To

T h e I n habi tants o f SPA C E IN GE N E RA L

A nd H . C . IN PA R T I C U L A R

Thi s Wo r k i s Dedi c ate d

By a Hu mble N at i v e o f Flat lan d

In t he Ho pe t h at

E v en as h e w as I n i t i a te d i nt o th e Mys ter i es
O f T H R E E Di m e n s i o n s

H a v i n g be en p r e v i o u s ly c o n v er s ant

W i th O N LY Tw o

So the Ci ti z en s o f t h at Cele s t i al Reg i o n

May as p i re y et h i g her an d h i g he r

To th e Sec r e ts of FO U R FI V E OR EV E N SI ! D i mens i o n s

T h e r eby co n tr i bu t i n g

To th e E n larg em e n t o f TH E I M A G I N A TI O N

A nd t he o ss ible D e v e lo me n t
p p

O f t h at mo s t r are an d exc e lle n t G i ft o f M O D E ST Y

A mo n g th e S up e r i o r R ace s

O f SO L I D H U MA N I T Y
 FL A TL HN D

PA R T 1

T HIS WO R L D

—O N at ure
I .
f t he f
o Flat land .

I C AL L our world Flatland not because we call i t so b ut to m ake

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its nature clearer to you my happy readers who are privileged to live
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i n Space .

I magine a vast sheet o f paper o n whi ch straigh t Lines Triangles , ,

Squares Pentagons H exagons and o ther figures i nstead o f remaining

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fixed i n their places mo v e freely about o n o r in the surface b ut w ithou t

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the power of rising above or sinking bel o w it very m uch like shadows ,

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o nly hard and wi t h lu min ous edges— a nd you will then have a pre tty
correct notion of my country and cou ntrymen Alas a few years ag o
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I should have said my u niverse but now my mind has been opened
t o higher views o f thi ngs .

In su ch a c o u ntry yo u will perceive at once that it is i mpossible that

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t here sh o uld be any thing of wh a t y o u call a solid kin d but I d are say
y o u will s uppose that we c o ul d at least distinguish by sight the Triangles
S quares and o ther figu res m o ving about as I ha v e described them On .

the co ntrary we co ul d see nothing o f the kin d n o t at least so as to

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4 F la tla n a

distinguish o ne figu re fro m an o the r Nothing was visible nor could be

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v isible to us except straight Lines ; and the necessity o f this I wi ll

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speedily d emonstrate .

Place a pen ny on the m iddle o f one o f yo u r tables i n Space ; and

lean ing o ver it lo o k down upon it I t wil l appear a circle
, . .

B ut n o w drawing b ack to the e dge of the tab le grad ually lower

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your eye (thus b r inging yourself m ore an d more i nto the condition o f
the i nhab itants of F latlan d ) and yo u wil l find the pen ny becom ing m ore
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and more oval to you r V iew ; an d at last when you have placed yo u r
eye exactly on the edge o f the table (so t hat you are as it were , ,

actually a Flatland citizen ) the pen ny will t hen have ceased to appear
oval at all an d will have becom e so far as you can see a straigh t lin e
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.

The sam e thi ng would happe n i f you were to treat i n th e sam e way a
T riangle or S quare or any other figure cut o ut o f pas t eb oard As soon
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as yo u look at i t with y o u r eye on the edge o f

the table you wil l find that it ceases to appear
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to you a figure and that it beco mes i n appear,

ance a straight li ne Take for example a n .

equilateral T ri angle — who represents with us a

Tradesman o f the respectable class Fig I . .

represents the Tradesman as you wo ul d see him

while yo u were ben di ng over him from ab ove ;
W m figs 2 and 3 represent the Tradesman as you
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wo uld see hi m i f yo ur eye were cl o se to t h e

l evel or all b ut on the level of the t able ; and
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i f you r eye were qu ite o n the level of t h e t able

(and that i s how we see hi m in Flatland ) yo u
would see n o thing but a straight li ne .

When I was in Sp ac e lan d I heard that your sailors have very similar
experien ces while they traverse your seas and discern some dista nt isla nd
 Fla tla n d 5

or coast lying on the horizon . The far o ff land may ha v e bays forelan ds
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angles i n and out to a n y n umber and extent ; yet at a distance you see
n on e o f these ( unless i ndeed your su n shines bright upon them revealing
the proj ection s an d retirements by means o f light an d shade) nothing b ut ,

a grey unbroken li ne upon the water .

Well that is j ust wh at we see when one of our triangular or other

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acqu aintan ces comes towards us i n Flatland As there is n either su n .

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with us nor any light of s uch a ki nd as to make shadows we have non e
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of the helps t o t h e sight that y o u have i n Sp ac e lan d I f ou r frien d .

comes close to us we see his l ine becomes larger ; if he leaves us it

b ec o mes smaller : b ut still he looks like a straight line ; be he a
Triangle S quare Pentagon H exagon Circle what you will — a straight
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Lin e he looks and n o thing else .

Y o u may perhaps ask how u nder these disadvantageous circu mstances

we are able to distinguish our friends from one ano ther : but the answer
to this very natural question will b e more fitly an d easily give n when I
co me to describe the i nhabitants of Flatland F o r th e present let m e .

d efer this subj ect and say a word or t wo about the cli mate an d houses i n
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ou r cou ntry .

2 .
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Of t h e cli mate e mu lz ous es i n Flat land .

As with y o u so also with us there a r e fou r points of the compass

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North South East and West

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There being no sun n o r o ther heavenly bodies it is impossible fo r us to ,

determ ine the North i n the usual way b ut we have a m ethod of ou r own By .

a Law of Nature with us there i s a constant attraction to the S outh a nd

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although i n temperate climates this is very slight— s o that even a Woman

i n reasonable health can j ourney several furlongs northward without m uch
d i ffic u lty — yet the hampering e ffect o f the southward attraction is quite
s u fficient to serve as a compass i n most parts of o ur earth M oreo v er .
6

the rain (which falls at stated interva ls ) co ming always from th e North is ,

an addition al assistan ce ; and i n the towns we ha v e the gu idance of the

houses whi ch of c ourse have their side walls ru nni ng for the most part
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North and S o uth so that the roofs may keep o ff the rain fro m the
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North . I n the co untry w here there are n o houses the trunks of the
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trees se rve as some so rt of gui d e Altogether we ha v e not so m uch

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di ffic ulty as m ight b e expected i n determ ining our bearings .

Yet in ou r more temperate regions i n which the southward attracti on,

is hardly felt walkin g someti mes i n a perfectly desolate plai n where there
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hav e been no houses nor trees to guid e m e I have been occasionally ,

com p elled to remain stationary for hours together waiting till the rain ca me ,

before contin uing my j ourney O n th e weak and aged and especially on

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delicate Females the force of attraction tell s m u ch more heavily than

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on the robust of the Male S ex so that it is a poi nt of breeding i f you

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meet a Lad y i n the stree t always to give her the No rth s ide of the way
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—b y n o mean s an easy thing to d o always at short no tice when

you are i n ru de health and i n a climate where it is di fficult to tell you r
North fr o m your S outh .

Windows there are non e in our houses : for the light co mes to u s
alike i n ou r homes and o ut o f them by day and by night equally at , ,

all ti mes and i n al l places whence we know not It was i n old days
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with ou r learned men an interesting and oft investigated qu estion

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What is the origin of light ; an d the solution o f it has been repeatedl y

attempted with no other result than to crowd o ur lunatic asylu ms
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with the would b e solvers-

H ence after fruitless attempts to suppress
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su c h i nvestigations i nd irectly by m aking them liable to a heavy tax ,

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the Legislature in comparatively recent ti mes absolut e ly prohibited

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them I alas I alone i n Flatland — know n o w o nly too w ell the true
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sol uti on of this mysterious problem ; but my knowledge cannot be m ade

intelligib le to a single one of my cou ntrymen ; and I am mocked at— I ,
 F ta tla n d 7

the sole possessor of the truths of Space and of the theory o f the
i ntroductio n of Light from the world of Three Di mensio ns — as i f I were
th e maddest of the m ad ! B ut a truce to these pai nful digressio ns :

let me retu rn to o ur ho u ses

The most com mon fo rm for the construction of a house is five s i ded -

or pentagonal as i n th e annexed figure

, The two Northern si d es
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R0 , OF constitute the roof and

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for the most part have n o doo rs ; o n

th e East is a s mall door for the

Women ; o n the West a much larger

on e for the M en ; the S ou th sid e o r
floor is usually doorless .

S quare and trian g ular houses are

not allowed and for this reason
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The angles of a S quare ( an d still

m ore those o f an equilateral Triangle )
being m uch more pointed than those
of a Pentagon an d the lines of i nani mate obj e cts ( such as houses)
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being di mmer than the li nes o f M en and Women it fol lows that there
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is no little danger lest the points of a s quare or triangular house

residence might d o serious i nj ury to an in considerate or perhaps ab sent
minded t raveller suddenly running against them : and therefore as ,

early as the eleventh century of o ur era triangular houses were

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un iversally forb idde n by Law the only exceptions b eing fort ificatio ns
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powder magazines b arracks and other state b u ildings which i t is not

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desirable that the general public sho ul d approach without circu mspe ction .

At this period square houses were still everywhere permitted though

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discou raged by a special tax But about three centuries afterwards the
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Law d ecided that in all towns containi ng a population above ten th o usand ,

the angle o f a Pentagon was the smallest house angle that could be -
8 Fla t la n d

allowed consistently with the p ublic sa fety The good sense of th e .

com m unity has secon ded the e fforts o f the Legislature ; a nd now even ,

i n the country the pentagonal construction has superseded ev ery o th e r

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I t is only now and then in som e very rem ote a nd backward agricultural
district that an antiquarian m ay still discover a squ are house .

— Concerni n t /z e I n/z ué i tants f Flatland

3 .
g o .

The greatest length or breadth of a full grown i nhab itan t of Flatlan d -

may b e esti mated at ab out eleven of you r inches Twelve i nches m ay

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b e regarded as a ma x i mu m .

O u r Women are Straight Lines .

O u r Sold iers an d Lowest Classes of Workm en are Triangles with two

equal sides each about eleven i nches long and a base or third side so
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short (often not exceedi ng hal f an in ch) that they form at their vertices
a very sharp an d form idable angle I ndeed when thei r bases are of the
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most degraded type ( not m ore than the eighth part o f an inch i n size) ,

they can hardly b e d istinguished from S traight Li nes o r Wo men ; so

extre mely pointed are their vertices With us as with you these Triangles
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are distinguished from others by b eing called Isosceles ; an d by this

name I shall refer to the m in the following pages .

O ur M iddle Class consists of E qu ilateral o r E qual sided Triangles -

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O u r Professional M en and Gentleme n are S quares (to which class

I mysel f b elong) and Five sided figu res or Pentag o ns
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Next above these co me the N obility of whom there are several ,

d egrees begin ning at S ix —sided Figu res or H exagons and fro m thenc e
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rising i n the nu mber of thei r sides til l they receive the honourable title
o f Polygonal or many sided Fi nally when the n umber o f the sides
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becom es so n umerous and the sides themselves so small that the figure
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cannot b e distinguished from a circle he is in cluded i n the Circular or

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Priestly order and this is the highest class of all .

 Fla tla n d 9

It is a Law of Nature with us that a m ale child shall have on e more

side than his father so that each generation shall rise (as a rule ) o ne step
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i n the scale of development and nobility Thus the son of a Squ are
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i s a Pentagon the so n o f a Pentagon a H exagon ; and so on , .

