction at right angles to the other `
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three?--and have even tried to construct a Four-Dimension geometry. `
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Professor Simon Newcomb was expounding this to the New York `
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Mathematical Society only a month or so ago. You know how on a flat `
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surface, which has only two dimensions, we can represent a figure of `
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a three-dimensional solid, and similarly they think that by models `
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of three dimensions they could represent one of four--if they could `
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master the perspective of the thing. See?' `
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'I think so,' murmured the Provincial Mayor; and, knitting his `
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brows, he lapsed into an introspective state, his lips moving as one `
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who repeats mystic words. 'Yes, I think I see it now,' he said after `
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some time, brightening in a quite transitory manner. `
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'Well, I do not mind telling you I have been at work upon this `
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geometry of Four Dimensions for some time. Some of my results `
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are curious. For instance, here is a portrait of a man at eight `
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years old, another at fifteen, another at seventeen, another at `
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twenty-three, and so on. All these are evidently sections, as it `
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were, Three-Dimensional representations of his Four-Dimensioned `
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being, which is a fixed and unalterable thing. `
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'Scientific people,' proceeded the Time Traveller, after the pause `
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required for the proper assimilation of this, 'know very well that `
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Time is only a kind of Space. Here is a popular scientific diagram, `
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a weather record. This line I trace with my finger shows the `
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movement of the barometer. Yesterday it was so high, yesterday night `
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it fell, then this morning it rose again, and so gently upward to `
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here. Surely the mercury did not trace this line in any of the `
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dimensions of Space generally recognized? But certainly it traced `
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such a line, and that line, therefore, we must conclude was along `
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the Time-Dimension.' `
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'But,' said the Medical Man, staring hard at a coal in the fire, 'if `
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Time is really only a fourth dimension of Space, why is it, and why `
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has it always been, regarded as something different? And why cannot `
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we move in Time as we move about in the other dimensions of Space?' `
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The Time Traveller smiled. 'Are you sure we can move freely in `
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Space? Right and left we can go, backward and forward freely enough, `
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and men always have done so. I admit we move freely in two `
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dimensions. But how about up and down? Gravitation limits us there.' `
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'Not exactly,' said the Medical Man. 'There are balloons.' `
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'But before the balloons, save for spasmodic jumping and the `
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inequalities of the surface, man had no freedom of vertical `
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movement.' `
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'Still they could move a little up and down,' said the Medical Man. `
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'Easier, far easier down than up.' `
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'And you cannot move at all in Time, you cannot get away from the `
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present moment.' `
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'My dear sir, that is just where you are wrong. That is just where `
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the whole world has gone wrong. We are always getting away from the `
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present moment. Our mental existences, which are immaterial and have `
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no dimensions, are passing along the Time-Dimension with a uniform `
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velocity from the cradle to the grave. Just as we should travel _down_ `
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if we began our existence fifty miles above the earth's surface.' `
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'But the great difficulty is this,' interrupted the Psychologist. `
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'You _can_ move about in all directions of Space, but you cannot `
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move about in Time.' `
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'That is the germ of my great discovery. But you are wrong to say `
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that we cannot move about in Time. For instance, if I am recalling `
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an incident very vividly I go back to the instant of its occurrence: `
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I become absent-minded, as you say. I jump back for a moment. Of `
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course we have no means of staying back for any length of Time, any `
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more than a savage or an animal has of staying six feet above the `
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ground. But a civilized man is better off than the savage in this `
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respect. He can go up against gravitation in a balloon, and why `
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should he not hope that ultimately he may be able to stop or `
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accelerate his drift along the Time-Dimension, or even turn about `
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and travel the other way?' `
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'Oh, _this_,' began Filby, 'is all--' `
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'Why not?' said the Time Traveller. `
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'It's against reason,' said Filby. `
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'What reason?' said the Time Traveller. `
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'You can show black is white by argument,' said Filby, 'but you will `
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never convince me.' `
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'Possibly not,' said the Time Traveller. 'But now you begin to see `
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the object of my investigations into the geometry of Four `
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Dimensions. Long ago I had a vague inkling of a machine--' `
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'To travel through Time!' exclaimed the Very Young Man. `
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'That shall travel indifferently in any direction of Space and Time, `
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as the driver determines.' `
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Filby contented himself with laughter. `
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'But I have experimental verification,' said the Time Traveller. `
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'It would be remarkably convenient for the historian,' the `
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Psychologist suggested. 'One might travel back and verify the `
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accepted account of the Battle of Hastings, for instance!' `
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'Don't you think you would attract attention?' said the Medical Man. `
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'Our ancestors had no great tolerance for anachronisms.' `
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'One might get one's Greek from the very lips of Homer and Plato,' `
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the Very Young Man thought. `
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'In which case they would certainly plough you for the Little-go. `
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The German scholars have improved Greek so much.' `
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'Then there is the future,' said the Very Young Man. 'Just think! `
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One might invest all one's money, leave it to accumulate at `
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interest, and hurry on ahead!' `
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'To discover a society,' said I, 'erected on a strictly communistic `
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