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