B ut this rule applies not always to th e Tr ades men an d still less ,

often to the Soldiers an d to the W o rk men ; who i ndeed can hardly be ,

said to d eserve the nam e of hu man Figu res si nce they have not al l their ,

sides equal With the m therefore the L aw of Natu re d oes not h o ld ;

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and th e son of an Isosceles (zle a Triangle with two sides equ al ) remains .

Isosceles still Nevertheless al l hope is not shut out even from the
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I sosceles that his posterity may ulti mately ri s e ab o ve his degraded
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condition For after a long series of military successes or d iligent

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and skilful labou rs it is generally fo u nd that the more intelligent am o ng

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the Artisan and Soldier classes manifest a slight i ncrease of their third sid e
o r b ase and a shrinkage o f the tw o other sides I ntermarriages (arranged
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by th e Priests ) between the so ns and daughters of these mo re i ntellectual

members o f the l o wer classes generally result in an offspring ap p ro x i
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mating still more t o the type of the Equ al sid ed Triangle -

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Rarely— i n pr o portion t o the vast n umber o f I sosceles births — is a

genuine an d c e rt i fiable Equal sided Triangle p rod uced from Isosceles -

parents 1
S uch a bi rth requires as i ts antecedents not only a series o f
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carefully arranged intermarriages but als o a long conti nued exerc i se o f ,

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frugality and self c o ntro l o n th e part o f the would b e an cest o rs of the

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coming Equilateral and a patient system atic and contin uous development
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o f the Isosceles intellect through m any ge nerations .

1
What n eed a c rtificat ! a Sp l d cri tic m ay k Is t th p cr ati n f a Squa
of e e
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ace an as : no e ro e o o re

Son a c rti ficat fr m N atur h s lf pr vi n g th E qual sid dn ss f th Fath r ! I r ply that

e e o e er e , o e -
e e o e e e no

L dy f any p si ti n will mar y an

a o o ti fi d T iangl
o Squar ffspri ng has s m tim s
r sult d
u n c er e r e . e o o e e re e

fr m a sligh tly Irr g lar Triangl b t in alm st v ry such cas th Irr gula ity f th firs t
o e u e u o e e e e e r o e

g n rati n is v isi t d th third which i th fails t attai n th P ntag nal an k

e e o e on e laps s t e er o e e o r ,
o r re o o

th Triangular
e .
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The b irth o f a True Equilateral Triangle from I sosceles parents i s the

s ubj ect o f rej o icing i n o ur coun try for many furlongs r ou nd Afte r a .

s tric t ex ami na tion c o ndu c t ed by the S an i tary an d Social Board the in fan t , ,

i f ce r ti fied as Regular is with sole mn ceremon ial adm i tted in to the class o f
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Equilaterals H e is then i m med iately taken fro m his prou d yet sorrowing
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parents an d adopted by s o me childless E quilateral who is bou n d by oath

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never to permit the child henceforth to enter his former hom e or so m u ch

as to look upo n his relations again for fear lest the freshly developed
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organis m m ay by force of un conscious i m itation fal l back again i nto his

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hereditary level .

The occasional eme rgence of an I sosceles fro m the ranks of his serf
born ancestors is wel com ed not only by the poor serfs themselves as a
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gleam of light an d h O p e shed upon t h e mon o ton o us squalor o f thei r

existence b u t als o b y th e Aristocracy at large ; for all the higher classes
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are well aware that these rare phenomena while they do lit tl e or n othi ng
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to vulga r ise thei r own privileges serve as a most useful barrier against
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rev o l u t ion fro m b elow .

H ad the acute angled rabble b een all without exception absolutely

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d estitute o f hope and o f ambition they might have fou nd leaders i n som e
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o f thei r m any seditious o utbreaks so able as to render their superior

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num bers an d strength too m uch eve n for the wisdom of the C ircles .

B ut a wise ordinance of Nature has d ecreed that i n proportio n as ,

the working classes in crease in i ntelligen ce knowledge an d al l virtue

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in that same proporti on thei r acute angle (which m akes the m physically
terrible) shall i ncrease also and approxi mate to the harmless angle of
the Equilateral Triangle Th us i n the m o st b rutal and formidable of
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t h e s o ldier class c r ea t ures al most o n a level wi t h wom en i n thei r lack

of in telligence— i t is fo und that as they wax i n the me ntal ab ility

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n ecessary to employ t heir trem endous pene trating power to advantage ,

so do they wane i n the power of penetration itsel f .

 I 2 Fla tla n d

But here perhaps so m e o f my younger Readers m ay ask no w a

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woman i n Flatland can m ak e herself i nvisible This ought I think t o .

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be apparen t without any explanation H o wever a few words will m ak e

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it clear to t h e m ost u nre flecting .

Place a n eedle o n a table Then with y o u r eye o n the level o f the

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tab le look at it side ways and y o u see the whole length o f it ; but look
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at it end ways and yo u see n othing b ut a poi nt it has become practically

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i nvisible Just so is it with one of our Wom en When her side is turned
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towards us we see her as a straight l ine ; when the end containing her
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eye o r m outh — for with us these two organs are i dentical — is the part
that meets o ur eye then we see n othing b ut a highly l ustr o us poin t b ut
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when the b ack is presente d to o ur view then — being only s ub l ustrous ,

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and i ndeed al most as di m as an i nan i mate o bj ect — her hi nder extremity

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serves her as a kin d of I nvisibl e Cap .

The dangers to which we are exposed fr o m o ur W o me n m ust n o w

be manifest to the m eanest capacity in Sp ac elan d I f even the angle .

of a r espectable Triangle i n the middle class is not wi th o ut its dange r s ;

if to ru n against a Working M an i nvolves a gash ; i f collision with an
O fficer of the military class n ecessitates a seri o us wound if a mere t o uch
from the vertex of a Private S oldier brings with it danger of d eath
what can it b e t o ru n agai nst a Wo man except absolute an d im mediate ,

destru ction ! A nd when a Wo man is invisible o r visible o n ly as a dim ,

sub l ustro us point how d i fficult m ust it be even for th e most cau tious
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always t o avoid c o llision !

M any a r e the enactments m ade at d ifferent ti m es i n the di fferent
States of Flatland i n o rder to mi ni miz e this peri l ; an d i n the Southern
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a n d l ess t e mperate cli mates where the fo rce of gravitation is greater

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and h um an beings m o re liab le to casual an d i nvolu ntary m otions the ,

Laws c o ncerni ng Wo men are naturally m uch m ore stringent Bu t a .

general view of th e Code may be o btai ned from the foll o wing su m mary
 Fla tla n d

Every house shall have one entrance i n th e Eastern side fo r the use
I .
,

of Females o nly ; by whi ch all females shall enter i n a becoming and

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respectful man ner 1

and n ot by the Men s or Wes t ern d o or
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2 No Female shall walk i n any public place with o ut conti n ually

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keeping up her Peace cry u nder penalty o f dea th -

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3 Any Fem
. ale d uly certi fied to be,s ufferi ng from St Vitus s Dance .
’

fits chronic col d acc o mpanied by vi o lent sneezing o r any disease

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necessitating i nv o l untary motions shall be i nstantly destr o yed , .

I n some o f the Sta t es there is an addi t i o nal Law fo rbiddi ng Females ,

under penalty o f death fro m walking o r standing i n any p ublic place

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without movi ng their backs c o nstantly fr o m right to left s o as to indi ca t e

their p r esence to thos e b ehind them ; others oblige a Wom an when ,

travelling t o b e followed by o ne o f her so ns or servants or by her

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husband o thers confi n e W o men al t ogether to thei r houses except d u r ing

t h e religi o us festivals B ut i t has been found by th e wisest of our Circles
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or Statesmen that the mu ltiplication o f restricti o ns on Fe males tends

not only to th e debili t a t ion an d di min ution o f the race but also to th e ,

i ncrease o f d o m estic m urders to such an extent that a State l o ses

more than it gains by a too prohibitive C o de .

For whenever the temper o f the Women is t hus exasperated by con

fin e m e n t at hom e or hampering regulati o ns abr o ad t hey are apt to ven t ,

t hei r spleen up o n t heir h usb ands and children and i n the less temperate
c limates the whole male population o f a village has been s o m etimes
destroyed i n o ne or tw o hours of sim ultaneou s fem ale outbreak H ence .

the Three Laws m entioned above su ffice for th e better regulated States
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and may b e accepted as a rough e x e m p li fic at i o n o f o u r Fe male Cod e .

A fter all our prin cipal safeguard is found not i n Legislature b ut i n

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1 I was i n Sp l d I un d st d that s m f y ur Pri stly Circl s hav in th sam

Wh e n ac e an er oo o e o o e e e e e

w y a s para t
a ntranc f V illag rs Farm rs and T ach rs f B ard Sch ls ( Sp t t S p t
e e e e or e ,
e , e e o o oo ec a or, e .

188 4 p 55, ) tha t

. th y
12 m ay appr ach i
e n a b c ming a n d r sp c tful mann r
o e o e e e .
”
I 4 Fla tlan d

the i nterests of the Women the m se lves For although they ca n i nflict .
,

i nstantane o us dea t h by a retrograde m ovement yet u nless they ca n at ,

o nce d i sengage their stinging extrem ity fro m the struggli ng body of
their vic t i m thei r o w n frail bod ies are liable to b e shattered
,
.

The power of Fashio n is also o n ou r sid e I pointed out that in so me .

less civil ised States n o fe m ale i s su ffered t o stan d i n any p ubli c place with
o ut swaying her back fro m right to left This practi ce has been u niversal .

among ladies of any p retensions to breedi ng in all well govern ed States as -

far back as the memo ry of Figu res can reach I t is considered a disgrace .

t o any State that legislati o n should have t o en fo rce what ought to be an d ,

is i n every respectab le fe m ale a natural instin ct The rhythm ical and if I

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may so say well mod ulated un d ulation of the back i n o ur ladies of Circular
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rank is envi ed a nd i m ita t ed by the wife o f a com mon Equilateral who can ,

achieve n o thing beyon d a m ere monoton ou s swing like the ti cki ng o f a ,

pend ulu m and the regular tick of the E qu ilateral is n o l ess ad mired an d
copied by the wife of th e p r o gressive and aspiri ng Isosceles in the fem ales ,

of wh o se family no back motion of any ki n d has b ecom e as yet a

“ -
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necessi ty of life H ence i n eve r y fam il y o f p o siti o n and consideration

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b ack m o t ion is as prevalent as t i m e i t self ; and the husbands an d sons

i n these households enj oy i m mu nity at least fro m i nvisible attacks .

Not that it m ust be for a mo ment supposed that ou r Wome n are

destitute o f affection B ut u nfortunately the passion of the m oment
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pred o minates i n the Frail S ex over every o ther consideration This is

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,

of course a necessi ty arising fro m their u n fortunate confo r mation For

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as they have no pretensions to an angle being i nferior i n this respect to ,

th e very lowest of the I sosceles they are consequ ently wholly devoid o f
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b rain power and have neither reflecti o n j udgment n or for ethough t and
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hardly any memo ry H ence i n their fi ts o f fury they remember no

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claims and recogn ise no disti nctions . I have actu ally known a case
where a Woman has extermin ated her whole household and hal f an hour ,
 Fla tla n d 15

afterwards when her rage was over and the fragments swept away has
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asked what has bec o me of her h usband and her child r en I

O bviously then a W o man i s n o t t o be i r ri ta t ed as l o ng as she is i n a
positi o n where she can turn roun d When you have them i n th e i r
.

apartmen ts — which a r e con struc ted wi th a vi ew to denyi ng the m that

p o wer— y o u can say and d o what y o u like ; for they are then wh o lly
i mp o ten t for m ischief a nd w ill not remember a few mi nutes hence the
,

incident for which t hey may b e at this moment threatening y o u wi t h

dea th nor the pro mises which you may have foun d it necessa r y to
,

make in order to paci fy their fu ry .

