The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-12-18


for human being to occupy exclaimed
the writer
I've have something analogous to il
on the earth, continued DR.. Fankirk.
I'VE are in precisely such a position
when we climb hill, and houses built
on hillside stand at some other than a
right angle to its slOping side. Between
ourselves and our friends on the cubical
planet there is. however. this important
difference. We actually ascend hills
when we slant, but, by hypothesis, our
friend walks along surface all plane
when he slants, and the nearer he gets
to its edge the more he
slants. The effect upon him can,
however, be none other than
that he is going up an acclivity, and
this must be his impression. For. con-
slider the matter for a moment. A
mountain peak is higher than the COM
mon surface of the earth only because
its summit is further away from the
earth's center than is the plain at its
| base. Our traveller on the cubical
| planet gets at every step further from
the center of the cube. and consequently
at every step he ascands an acclivitv
and slants his body slightly to keep in
line with gravity. The further he gets
from the starting point we have given
| him the more he slantS-th.t is to say,
| the sleeper becomes his hill. until at
last. when he comes to the edge of the
| plane; he seems to stand upright once
more, and on the summit of a mountain,
and instead of lying on his face to look
down the jumping-of place he looks
! down into two valleys from his noun
tain top, the one valley being the plane
along which he has been journeying
| and the other being the adjacent side
of the cube. If, instead of going to the
| edge Of the plane he has travelled to one
of the four corners he has only assembled
and. with ever increasing difficulty. one
of four enormous, overlapping noun
tains as much higher in proportion than
| the ridge along the edge. rs the hv-
pothenuse of a right angled triangle is
longer than either of its sides. Do YOU
get my meaning?"
Yes" replied the wri.er. 1.-THE man
has been going up hill all the way, for
he has been getting further from the
center Of the cube.
And if he had gone to the opposite
edge of the square he would have rOne
up another hill. and so on. all around
the square, which would be an oblong
hollow, or cuSp, or cup continued the
doctor, having as its lowest point the
middle point of the square. There can
be no escape from this conclusion. You
or !. if we were now placed on such
planet, would know that in walking to
one of its edges we had gone I'D hill.
and this view of the matter would be
confirmed when, placing round stone
on our mountain side, we had seen it
roll down into the valley. What would
be true. however. Is that if would have
rolled merely from the edge of a plane
square surface TO its middle point in or
der to get as near as possible to the
center Of the cube. which is the radiating
point of gravitation.
Exactly" said the writer. "Now."
DR.. Nankirk went on. warming M to his
subject, 1.-The surface along which our
friend has been journeying is. by hy-
pothesis. plane-a square-and a line
drawn diagOnally from one corner to an
other will lie wholly on the surface, will
be a straight line, and will be the short
est distance between those two points.
But the man who has climbed to the
summit of one of those towering noun
tainS will know with a certainty that
nothing can shake, that that line which
Joins The two corners is a curve BEGIN
ming at his feet. running into the vale.
and then ascending to the summit of the
opposite mountain. What to him will
be the straight line and shortest dis
tance from the one cliff the other will
then really be curve arched over the
square from corner to corner. But
he himself. though gifted with the
mind of a Newton or a Pascal.
could never discover this. for it is
only by hypothesis that we ourselves
know otherwise. The system of which
he was part would compel him to hold
the straight line to be the curve and the
curve the straight line. Gravitation
would have done the business for his
mind. Light. which seems to us to
come in straight lines, to him would
come in curves, so that. as | said ut first.
he would always see around a corner.
just rs we can when light is refracted
or reflected. But the main point is that
his straight line being entirely different
from ours, his mathematics. astronomy.
molecular physics and physical science
in general would be different. They
would be logical. no doubt. and since
science would explain phenomena and
easily lead to the foretelling of events
like eclipSas and so on. it would be true
t1.1In h. Ii.
true mathematics.
but it seems to me. Doctor" said
the writer, THAT though our traveller on
the cubical planet would feel in his BODY
and legs that he had gone up hill. vet.
in casting his eyes back, it would all
seem plane to him, just as it really
is"
No, no, my son." replied the doctor.
grinning; 1--WE don't let our ewes correct
our other senses in that way at all. If
the mans eyes told him that he had |
traverSed plane and his legs said he |
had gone up hill he would call the work |
of his eyes an optical illusion. We on
the earth have numbers of such things. |
Our eyes, for instance. when we look |
down long stretch of railroad track. |
tell us that the rails come together at
last. With our legs, however. we cor
rect the error, just as our friend, the
traveller of wnom we are talking, would /
correct with his legs the errors of his
eyes" Thus ended DR.. Vankirk's dis
Among other noteworthy views of
the matter taken by different men was
that of DR.. Charles F. Winkie, the dis
opponent OF the nebular
theory in any form in which it NAV
present its ugly face to him. Upon be-
ing asked for his opinion DIR. Wrinkle