O n the whol e we get o n pret t y s moo thly i n o ur d o mes t ic rela t i o ns ,

e xcept i n the lower strata of the M ilitary Classes Th ere the wan t of t act
.

an d discreti o n on the part of the hu sb ands pr o d uces at t i mes i ndesc r ibable

disasters Relying too m uch on the o ffensive weap o ns o f t heir acute angles
.

i nstead of the defensive organs o f good sense and seas o nable simula tions ,

these reckless creatures too o ft en neglect the prescribed c o ns t r uc tion o f t h e

Women s apartmen ts or irritate thei r wives by i ll advised exp r essi o n s
’

,
-

out of do o rs which they refuse i m mediately t o re t ract M o reover a blu nt

, .

and st o lid regard for literal tru th indisposes t hem t o make t hose lavish
pro mises by which the m ore j udicio us C ircle can in a m o ment paci fy his
c o nso r t The result i s massacre ; n o t however wi th o ut its adva n t ag e s
.
,

as it eli mi nates the m ore brutal and tr o ublesom e o f the Is o sceles ; an d

by many o f o ur Ci rcles the des tr uc t iveness o f the Thi n ner Sex is
regarded as on e am o ng m an y providential arrange men ts fo r suppressing
redu ndant pop ulatio n an d nipping Revolu t ion i n the b ud
,
.

Yet eve n in o ur best regulated and most approxima t ely circ ular families
I cannot say that th e ideal of family life is so high as wi t h y o u i n Sp ac e lan d .

There is peace in so far as the absence of slaugh t e r may be call e d by th at

,

name b ut there is necessarily li t tle ha r m o ny o f tastes or pu r sui ts an d th e

,

cauti o us w isd om of the Circles has ensured safety at the cost of : d omestic
 I 6 Fla tla n d

com fort . I n every Circ ular or Polygonal h o usehold it has been a habit
fr o m time i m memorial — an d has now bec o m e a ki nd of instinct a mong
the women of ou r higher classes — that the m o thers an d daughters should
cons tan t ly keep thei r eyes and m o uths t o wards their husband an d his male
fr iends and fo r a lady i n a fam ily of distinc t i o n t o t u rn her back upon her
h usband w o uld be regard ed as a kind of p o rtent involvi ng loss o f s tatus , .

B ut as I shall s o on shew this c ust o m t hough it has the advantage o f

, , ,

safety i s n o t without its d isadvantages

,
.

I n the ho use o f the Working Man or respectable Trades man — where the
wife is allowed t o tu r n her back upo n her h usband while p ursuing her ,

household avocations — there are at least intervals o f quiet when the wi fe ,

is neither seen nor heard except for the h u m ming sound of the contin uous
,

Peace cry ; b ut i n the ho mes of th e upper classes there is t o o o ften no

-

peace There the volub le mouth and b right penetrating eye are eve r
.

directed t o wards the M aster o f the household ; and light itself is n ot

m ore persiste nt than the stream of femin ine d iscourse The tact and .

skill which s u ffice to avert a Woman s sting are u nequal t o the task ’

’
o f stopping a Wo man s mouth ; and as the wife has absol utely no thing
t o say and absol u t ely n o c o nstraint o f wit sense o r conscience to
, , ,

prevent her fro m sayi ng i t n ot a few cynics have been found to aver
,

t hat they prefer the danger o f the death deali ng b ut inaudible sti ng -

’
to th e
safe sonorousness o f a Woman s other end .

T o my readers in Sp ac e lan d the condition of our Women m ay seem

i
truly depl or able and s o i nd eed it is A M ale of the lo n/e s t type o f th e
, .

I sosceles may l o ok fo rward to som e i mprovement o f h i s angle and to the ,

u l t i mate elevatio n of the whole o f his degraded caste b ut no Woman can

entertai n su ch h o pes fo r her sex O nce a Wo m an alw ay s a W o man is a
”
.
,

D ecree o f Natu r e ; and the ve ry Laws o f Evol ution seem suspended in he r

disfavour Yet at least we can ad mi re the wise Prea rr angement whi ch has
.

or dai ned tha t as they have n o h o pes s o they shall have no m em ory to
, ,
 Fla tla n d I 7

recall and no forethought to a n ti c i p ate the m iseries and humiliat i ons

, , ,

which are at once a necessity of their existence and the basis of the
constitution of F latlan d .

— 0 met h ods
5.
f o ur f
o reco ni z
g i ng one anot h er .

You who are blessed with shade as well as ligh t you wh o are gifted
, ,

with two eyes endowed with a k nowledge of perspecti v e and charmed

, ,

w ith the enj o yment of various colours y o u who can actually s ee an angle
, , ,

and contemplate the complete circ um ference of a Circle i n the happy

regi o n o f the Three D imensions — h o w shall I make clear to you the
extrem e di fficulty which we i n Flatland experience i n recognizing one
’
ano t her s configurations !
Recall what I told you above All beings in Flatland ani mate or
.
,

inani mat e no m atter what their form present to o u r v i ew the same or

, , ,

nearly the same appearance vi z that o f a straight Li ne H ow then can

, , . .

one b e distinguished from another where all appear the sam e !

,

The answer is threefo ld The fi rst m eans o f recognition is the sense of

.

hearing ; which with us is far mo r e highly developed than with you and ,

which enables us not only to distingu ish by the v o ice o ur personal fr iends ,

but even to discri mi nate between di fferent cl asses at least so far as ,

c o nce r ns the three lowest orders the Equilateral the S quare and the
, , ,

Pentagon — fo r o f the Isosceles I take n o account B ut as we ascend i n .

t h e s o cial scale th e process o f d iscri minating and being discri minated

,

by hearing increases in d i fficul t y partly because voices are assimilated

, ,

partly b ecause the facul ty o f voice discrimination is a plebeian vi rtue not

-

m uch devel o ped among the Aristocracy And wherever there is any danger .

of i mposture we cann o t trust to this method Amongst o ur lowest orders . ,

the v o cal o rgans are devel o ped to a degree m ore than c o rresp o ndent
w ith those o f hearing s o that an I sosceles can easily feign the v o ice of a
,
I 8 Fla tla n d

Polygon and with some train ing that of a Circle hi m sel f

, , , . A second
method is therefo re m ore com monly res o r ted to .

Fe l i is am o ng ou r Wo me n and lower classes — ab out ou r uppe r

e ng ,

classes I shall speak presently — the p r i ncipal test of recognition at al l ,

even ts between strangers and when the question is not as to the i nd ividual
, , ,

“ ”
b ut as to the class What therefore i ntrodu ctio n is among the higher
.

”
classes i n Sp a c e lan d that the process of feeli ng is with us
, Permit m e .

t o ask y o u to feel and be felt by my friend M r — is still among So —and

”
so .
-

the m ore old fashioned of our cou ntry gentleme n i n distri cts re mote fr o m
-

t o wns the custom ary form ula for a Flatland introd uction B ut i n the
, .

towns and among m en o f b usi ness the words be felt by are o mitte d
,
“
,
”

and the se nte nce is abbreviated to Let me ask you t o feel Mr So and ,
“
.
-

“
so although it is assumed of course that the feeling i s to b e re c i p ro , ,

cal . Among ou r still m ore mod ern and d ashi ng you ng gentlemen — who
are ex t re mely averse to superfluous effort and supremely i ndi fferent to the
puri ty of their native language the form ula is still further curtailed by th e
“ ” “
use of to feel i n a techni cal sense meaning to recom m end for the , ,
- -

“ ”
p urposes o f feeling an d b eing felt
-
and at this mo m en t the slang o f
- - - -
”

polite or fast society in the upper classes sanctions su ch a barbarism as

M r S mith permit m e to feel yo u M r J
.
, ones . .
”

“
Let not my Reader however suppose that feeling is with us the
tedious process that it would be wi th y o u o r that we fi nd it n ecessary to feel ,

right round all the sides of e v ery i ndividual befo re we determ i ne the class
t o which he belongs Long practice an d training begun i n the sch o ols and
.
,

contin ued i n the expe rience of daily l ife enable us to d iscri minate at o nce ,

b y th e sense of to uch b etwee n the angles of an equ al si d ed Triangle

,
-
,

S quare and Pentag o n and I need n o t say that the brai nless vertex o f an
,

acu te angled I sosceles is obvious to the d ullest touch I t is therefo re not

-

necessary as a rule t o do more than feel a singl e angle o f any i ndivid ual ;
, ,

and thi s once ascertained tells u s the class of the person whom we are
, ,
20 Fla tla n d

through the diagonal ; and thereby partly in consequ ence o f his long
,

i mp r is o n ment an d degradation and partly because o f the moral shock

,

’
which pervaded the whol e o f my Ancestor s relations ,
threw back our
family a degree an d a half i n their ascent towards better things The .

result was that i n the next generation the fam ily brain was registered
at only an d not till the lapse o f five generations was the l o st
°
grou nd recovered ,
the full 6 0 attained an d the Ascent from the I sosceles
,

fi nally achieved . And all this series of calamities fro m one little accident
i n the pr o cess of Feeling .

At this point I think I hear some o f m y better edu cated readers

exclaim , H ow could you i n Flatlan d know anyt hing abo ut angles and
degrees or m inutes ! We can s ee an angle because we i n the region o f
, ,

Space can see two straight li nes i nclin ed t o on e an other ; but you who
, ,

can see n o thing but on e straight line at a ti m e or at al l events o nly a ,

n umber of bits of straight lines all i n on e straight li ne — how can yo u ,

”
ever d iscern any angle an d m u ch less register angles of di fferent sizes !
,

I answer that though we cannot s ee angles we can i nfe r them and , ,

this with great precision O ur sense of t ou ch stimulated by necessity

.
, ,

and developed by long trai ning enables us to distingu ish angles far more
,

accu rately than your sense of sight w hen unaided by a rule or measure
,

o f angles N o r m ust I o mit to explain that we have g r eat n atural helps

. .

I t is with us a Law of Nature that the brain of the I sosceles class shall
begin at hal f a d egree or thirty m inutes and shall increase ( i f it increases
, ,

at all ) by half a d egree in every generation ; u ntil the goal o f 6 0 is

°

reached when the condition of serfdo m is quitted an d the freeman enters

, ,

the class of Regulars .

Consequently Nature hersel f supplies us with an ascending scale

,

or Alphabet of angles fo r half a degree u p to Specimen s o f which

are placed i n every Elementary S cho o l through o ut the land Owin g .

to oc casional re trogressions t o still more frequent moral and intellectual

,
 Fla tla n d 2 I

stagnation ,
and to the extraordinary fec undity of the Cri mi nal and
Vagabond Classes there is always a vast ,
su
p e rflu i ty of i ndividuals o f the
hal f degree and single d egree class and a fair abu ndance of Specimens
,

up to These are absol utely des t itu te of civic rights ; and a great
n umb er of them n ot having even i ntelligen ce enough for the p urposes
,

of warfare are d evoted by the States to the service of education

, .

Fettered i m movably so as to rem ove all p ossibili ty of danger they are ,

placed in the class rooms o f o ur I n fant Scho o ls and there they are ,

utilized by the Board of Education for the purp o se of i mparti n g to the

o ffspring of the Middle Classes that tact and intelligence of which these
wretched creatures themselves are utterly devoid .

I n s o m e states the Speci men s are occasi o nally fed and su ffered to
exist fo r several years ; b ut i n the more temperate and be tter regulated
regi o ns it is found in the long run m ore advan tageous fo r the educat ion al
,

i nterests of the young to dispense with food and to renew the Speci mens
, ,

every month —which is about the average d urati o n of the fo odless

,

existence of the Criminal class I n the cheaper schools what is gained

.
,

by the longer exis tence o f the Specimens is lost partly in the expenditure ,

for food and partly in the diminished accuracy of the angles which
, ,

“
are impaired after a few weeks of constant feeling Nor m ust we .

forget to add i n enu merati ng th e advantages of the m o re expensive system

, ,

that it tends though slightly yet perceptibly to the dimin u t ion o f the
, ,

redundant I sosceles population — an o bj ect which every statesman in

Flatland constantly keeps in V iew O n the whole the r efore— al though
.

I am not igno r ant that in many pop ularly elected Sch oo l Boards there
, ,

is a reaction in favour o f the cheap system as it is called — I am mysel f

,
”

d isposed to think that this is one of the many cases i n which expense
is the truest economy .

B ut I m ust not allow questions o f S ch o ol B o ard politics to divert m e

from my subject Enough has been said I trust to sh o w that Recogniti o n
.
, ,
22

b y Feeling is n et so tedious o r indec isive a process as m ight have been

s upposed ; an d it is o bviously m o re trustworthy than Recogniti o n by
hea r i n g S t ill there remai n as has been p o i n ted out ab o ve the obj ection
.
, ,

that t his meth o d is n o t wi t h o u t danger For t his reas o n m any i n the

.
‘

M iddle and Lower classes an d all with o ut excep t i o n in the Polygonal

,

and Circular orders prefer a third method the description of which shall
, ,

b e reserved for the next section .

6 — O/ R ecog ni t i on hy Sig ht
.
_
.

I am about to appear very inconsistent I n previous sections I have .

said tha t all figures i n Fl atland p resen t the appearan ce of a straight line
and i t was added or i mplied that it is consequently i mpossible to d istin
,

guish by the visual organ between individuals o f different classes : yet

n o w I am abo ut to explain to my Sp ac e lan d Cri tics h o w we are able
to recogniz e o ne ano ther by the sense of sight .

I f h o wever th e Reader will take the tr o uble to refer to the passage

i n which Rec o gnition by Feeli n g is sta ted to be u niversal he will find ,

t his q u ali fic at i o n among the l o wer classes I t is only among the .

higher classes and i n ou r more temperate cli mates that Sight Recognition
is practised .

That this powe r exists i n any re gions and fo r any classes is the resul t ,

o f F o g ; which prevails during the greater part of the year i n all parts
save th e to rrid zones That which is with yo u i n Sp ac e la n d an u nmixed
.

evil blot t ing o u t the landscape d epressing the spirits and en feebling the
, , ,

heal th is by us recognized as a blessi ng s carcely in ferior to air itself and

, ,

as t h e Nurse o f art s and Parent of scien ces B ut let m e explain my .

mean ing wi th o ut furt her eu logies o n this b en e fic e n t Element

, .

I f Fog were non existent all li nes woul d appear equally an d i n

-

d is tinguishably clear ; and this is actu ally the case in th o se unha ppy
c o u ntries i n which the atm o sphere is perfectly d ry and transparent .
 Fla tla n d 23

B ut wh erever there is a rich supply of F o g o bj ects that are at a distance , ,

say o f three feet are appreciably di m mer than t hose at a d istance o f two
,

fee t eleven inches ; and the result is that by careful and c o ns t ant e x p e ri
mental observa tio n o f comparative d im ness and clearness we are enabled
,

to i nfer with great exactness the c o n figu ration of th e obj ect observed .

An i nstance will do m ore than a volu me o f generalities to make my

meaning clear .

Suppose I see two in divid uals ap

p ro ac h i n g whose rank I wish to asce rtain .

They are we wi ll suppose a M erchant

, ,

and a Physician o r i n other words an

, ,

Equilateral Triangle an d a Pentago n

how am I t o d istingu ish them !
I t will b e o bvi o us to every child i n ,

Sp ac e lan d who has touched

the threshold of Geometri cal
Studies that i f I can bring
, ,

m y eye s o tha t i t s glance

may bisect an angle ( A) o f
the approaching stranger ,

my view wi ll lie as i t were

eve nly between his two
sides that are next to me
( viz
. CA and AB ) so t hat ,

I shall conte mplate the two i mpartially an d both will appear of the ,

same size .

Now i n the case of ( I ) the Merchant what shal l I see , I shall see a
‘
straight li ne DAE i n w h i c h th e middle poi nt (A) will b e v ery bright because
,

it is nearest to me b ut on either side the lin e wi ll shade away rap i d ly i n to

d i m nes s because the sides AC and AD reced e rap i d ly i n to th e f og ; and
,
24 Fla tlan d

what appear to me as the M erchant s extremities

’
, vi z . D and C wi ll be
,

O n the o ther hand i n the case of (2) the Physic ian though I shal l here ,

als o see a li ne with a bright centre yet it will shade away les s
’ ’
rap i d ly i nto di m ness because the sides
, A B ) recede les s rap i d ly i n to

the f og and what appear t o m e the Physician s extremities viz

’

, . D
'
and E
’
,

will b e n o t s o d i m as the extre mities o f the M erchant .

The Reader will prob ably u nderstand fro m these two i nstances how
— aft er a very lo ng training supple mented by c o nstant experience — i t is

possible for the well ed ucated classes a mong us to discrimi nate with fair
-

accu racy between the m id dle and l owest orde rs by the sen se o f sight ,
.

I f m y Sp ac e lan d Patron s h ave grasped this gen eral conception so far as ,

to con ceive the possibility of it and n o t to rej ect my accou n t as altogether

i ncredibl e— I shall have attain ed all I can reason ably expect Were I t o .

attempt furthe r details I should o nly perplex Yet for the sake o f the
.

young and i nexperienced who m ay perchan ce in fer fro m the two simple
,
-

ins tances I have given above o f the m anner i n which I should recognize
,

my Father and my S ons — that Recogni t ion by sight is an easy affai r it ,

m ay b e n eedful to p o int out that in actu al life m o st of the problems of

S ight Recogniti o n are far more subtle an d complex .

I f for example when m y Father the Triangle approaches m e he

, , , ,

happens to present his side to m e i nstead o f his angle then u ntil I have , ,

asked hi m t o rotate o r u ntil I have edged my eye roun d him I am for

, ,

the mom ent d o ubtful whether

h e m ay n o t be a Straight Li ne ,

or i n other words a W o m an
, ,
.

Again when I am in the com,

pany o f one of my two hexa

g o n al Grandsons c o n templating ,

o n e o f his sides ( AB ) full fron t ,

 F la ti n a d 25

i t will b e evid ent fro m the accompanyi ng d iagram that I shal l see
one whole line (AB ) i n c o mparative b r ightness (shading o ff h ardly
at al l at the ends ) an d two smaller lines (CA and E U ) di m through
ou t and shading away i nto greater di mness t o ward the ex t re mities
C and D .

B ut I m ust not give way to the temptation o f enlarging o n these

topics The m eanest mathe m atician in Sp ac e lan d will readily b eli eve m e
.

when I assert that the problems o f l ife which present the mselves t o t h e
,

well educated — when they are thems e lves in m o ti o n r o tati ng ad vanc ing
-

, ,

or retreating and at the sam e tim e attempting t o discri min ate by the
,

sen se of sight between a n u mber o f Polygons of high rank m ovin g i n

di fferent d irections as fo r example i n a ball room or co nve rsazion e
,
-

must b e o f a n ature to task the angularity of the most intellectual an d ,

amply j us t ify the rich endowments o f the Learn ed Professors o f Geom et r y ,

b o th S t atic and K in etic i n the illustrious U niversity of We n tbri d g e

, ,

where the S cience an d Art of Sight Recogn ition are regu larly taught to
large classes of the eli te of the S tates .

I t i s o n ly a few o f the scions of ou r n o blest and wealthiest houses

'

w h o are able to give the tim e and m o ney necessary fo r the thorough

pr o secu t i o n o f t his noble an d val uabl e Art Even to m e a M ath ematician

.
,

of n o mean standing an d the Grand fathe r o f two most hop eful and
,

perfectly regular H exagons to fi n d mysel f i n the m idst o f a crowd of

,

rotating Polygons of the higher classes i s occasi o nally very perplexin g

,
.

An d of course to a com mon Tradesman or S erf s u ch a sight is alm o st as

, ,

u nintelligible as it w o uld b e to you m y Reader were you suddenly

, ,

transp o rted i nto our country .

I n such a crowd yo u could see on all sid es of yo u nothi n g b ut a Lin e ,

apparently straight b ut of which the parts wo ul d v ary irregularly and

,

perpetu ally in brightnes s or d im ness Even if you had com pleted you r
.

third year i n the Pentagonal and H exagonal classes i n th e Un iversi ty an d ,

26 F la l la n d

were perfect in t h e theory o f the s ubj ec t you woul d still fi nd that there ,

was ne e d of many years of ex perience b efore you could m ove in a ,

fash ionabl e crowd witho ut j ostling again st your betters whom it i s agains t ,

”
etiquett e to ask to feel a nd who by thei r superi or c ulture an d breeding
, , ,

know all about you r m ove men ts while you know very little or n othi ng
,

about theirs I n a word to com port o neself with perfect pr o p riety i n

.
,

Polygo nal s oci ety o ne ought to b e a Polygon one s el f S uch at least is

, .

th e pai nful tea chi ng o f my experience .

I t is astonishing how much the Art— o r I m ay al most call it in stinct

of Sight Recognitio n is developed by the habitual practice of i t and b y
the avoidan ce of the cu sto m o f Feeling Just as with yo u the d eaf .
, ,

a nd du mb if once al lowed to gesticu late and to u se the han d alpha b et

,
-

will never acquire th e m o re di fficult b ut far m ore valuable art of l ip spe e ch -

“
and lip read ing s o it is wi th us as regards S eeing and
-

,
Feeling ”
.

Non e who i n early li fe r esort t o “

Feeli ng ”
wi ll ever l earn “
S eeing ”
in
perfection .

For this reason a m o ng ou r H igher Classes Feeling is d iscou rag e d

, ,
”

o r absolutely fo rbidd en Fro m the cradle their childre n i nstead of going

.
,

t o the Publ ic E leme ntary schools (where the art of Feeling is taught ) ,

are sent to higher S em i naries o f a n exclusive character ; an d at ou r illus

tri o n s U n iversi ty to feel is regarded as a m o st serious fault i nvolving
,
”
,

Rustication for the fi rst offen ce and Expulsion for th e second, .

B ut am o ng the l ower classes the a r t o f S ight Recognition is regarded

as an u nattai nabl e l u xu ry A com m on Trades man cannot afford to let
.

his son spend a thi rd o f his li fe i n abstract stud ies The children o f the .

poor are the r efore al lowed to feel from their earliest years and they
“
,

gai n the reby a precoci ty an d a n early vivacity whi ch contrast at fi rst m o s t

favou rably with the i nert u ndeveloped and listless b ehaviou r of th e hal f
, ,

i nstructed yo uths of the P o lyg o nal class but when the latter have at las t
completed their Un iversity cou rse and are prep ared to put thei r the o ry
,
28 Flatla n d

two of his sides equ al ; that Tradesmen must have three sid es equal ;
Lawy ers (o f which class I am a hu mble member) four sides equ al and , , ,

generally that in eve ry Polygon all the sides m ust be equal

, , .

The size of the sid es would of course depend u o o n the age of the
i ndivid ual A Fe mal e at bi rth would be ab o ut an i nch long while a tall
.
,

ad ult Wo man m ight extend to a foot As to the M ales of eve ry class .

,
’
it may be roughly said that the le ngth of an ad ult s sid es whe n added ,

together is three feet or a l ittle m ore

,
. B ut th e size of ou r sides is n ot
u nder consideration I a m speaking
. of the equali ty o f sides and i t ,

does not need m u ch re flection to s ee that the whole of the so cial life
'

i n Flatlan d rests upon the fu ndamental fact that N atu re wills all Figures
to have their sides equal .

I f ou r sides were u nequal ou r angles wo uld be u nequal I nstead o f .

its being s u fficient to feel or estim ate by sight a single angle i n o rder to
, ,

determine the form of an individ u al it would b e necessary to as certai n ,

each angle by the experi ment of Feeling B ut li fe wo uld b e too short fo r .

such a tedious gr o ping The whole scien ce a nd art o f S ight Recognition

.

w o uld at once perish F eeling so far as it is an art woul d not long survive
, ,

intercou rse would becom e perilous or i mpossible there would be an end

to all con fidence all forethought ; n o one would be safe i n m aki ng the
,

most si mple social arrangements ; i n a word civilization woul d relap s e ,

into barbarism .

'

A m I going too fast to c arry m y Readers with m e to these obvious

concl usions ! S u rely a m omen t s reflection an d a single i nstance fr o m
’

com mon life must convin ce every on e that o ur wh o le social system is

,

b ased upo n Regularity o r Equality o f Angles You m eet for example

,
.
, ,

two or three Tradesm en i n the stree t whom you recogni ze at once to b e

,

Tradesmen by a glance at thei r angles and rapidly bedi m med sides and ,

yo u ask them to step i nto you r house to lu nch This you do at present .

with perfect confidence b ecause every one knows to an inch or two th e

,
 Fla tlan d 29

area occupied by an adult Triangle : b ut i magi ne that you r Tradesm an

drags behind his regular and respectable vertex a parallelogram of twelve
,

or thi rteen i nches in diagonal —what are y o u to d o with s uch a monste r

sticki ng fast in you r house door !
But I a m ins ulting the i ntelligence of my Readers by accu m ul ating
d etails which m ust be patent to every one who enj oys the advantages of
a Residence i n Sp ace la n d Obvi o usly the measurem ents of a single angle
.

w o uld no lo n ger b e su fficient u nder s uch portentous circu mstances ; o n e s ’

wh o le life w o uld b e take n up i n feeling o r su rveyi ng the peri meter of one s ’

acquai ntan ces Already the di fficulties o f avoidi ng a collision i n a crowd

.

are enough to tax the sagacity o f even a well educated S quare ; b ut i f no

-

on e could calculate the Regularity o f a single figure i n the company all ,

w ould b e chaos and confusion and the slightest panic would cause serious
,

inj uries o r— i f there happened to be any Wome n or Sold ie r s present

,

perhaps considerable loss of life .

Expedie ncy there fore concurs with Nature i n stamping the seal o f its
approval upon Regula r ity o f con formation nor has the Law been backward
“ ”
i n seconding their efforts . I rregul arity of Figure means wi th us the
same as or more than a combination o f moral obli quity an d cri m inality
, ,

with you an d is treated accordingly There are not wanti ng i t is true

, .
, ,

some pro m ulgators of paradoxes who m aintai n that there is n o necessary

c o n nection between geometri cal and moral I rregularity “
The I rregular
.
,

they say i s from his bir th scou ted by his o wn parents derided by his
“
, ,

brothers and sisters neglected by th e domestics scorned and suspected by

, ,

society and ex cluded from all posts of responsibility trust an d useful

, , ,

activity H is every m o vement is j eal o usl y watched by t h e police till he

.

com es of age a nd presents himself for inspection then he is ei ther destroyed ,

i f he i s found to exceed the fi xed margin of deviation or else i m m ured ,

in a G o vern men t Offic e as a clerk o f th e seventh class ; prevented fro m

marriage forced to d rudge at an u ninteresting o ccupatio n for a miserable
 3 0 Fla tlan d

stipend ; obliged t o live an d board at the office and to take even his
,

vacati o n u nder close supe rvision ; what wonder that hu ma n n ature eve n ,

in the best and p urest is embit tered an d perverted by such surroundings

,

All t his very plausible reasoning d o es not convince me as it has not

,

c o nvinced the wisest of o ur Statesm en that o ur an cest o rs erred i n layi ng

,

it down as a n axio m of poli cy that t h e tolerati o n of I rregulari ty is

i ncompatible with the safety o f the State Doubtless the li fe o f an
.
,

I rregular is hard ; b ut the interests of the Greater N umber requi re that

i t shall be hard I f a man with a triangular fron t an d a polygonal back
.

were allowed to exist and to propagate a still more I rregular posterity ,

what wou ld b eco me of the arts o f life ! Are the ho uses an d doors an d
churches i n Flatland to be altered in ord er to accom modate su ch monsters
Are ou r ticket collectors to b e requi red to m easure every m an s pe r i me t er
’
-

before they allow hi m to e nter a theatre or to take his place i n a lecture

,

roo m ! I s an I rregular to be exempted fr o m the m ilitia ! A nd i f n ot h o w ,

is he to be prevented from carryi ng desolation into the ranks o f h i s

comrades ! Agai n what i rresistibl e tem ptation s to fraud ulent i mpostures
,

m ust needs beset such a crea t ure ! Ho w easy for hi m to enter a shop with
his polygonal front fore most an d to order goods to an y extent fr o m a
,

c o nfid i ng tradesman ! Let the advocates of a falsely called Philanthropy

plead as they m ay for the abrogatio n o f the I rregular Pen al Laws I fo r ,

my part have never known a n I rregular who was not also what Nature
evidently i ntende d hi m to b e — a hypoc r ite a m isanthropist and up to
, , ,

the limits of his power— a perpetrator o f all manner o f mischie f .

N o t that I should b e disposed to recom m end (at present ) the extrem e

m easu r es adopted i n s o me S tates where an infant whose angle deviates
,

by half a degree fr om the cor r ect angularity is su m marily destroyed at

birth S ome o f ou r highest and ablest m en men of real geni us have
.
, ,

d uring their earliest days labo ured u nde r d eviations as grea t as o r even ,

greater than forty fiv e m inutes : and the loss of their precious lives
,
-
 Fla t/an d 3 I

would have bee n an i rreparable inj ury t o the State The art of healing .

also has achieved some of its most glori ous tri umphs in the compressions ,

extensions trepannings colliga tions and other surgical or d i ae te ti c

, , ,
“

operation s by which I r regulari t y has been partly or wholly cured A d .

v o c at i n g therefore a V i a M ed i a I would lay d own no fi xed or absol ute

,

line of d emarcation ; but at the period when the frame is j ust beginning
to set and when the M edical Board has reported that recovery is i m
,
-

probable I would suggest that th e I rregular o ffspring be pai nlessly a nd

,

mercifully consumed .

§ 8 — Of
. th e A nci ent Practi ce f Pai nti ng
o .

I f my Readers have followed m e wi th any attentio n up to this point ,

they will not be surprised to hear that li fe is somewhat dull i n Flatlan d I .

d o not of course mean that there are not battl es Conspiracies tu m ults
, , , , ,

factions an d all those other phenomena which are s upposed to m ake

,

H istory interesting ; nor would I d e ny that the s t ra nge m ixtu re of the

problems of l ife and the problems o f M athema t ics contin ually inducing ,

conj ecture and giving the opportunity of i m mediate veri fication i mparts ,

to our existence a zest which yo u i n Sp ac e lan d can hardly comprehend I .

speak now from the ms th eti c an d artis t ic point of view when I say that
life with us is d ull aesthetically and artis tically very d ull indeed ,
.

’ ’
H ow can it be otherwise whe n al l one s prospect all one s landscapes
, , ,

historical pieces portraits flowers still li fe are no thing b ut a single line

, , , , ,

with no varieties except degrees of brigh t ness an d obscurity !

I t was not always thus Col o ur i f Tradition speaks the truth once for
.
, ,

the space o f half a dozen centuries or m o re threw a t r ansient charm upon ,

the lives of ou r an ces tors in the remotest ages S o me private i ndividual .

—a Pentagon whos e name is variously reported — h aving casually dis

covered the constituents o f the simpler col o urs and a rudi men tary method of
painti ng is said to have begu n by decorating first his house then his slaves
, , ,
3 2 Fla tla n d

then his F ather his S ons an d Grands o ns lastly hi mself The c o n v e n i e n c é

, , .

as well as the beauty of the results c o m me nd ed themselves to all .

Wherever Ch ro m ati s te s — for by that n ame the m o st trustwo r thy au tho r i t ies
,

con c ur i n calli ng him — tu r ned his variegated frame the re he at o n ce

, ,

“
exci ted atten t ion an d attracted respect No o n e n o w needed to feel
, .
”

hi m ; no on e mistook his front for his back ; all his m ovements were
readil y ascertained by his neighbours with o ut the slightes t stra in o n
t heir powers of cal cula t ion ; n o one j os tled hi m or failed to make way fo r
,

hi m ; his v o ice was saved the lab our o f that exhausting utterance by
which we c o lou rless S quares and Pentagons are o ften fo rced to pr o clai m
ou r individ uali ty when we move am id a cr o wd of ignorant Is o sceles .

The fashion spread like wild fire Before a week was over eve ry S quare
.
,

and Triangle i n the district had copied the example of Ch ro m at i s te s an d ,

o nly a few o f the m ore conservative Pentagons still held o ut A month o r .

two foun d even the D odecagons i nfected with the in novation A ye ar .

had not elapsed before the hab it had spread to al l b ut the very highest
o f th e Nobility Needless to say the custom so o n m ade i ts way fr o m the
.
,

district of Ch ro mati s tes to sur r ounding regions and wi thi n two generations
n o on e i n all Flatlan d was colourless except the Wo men and the P r iests .

Here Nature herself appeared to erect a barrier and to plead against ,

extending th e in novati o n to these tw o classes M any sided ness was almost

.
-

essential as a pretext for the I nnovators D istin ction o f sides is i ntended

.

by Natu re to i mply d istinction o f colours — such was the sophis m which .

in those days flew fr o m mo u th to mouth co nve rting whole towns at a tim e

,

t o th e new cultu re B ut m anifestly to our Priests and Wom en this adage

.

d id n o t apply The latter had o nly on e side an d there fore — plurally and
.
,

pedantically speaking— n o s i d es The former— i f at least they woul d

.

assert their claim to b e really an d truly Circles and n ot mere high class ,
-

Polygons with an in fini t ely large n u mber o f i n fin i te s i m ally smal l sid es

were in the habi t o f boasting ( what Wo me n con fessed and d eplored ) tha t
 Fla tla n d 33

they also had no sides being blessed wi th a perimeter of on e line or i n

, ,

other words a Circu m ference H ence it cam e t o pass that these two
,
.

“
C lasses could see no force i n the s o called axio m about Distinction o f
-

”
S ides i mplying D isti nction of Colou r an d when all others had su ccu mbed
to th e fascinati o ns of corp o ral decorat ion the Pri ests an d t h e Women alone
,

sti ll remained pure from the p o ll ution o f paint .

I mmoral licentious anarchical u n s c i e n ti fic — call them by what names

, , ,

yo u wi ll— yet from a n ze s th e ti c poi nt of vie w th o se ancient days o f the

, ,

Colou r Revolt were the glorious childhood o f Art in Flatland — a childhood ,

alas that n ever ripened i nto manho o d nor even reached the blosso m o f
, ,

you th To live was then i n itsel f a delight because living implied seeing
.
,
.

Even at a s mall pa r ty the company was a pleasure to behold the richly

,

varied hues o f the assembly in a chu rch or theatre are sai d to have more
than once proved too distracting for our greatest teachers and actors b ut
most ravishing of all is sai d to have bee n the u nspeakable m agnificence o f
a military revie w .

The sight of a line of battle o f t w e nty thousand Isosceles s udd enly

facing about and exchangi n g th e sombre black of their bases for the orange
,

and purple of the two sides i ncluding their acute angle the militi a o f the
Equilate r al Triangles tricoloured i n red white and blue the mauve u ltra
, , ,

mari ne gamboge an d b urnt u mber of the S quare artille rymen rapidly

, ,

rotating near their v ermili o n guns ; the dashing and flashing of the fiv e
c o loured an d six coloured Pentag o ns an d H exagons careering across the
-

field in their offices of su rgeons geometrician s an d aides de camp

,
- -

all t hese may well have b een s u fli c i e n t to render credible the famous
story how an illustrio us Circle overc o m e by the a r tistic beauty of the forces
,

u nder his c o m mand threw aside his marshal s b aton and his royal crown
,
’
,

exclai m ing that he henceforth exchanged them fo r the artist s pencil H ow ’

.

great and gl o ri o us the sensuous developmen t o f these days m ust have been
is i n part ind icated by the v e ry lang uag e and vocabulary of the peri o d
g
.
34 Fla tla n d

The c o m mon est utterances of the com m onest citizens i n the tim e o f the
C olo ur Revolt see m to have be en su ffused with a richer tinge of word or
t hought ; and to that era we are even n ow indebted for o ur fi nest poetry

and for whatever rhythm still rem ains i n the more s cie nti fi c utterance of
t hese modern days .

—O
9 .
f t he Uni v ers al Colo ur Bi ll .

B ut m eanwhil e the i ntellectual Arts were fast decaying .

The Art of Sight Recognition being n o longer needed was n o longer

, ,

practised and the studies of Geometry Statics K in etics an d other kindred

, , ,

subj ects cam e soon to be considered superflu ous and fell into disrepute
, ,

and neglect even at o ur University The i nferior Art of Feeling speedily

.

experienced the same fate at ou r Elem entary S chools The n the I sosceles .

classes asserti ng that the Speci mens were no longer used nor needed and
, ,

refusing to pay the custo mary trib ute fro m the Cri minal classes to the
service of Ed ucation waxed daily more n u m erous an d m ore i nsolent
,

o n the strength o f their i mm u nity fr o m the old b urden which had formerly

exercised the twofold wholesom e e ffect of at once tam ing their brutal
nature and thi nning their excessive n umbers .

Year by year the S oldiers and Artisans began more vehemently to

assert— and with i n creasing truth— that there was n o great di ffere nce
between them and the very highest class o f Polygons now that they were ,

raised to an equality with the latter and enabled to grapple with al l the
,

d i fficul t ies and solve all the problems o f li fe whethe r S tatical and K inetical
, ,

by th e simple process of Colou r Recognition Not content with the na tural

.

neglect into which Sight Recognitio n was falling they began b o ldly to ,

dem an d the legal p r ohibiti o n o f all monopolisi ng a nd aristocratic A rts

”
“

and th e consequent aboliti o n o f all endowments for the studies of S ight

Recognition Mathema t ics an d Feeling S oon they began to insist that
, , .
,

i n as m uch as Colo ur which was a secon d Nature had d estr o yed the n eed
, ,
3 6 ,
Fla tla n d

B ut by some o f my Readers the possibility o f the ide nti cal appearanc e

o f Priests and Wo men u nder th e new Legislation may not b e recogn ized
, ,

i f s o a w o rd or two will make it obvious

, .

I magine a woman d uly decorated according to the new Cod e ; with,

the front half (i e the half containi ng eye and mo uth) red and with the
. .
,

hinder half green Look at her fr o m one side

. . Obvi o usly you will see
a straight li ne h alf red h alf g reen
, , !
.

N o w imagine
a Priest whose ,

mo uth is at M an d whose front

,

semicircle (AMB) is c o nseque ntly

c ol o ured red while his hinder
,

sem icircle is gree n s o that the

diameter A B d ivides the gree n
from the red I f yo u contemplate
.

the Great M an so as to have

you r eye i n the sa m e straight
line as his dividing diameter (AB ) what yo u wi ll see will be a straight li ne
,

o n e h a lf ( CB ) w i ll he red a n d th e o th e r BD
( GE D ) of whi
,
ch ( )g
, reen The .

wh o le line (CD ) will be rather shorter perhaps than that o f a full sized -

Wo man and will shade off more rapidly toward s its extremities ; b ut the
,

identity o f the colours would give you an i m mediate impression of identity

i f n o t Class m aking yo u neglectfu l of o ther d etails Bear i n min d the
, .

de cay o f Sight Recogni t io n which threatened s o ciety at t h e time o f the

C o l o u r Rev o lt ; add t o o the certainty that Wo me n w o ul d speedi ly learn
t o shad e o ff their extrem ities s o as t o imitate th e Circles ; it must then
b e surely obvious to yo u m y dear Reader that the C o l o u r Bill placed us
, ,

u nder a great danger o f c o n fou nd ing a Priest with a you ng W o man .

H ow attractive t his prospect m ust have been to the Frai l S ex m ay

read ily b e imagined They anticipated wi th d elight th e con fusion that
.

would ensue . At home they m ight hear political and ecclesiastical secrets
 Fla tla n d 37

i ntended n o t for them b ut fo r their husbands an d brothers an d might even ,

issue c o m mands i n the n ame of a pri es t ly Ci r cle o ut o f doors the st r iking

combina t i o n o f red and g r een wi thout addi tion o f any o ther c o lours wo ul d
, ,

b e su r e t o lead the com mon pe o ple in t o endless m istakes an d the Women ,

w o uld gain wha t ever t h e Circles l o st in the defe ren ce o f t h e passers by

, .

As fo r th e scandal that w o u ld befall the Circu lar Class i f the fr ivolous an d

u nseemly cond uct o f the Women were imputed t o them an d as t o the
‘

c o nsequent s ubversion o f th e Constitution the Femal e Sex could n o t be

,

expected to give a th o ught t o t hese considera t ions Even i n the house .

holds o f the Ci r cles the W o men were all i n fav o ur o f the Universal
,

C o l o ur B ill .

The second obj ect aimed at by the Bill was the gradual d e mo r
of th e C i r cles themselves I n the general intellectual decay they
ali z at i o n .

still preserved their pristine clearness and strength of understanding .

From t hei r earliest childh o od familiarized i n their Circular househ o lds

,

wi th t h e total absence o f C o l o ur the Nobles alon e preserved th e Sacred

,

Art of Sight Recogni t ion wi t h all the ad vantages that result from that
,

adm irab le training o f the i ntellect Hence up t o the date of the i ntro
.
,

d uc t ion of the Un iversal Colour Bill the C ircles had not only held thei r
,

own b ut even i n creased their lead o f o ther classes by absti nence from
,

the p o pular fashion .

N ow therefo re th e artful I rregular whom I described above as th e real

auth o r of t his diab o li cal Bill determ ined at one blow t o lower the status of
,

the H ierarchy by fo rcing them t o submit t o th e pollution of C o l o ur an d at ,

t h e same t i m e t o destr o y thei r do mes t ic o ppor t unities of trai ning in t h e

Art of Sight Rec o gn i tion so as t o enfeeble their i ntellects by depriving

,

them o f their p ure and colourless h o m e s O nce subj ected to the ch r o ma t i c

.

t aint every paren t al an d every childish Circl e w o uld demoralize each o ther
,
.

O nly i n discern ing between the Father and the Mother would th e Circular
i n fant find problem s for the exercise of its u nderstanding— problems too
3 8 Fla tlan d

o ften likely to b e corrupted by maternal i mp o stures wi th the result of

’
shaking th e child s faith in all logical concl usions Thus by d egrees the.

i ntellectu al l ustre of the Priestly O rder wo uld wan e and the road wo uld ,

then lie open for a total destru ction o f all Aristocratic Legislatu re and for
t h e s ubversion of our Privi leged Classes .

—O t he Ch romati c Sedi t i o n
10 .
f th e Supp ress i o n f
o .

The agitation for the U n iversal Colour Bill con t in ued for three years ;
an d up to t h e last m om ent o f that period it seem ed as though A narchy
were d estin ed to tri u m ph .

A whole army o f Polygons who turned o ut to fight as private soldiers

, ,

was utterly an nihilated by a superior force of Isosceles Triangles — the

S quares and Pentagon s meanwhile remai n ing n eutral Worse than all some .
,

of the ablest C ircles fell a prey to conj ugal fury . I nfuriated b y political
ani mosity the wives i n many a n obl e household wearied their lords with
,

prayers to give up their oppositio n to the Colo ur Bill a nd some fi nding ,

t heir entreaties fruitless fell o n and slaughtered their i nnocent children and
'

husbands perishing themselves i n the act o f carnage

, . I t is recorded that
d uring that t riennial agitation n o less than twenty three Circles perished i n
-

domestic d iscord .

Great indeed was the peril . I t seemed as though the Priests had n o
choice betwee n s ub missio n and exterm ination when suddenly the c o urse
of events was completely changed by on e of those pi cturesqu e i nciden ts
which Statesmen ought never to neglect oft e n to anticip ate and s o me
, ,

times perhaps to origi nate because o f th e absurdly disproportionate power

,

with which they appeal to the sympathies of the p o pulace .

It happened tha t an I sosceles o f a l o w type with a brain little i f ,

at a ll above fo u r d egrees — accid entally d abbl ing i n the c o l o u rs o f s o me

Tradesm an whose sh o p he h ad plu nd ered — pai nted himself or caused ,

himsel f to be pai nted ( fo r th e story varies ) with the twelve col o u rs of a

-
 Fla tla n d 39

Dodecahedron G o ing i nto the M arket Place he accosted i n a feigned

.

voi ce a maiden the orphan daughter o f a n o ble P o lygon whose affection in

, ,

former days he had sough t i n vain and by a series of deceptions aided o n ,

the on e side by a s t ring of lu cky accidents t o o long to relat e and on the , ,

other by an al most i nc o nceivable fatuity and n eglect of o rdinary pre

,

cauti o ns o n the part of the relations of th e bride he succeeded in con ,

su m mating the marriage The unhappy girl com mitted sui cide on
.

discovering the fr au d t o which she had b ee n s ubj ected .

When the news of this catas tr o phe spread fr o m S t ate t o State the
minds of the Wom en were violently agitated Sympathy with the .

miserable vi cti m and anticipations o f similar deceptions fo r themselves ,

their sisters and their d aughters made the m now regard th e Colour B ill i n
, ,

an enti rely n ew aspect Not a few openly avowed themselves converted to

.

antagonis m ; the rest n eeded only a slight stim ul us to make a similar

avowal S eizing this favourable O ppo rtu nity the Ci rcles hastily convened
.

an extraordi nary Assembly of the States ; and besides the usual guard of
Convicts they secured th e attendance of a large nu mber o f reactionary
,

Women .

Amidst an unprecedented conc o urse the Chief Circle o f those days— by

,

nam e Pan to c y c lus — arose t o find hi mself hissed and ho o ted by a hu ndred
and twenty thousan d I sosceles B ut he secured silence by declaring that
.

hencefo rth t h e Circles wo uld enter o n a policy o f C o ncession yielding to

the wishes o f the maj ority they would accept the Col ou r Bil l The
,
.

uproar being at once con verted t o appl ause he i nvited Ch ro m ati s te s t h e

, ,

l eader of the S edi tion into th e centre of th e h all t o receive in the nam e of
, ,

his fo llowers th e submission of the H ierarchy Then fo llowed a speech a . ,

masterpiece of rheto r i c which o ccu pied nearly a d ay in the delivery and

, ,

to w h ich n o summary can d o j ustice .

With a grave appearance o f impartiality he d eclared that as they

were now finally com mitting themselves t o Reform or I nnovation it was ,
4o

desirable that they should take o n e l ast V iew of the peri meter of the whole
subj ect its defects as well as its advantages G radually introd u ci ng the
,
.

men t ion o f the dangers to the Tradesmen the Professional Classes an d the
,

Gentlemen he silen ced the ri sing mu rmurs o f th e I sosceles by rem inding

,

them that i n spite of all these defects he was willing t o accept the Bill if
, ,

i t was approved by the m aj o r ity B ut it was mani fest that all except the
.
,

I sosceles were moved by his words a nd were either n eutral o r av erse to

,

the Bill .

T urning now to the Workm en h e asserted that their i nterests m ust n ot

be neglected and that i f they i ntended t o accept the Colour Bill they
, , ,

o ught at least to d o so with a ful l view of the con sequences M any o f .

them he said were o n the poi nt o f being ad mitted to the class of the
, ,

Regular Triangles ; others anticipated for their children a d isti nctio n

they could n o t hope for themselves That honou rable ambition wo uld
.

now have to b e sacrificed With the u niversal adoption of Colour

.
,

all d istinction s would cease ; Regularity woul d be confused with

I rregularity ; developm ent wou ld give place to retrogressio n ; the
Workman wou l d i n a few ge nerations b e d egraded to the l evel of the
'

M ilitary or even the Convict Class ; political power w o uld be i n the

,

hands o f th e greatest n u mb er that is to say t h e C riminal Cl as ses

, ,

who were already m ore n u mero us than the Workmen and would ,

s o o n out n u mbe r all the other Classes put together when the usual
-

Compensative Laws o f Natu re were violated .

A subdued m u rm u r of assent ran through the ranks of the Artisans ,

and Ch ro m at i s t e s i n alarm attempted to step fo r wa r d and address them

, ,
.

B ut he found himself encompassed with guards an d fo rced to remai n silent

while the Chief Circle i n a few i mpassion ed words made a final appeal to
the W o men ex claim ing that i f th e Colou r Bill passed n o marriage woul d
, , ,

hencefo rth be safe n o w o man s hon o u r secu re ; fraud d eception hypocrisy

,
’

, ,

wou ld pe rvade every household ; d omesti c bliss would share the fate of the
 Fla tla n d 41

Constitution and pass t o speedy perdi tion . Sooner than this he c r ied ,

”
Come death .

At these words which were the preconcerted signal for action the
, ,

I sosceles Convicts fell on and transfi xed the wretched Ch ro m ati s te s the
Regular Classes opening their ranks m ade way for a band of Women
,

who under direction of the Circle s moved back foremost i nvisibly and
, , , ,

unerringly upon the unc o nscious S oldiers ; the Artisans i mitating the ,

example of thei r betters also open ed their ran ks M eanti m e band s of

, .

Convicts occupied every entrance with an impenetrab le phalanx .

The b attle or rather carnage was of sh o rt duration U nder the

, , .

’
skilful generalship of the Circles al most every Woman s charge was fatal ,

and very man y extracted their sting u ni nj u r ed ready for a seco nd ,

slaughter B ut n o second blow was needed ; the rabble o f the I sosceles

.

d id th e rest of the busi ness for themselves Su rprised leader less attacked
.
,
-

i n front by invisible foes and fi nding egress cut o ff by th e Convicts b ehind

,

them they at o nce — after their m anner— lost all presence of m ind and
, ,

“
raised the c ry of treachery This sealed their fate Every I sosceles n ow
. .

saw and felt a foe i n every other I n hal f an hou r not on e of that vast
.

mu ltitude was living ; and the fragments o f seven sc o re thousand of the

’
Cri min al Class slain by on e another s angles attested the triumph o f Order .

The Circles delayed n o t t o push their victory to the uttermost The .

Working Men they spared but decimated The M ilitia of th e Equilaterals

.

was at o n ce called o ut ; and every Triangle suspected of I rregularity on

reasonable grou nds was destroyed by Co urt M artial withou t the formality
, ,

of exact measuremen t by the S o cial B o ard The homes o f the M ilitary .

and Artisan clas s es were i nspected i n a c o urse of visitation s extending

through upwards o f a year ; and d uring that peri o d every town village , ,

and hamlet was system atically p urged of tha t excess of the l o wer orde r s
which had been b rought about by the n eglect to pay the Trib ute of
C r imin als to the S cho o ls and Un iversity and by the violation of the,

D
4 2

ot her natural Laws o f the Constitution of Flatlan d Thus the b a lanc e o f .

‘ ‘

classes was again restored .

Needless to say that hence forth the use of Colour was abolished and ,

i ts possession prohibited Even the utterance of an y word denotin g

.

C o lou r except by the Circl es or by qu alified scienti fi c teach ers was

, ,

p u nish ed by a severe penalty O nly at o ur U nive rsity i n som e of th e

.

v ery h i g h e s t and most esoteric classes — which I myself have n ever been
~

—
p rivileged to attend i t is u nderstood that the sparing u se of Colou r is
still sanctioned for the purpose of illustrating som e o f the deeper problem s
of mathematics . B ut of this I can o nly speak fro m hearsay .

Elsewhere i n Flatland , Colo ur IS now non existent

-
. The art o f
m aking it is known to only one living person the Chief Circle for the tim e ,

being ; and by hi m it is handed down on his death — b ed t o none b ut his

S uccess o r On e m an ufactory alon e p r od uces it ; a nd lest the secret
.
,

should be betrayed the Workmen are ann ually cons u m ed an d fr esh ones
, ,

i ntroduced S o great is the terror with w hich even n o w o u r Aristocracy

.

looks back to the far d istan t days o f the agitatio n for the U niversal
-

Colour Bill .

1 1 — Concerni n o ur Pri es t s
.
g .

I t is high ti m e that I sho u ld pass fro m these brief and d iscursive

notes about things i n Flatlan d to the central even t o f this b ook my ,

in itiatio n into the mysteries o f S pace Tha t is my subj ect ; all that
.

has gone befo re is m erely preface .

For t his reason I m ust o mit m any matters of which t h e explanati o n

would n o t I flatter mysel f b e without interes t fo r m y Readers : as fo r
, ,

ex ample ou r m e t hod o f pr o pelling and stopping ou rselves altho ugh

, ,

d estitute o f feet ; the m eans by whi ch we give fix i ty t o s t ructures of

wood stone o r brick al though of course we have no hands no r c an
, , , ,

w e lay foundations as yo u can nor avai l ourselves of the lateral pressure

,
44 Fla tlan d

soci ety e nables a Circle the more easily to s u stai n the veil of myste ry i n
which from his earliest years he is w o nt t o en wrap the exact na t u re o f
, ,

his Peri meter o r C ircu mferen ce Three fe et being the average Peri meter
.

i t follows that i n a Polyg o n of thre e hu ndred sides each side will be

, ,

n o more than the h undredth part o f a foot i n length or little mo re tha n ,

the tenth part of an in ch ; and i n a Polyg o n of six or seven h undred

sides the sides are little larger than the d iam e ter of a Sp a celan d pi n head -
.

I t is always assu med by cou rtesy that the Chie f C i rcle for the ti me bei ng
, ,

has ten tho usand sides .

The asce nt o f the posterity o f the Circles in the social scale is not
restricted as i t i s am ong the lower Regular c lasses by the Law of Natu re
, ,

which l imits the increase o f si des to o ne i n ea ch gen eration I f it were .

so the nu mbe r o f sides i n a Ci r c le woul d be a m ere questio n of p edigree

,

an d arithmeti c an d the fo u r hun d red and n inety seventh d escen dant o f an

,
-

Equila teral Triangle wo uld necessarily b e a Polygo n with five h u nd red

’
sides B ut this is n ot the case N atu re s Law prescribes two antagonistic
. .

d ecrees a ffecting Circular propagatio n ; fi rst th at as the race climbs ,

higher i n th e scale o f develop me nt s o development shal l proc ee d at an

,

accelerated pace ; second that i n the s am e proportio n the race shall

, ,

becom e less fertile Consequently i n the ho me o f a Polygo n o f fou r

.

or five h und red sides i t is rare to fi nd a so n ; more than o n e is never

seen . O n the other hand the so n o f a fiv e hundred sid ed Polygon - -

has bee n k nown to pos s ess five hu ndred an d fi fty o r even s i x hu nd re d ,

sides .

A rt als o steps i n to help the process of the higher Evol ution O u r .

physicians have discovered t hat the s mall an d tender sides o f an i n fant

Polygon of the higher class can b e fractu red an d his whole frame re set
,
-

wi t h s uch exactness that a Polygon of two o r three h und red sid es so me

ti mes — by n o m eans al w ays for the pro cess is attended with serious risk
,

b ut sometim es overleaps t w o or three hund red generations an d as it were ,

 Fla tlan d 45

doubles at a stroke ,
the nu mber of his progenitors and the n ob ility
o f his descent .

Many a pro misi ng child is sacri ficed in this way . S c arcely on e o ut .

of te n s u rvives Yet so strong is the parental ambit i o n am ong t hose

.

Polygons who are as it were o n the fringe o f the Circu lar class t hat it is
,
!

, ,

very rare to fi nd a Nobleman of that posi t ion in society who has neglec ted ,

t o place his firs t born son in the Circular N eO Therapeutic Gym nas iu m
-
-

before he h as attai ned the age of a month .

O ne year determ ines success o r failure At the end of that t i m e the .

child has in all p robability adde d o ne more to the tombston es that

, ,

cr o wd the Neo Therapeutic Ce metery ; b ut on rare occasions a glad

-

procession b ears back the little one to his exultant parents n o longer a ,

Polygon but a C ircle at le ast by courtesy

, ,
: and a single instance of so
blessed a result i nd u ces m ultitudes o f Polygonal parents to su b mit to
si milar domestic sacrifices w hi ch have a d issimi lar issue , .

— O Doct ri ne of Pri es ts
12 .
f th e o ur .

As to the doctrine o f the Circles it may briefly be sum med up i n a

“
single m axim Attend to you r Configu ration
,
Whether political .
,

ecclesiastical o r moral all their teaching has for its obj ect the impr o ve
, ,

ment of i n dividual and collective Co n fig urati o n— with special refere nce

o f course to the Configuration o f the Circles to whi ch all other O bj e cts ,

are subordinated .

I t is the merit of the Circle s that they have e ffectu ally s uppressed t h ose
ancient heresies which led men t o waste energy and sympa thy in the
vain b elief that condu ct depends up on will effort training encourage , , ,

m ent praise or anything else but Configu ration I t was Pan to c y c lus — the
, , .

illustrious Circle mention ed a b ove as the queller o f the Colou r Revolt,

who fi rst con vinced mankind that Configuratio n makes the m an ; th at i f ,

46 Fla tla n d

for example yo u are born an I sosceles wi th two u neven sides you will
, ,

assuredly go wrong unless you have them m ad e even — fo r whi ch p urpose

yo u m ust go to the I sosceles H o spi tal si milarly if yo u are a Triangle o r , ,

S quare or even a P o lygon born with an y I rregul arity you m ust be take n
, , ,

t o o ne o f the Regular H ospitals to have y o ur disease cured ; otherwise

you will end you r d ays i n the State Prison o r by the angle of the S tate
Execution er .

All fau lts or defects from the slightest m isconduct to the most flag i ti o us
,

c rim e Pan to c y c lu s attributed to so me d eviatio n fro m perfect Regularity i n

,

th e b odily figure cau sed perhaps ( if not congenital ) by so m e collisio n i n

,

a c r owd ; by ne lect to take exercise o r by taking too much o f it ; or

g
,

even by a sudd en change o f te mperatu re resul ti ng i n a shrinkage or ,

expansion i n some too suscep tible part o f the fram e Therefo re c o n .

,

cluded t hat i llustri o us Philosopher neither g o od cond uct n or b ad condu ct

,

is a fit subj ect in any sober esti mation for either praise o r blam e F or
, ,
.

why sh o uld y o u praise for example t h e in tegrity of a Square w h o faith

, ,

fu lly defends the interests of his client when yo u ought i n reality rather,

t o ad m ire th e exact precisio n o f his Rectangles O r again why blam e a ,

lying thievish Is o sceles when y o u o ught rather to deplore the i ncurabl e

,

i nequality o f his sides

Th eoreti cally this d octrin e i s u nquestion able ; but it has practical
,

d rawb acks I n d ealing with an Isosceles i f a rascal pleads that he

.
,

cann o t help stealing because of his uneven ness you re ply that fo r that ,

ve r y reason because he can not help bein g a n uisan ce to hi s n eighbo urs

, ,

you the M agistrate cannot help senten cin g hi m to be consu med and —
, ,

there s a n en d o f the m atter B ut in little do mestic d i fficulties where

’
. ,

the penalty o f consu mptio n or d eath i s o ut of the question this

, , ,

theory of Con figurati o n som eti mes co mes i n awkwardly ; and I m ust
co nfess that occasionally when o ne of my o wn H exagonal Grands o n s
plead s as an exc use for his disobedience that a sudden ch ange of th e
 F la t/a n d 47

temperature has been too m uch for his Peri meter an d that I ought to lay
,

the blame not o n hi m b ut on his Co nfiguration which can on ly b e ,

strengthened by ab undance of the choicest sweetmeats I n either see my ,

way l o gically to rej ect nor practically t o accept his conclusi o ns

, , .

For my own part I fin d it best to assum e that a g oo d soun d scolding o r

,

castigation has s o me latent and strengthening in fluence on my Grands o n s ’

Configuration though I own that I have no gr o u nds for thi nking s o At .

all events I am not alon e in my way of extricating myself fro m this

‘

d ilemma for I fi nd t hat man y of the highest Circles sitting as Judges i n

,

Law courts use praise and blame towards Regul ar and I rre gular Figures
,

and i n their homes I know by experience that, when s colding their children ,

they speak about right or wrong as vehemently and passi o nately as

“ ”

if they believed that these names represented real existences an d that a ,

hu man Figure i s really capable of choosing between them .

Consistently carrying out thei r policy of m aking Con figuration the lead
ing idea in every min d the C ircles reverse the nature of that C o m mand ment
,

which i n Sp ac e lan d regulates the relations b etween parents and children .

With you children are ta ught to honour their parents ; wi th us — next to th e

,

Circles who are the chief obj ect of u niversal homage— a man is taught to
,

hon ou r his Grandson i f he has o ne ; or if not his S on By honou r how

, , ,
“
.
,

ever is by no m eans meant ind ulgence b ut a reverent :regard fo r their

,
“
,

highest interests : and th e Circles teach that the d u ty o f fathers is t o

subordi nate their own i n terests to those o f posterity thereby advancing,

the welfare of the whole State as well as that of their own im mediate
descendants .

The weak point i n the system of the Circles— i f a hu mble S quare may
ventu re to speak of anything Circular as c o ntaining any element of weak
n ess— appears to me to be fo und i n their relations with Women .

As it is of the utmost i mportance for Society that I rregu lar births should
be discouraged it follows that no Woman who h as an y I rregula rities i n her
,
48 Fla tla n d

an cestry is a fit partner for on e who desi res that his posterity should rise
by regular degrees i n the social scale .

Now the I rregularity of a M ale is a m atter of m easurement ; b ut as

al l Women are straight and therefore visibly Regular so to speak on e has
, ,

to devise som e other means of ascertaining what I may cal l their invisible
I rregularity that is to say their potential I rregularities as regards possible
,

offspring This is effected by carefully kept pedigrees which are preserved

.
-

an d superv ised by the State and witho ut a certi fied pedigree no Woman
i s allowed to marry .

Now it might have b een suppose d that a Ci rcle — proud of his ancestry
and regard ful for a posterity w hi ch m ight possibly issue he r eafter i n a
Chief Circle— would b e more careful than any other to choose a wife who
had no blot on h er escutcheon B ut it i s not so The care in ch o osi ng a
. .

Regular w i fe appears to di mi nish as one rises in the social scale Nothing .

would ind uce an aspiring I sosceles who had hopes of generating an Equi
,

lateral Son to take a wife who reckoned a single I rregularity among her
,

Ancestors ; a S quare o r Pentagon who is con fident that his family is steadily
,

on the rise does n ot en qu ire ab o ve the fiv e h und redth generation a H ex

,
-

’
agon or Dodecahed ron is even more careless o f the wife s pedigree b ut a
Circle has been kno wn deliberately to take a wi fe who has had an I rregular
Great Grand father a nd all because o f so m e slight superiority o f lustre or
-

, ,

b ecause o f the charms o f a low voice— which with us e v en more than w ith
, ,

yo u is thought a n ex cellent thing i n Woman

, .
”

S uch ill j udged marri ages are as might b e expected barren i f they do
-

, , ,

n ot result i n positive I rregularity or i n di minution of sides ; but non e o f

these evils have h itherto proved su ffici ently deterrent The loss of a few .

sides i n a highly d evel o ped Polygon is not easily noticed and is sometimes
-

compen sated by a successful operatio n i n the N eo Therapeutic Gym nasiu m -

,

as I hav e described above and the Ci rcles are too m uch disposed to acquiesce
i n in fecu ndity as a Law o f the superior development Yet i f this evil b e .
,
 Fla tla n d

not arrested the grad ual di m in ution of the Circular class may soo n become
,

more rapid and the ti me may be not far distan t when the race being no
, ,

long er able to prod uce a Chie f Circle the Constitution o f Flatlan d m ust
,

fall .

O ne other wo rd o f warn ing suggests itself to m e tho ugh I cannot so ,

easily mention a remedy an d this also refers to ou r relations with Women . .

About three hu ndred years ago it was decreed by the Chief Ci rcle that
, ,

si nce women are de ficient i n Reaso n but ab undant in E motion they ought ,

no longer to b e treated as rational nor receive any mental ed ucation lTh e

, .
s

consequence was that they were no longer taught to read n or eve n to master ,

Arithmetic enough to enabl e them to c o unt the angles of thei r husband

or children ; and hence they sensibly d eclined during each ge neratio n in
intellectual power A nd this system o f female non education or quietism
.
-

sti ll prevails .

M y fear is that with the best intenti o ns this policy has been carried so
, ,

far as to react inj uriously on the Mal e Sex .

For the consequence is that as things now are we Males have to lead a
, ,

kin d of b i lingual an d I may al most say bi mental existence With the

-

,
-
.

“ “ “ ” “ “ ” “ ” ” ” ”
Women we speak o f love
,
d uty ,
right wrong ,
pity hope , , , ,

and o ther irrational an d emotional conceptions which have n o existence , ,

an d the fiction o f which has n o object except to control feminin e e x ub e r

an c e s ; but among ourselves and i n o ur books we have an entirely different
'

, ,

vocabulary and I m ay almost say idi o m L ove then becomes the an

, .

“
ti c i p ati o n o f benefits
”
d uty becomes necessity or fitness and
other words are correspondingly transm uted Moreover among Women .
, ,

we use language implying the utmost deference for thei r S ex ; and they
fully believe that the Chief Ci rcle H imsel f is not more devoutly adored by
us than they are b ut behi nd their backs they are both regard ed and spoken
of— —
b y all except the v ery young as being little better than “
m indles s
”
organisms .
5 0 Fla tla n d

’
O ur Theology also i n the Wo men s chambers is entirely di fferent fro m
ou r The o logy elsewhere .

Now my hu mble fear is that this double t raining i n l angu age as well
,

as i n thought i mposes somewhat too heavy a b urden upon the young

, ,

especially when at the age of three years old they are take n fr o m the
, ,

maternal care an d taught to unlearn the old language— except for the pur
pose o f repe ating it in the presen ce of their M others an d N urses — and to
learn the vocabulary and idiom o f science Already methi nks I discern a
.

weakness i n the grasp o f m ath ematical truth at the present time as c o m

pared with the more rob ust i ntellect o f o u r a ncestors three hundred years
ago I say nothing o f the possible danger i f a Wo man should ever s ur
.

re p t i t i o u s ly learn to read and co nvey to her Sex the result of her perusal

o f a single popu lar volu m e nor o f the possibili ty that the in discret ion or
d is o bedien ce o f som e in fant M ale m ight reve al to a M o ther the secrets of
the logical dialect O n the simple grou nd of the en feebling of the M ale
.

i ntellect I rest this hu mble appeal to the highest Authorities to reconsider

,

the regulations of F emale Ed ucation .

 O THE R L A N DS

1 —How I h ad a V i s i on f
o L i neland
3. .

I T was the last day b ut o ne of the 1 99 9 th year o f ou r era and the first ,

day o f the Long Vacation H aving amused myself till a late hou r with
.

my favou rite recreation of Geometry I had retired to rest with an u nsolved

,

problem in m y m ind I n the night I had a d ream

. .

I saw before me a vast m ultitude of s mall Straight Li nes (which I

naturally assu med to be Women) interspersed with other Beings still
s maller an d of the nature of l ustrous Points — all moving to and fro in one
an d the sam e Straight Line and as nearly as I could j udge with the
, , ,

sam e veloci t y .
54 Fla tla n d

A noise of con fused m ultitudinous chirping or twittering issued from

,

them at inte rvals as long as they were moving ; b ut someti m es they

ceased from m otion an d the n all was silence,
.

Approaching o ne o f the largest of what I thought to b e Women I ,

accosted her b ut received n o answer A second and t hird appeal on m y

,
.

part were equally i neffectual Losing patience at what appeared to m e

.

i n t o lerable rudeness I brought my mou th i nt o a position full i n front o f

,

her mouth so as to intercept her motion and loudly repeated my question , ,

Wo man what signifies this concou rse and this strange and con fused
, ,

chirping and this monotonous motion to an d fro i n one and the same
,

Straight Li ne
“
I am no Woman replied the s mall Line ,
I am the Monarch of the
world B ut thou whence i n trud e s t t hou into m y realm o f L i n e lan d
.
,

Receiving this abrupt reply I begged pard o n i f I had i n any way startled
,

or m olested his Royal H ighness ; and describing mysel f as a s t r anger I

besought the K i ng to give m e som e account of his dominions B ut I had .

t h e greatest possible d i fficulty i n obtaining an y in fo rm ation o n points that

really interested m e ; for the M onarch c ould not refrai n fro m constantly
assuming that whatever was fam iliar to him m ust also be known to me and
t hat I was sim ulating ignorance in j est H owever by persevering questi o ns.
,

I elicited the fo llowi ng facts

I t seem ed that this p oo r ignorant as he calle d was M onarch — himself—

persuaded that the Straight Lin e which he called his K ingdom and i n ,

which he passed his existence constitu ted the whole o f the world and, ,

indeed th e wh o le o f Space Not bei ng able either to move or to see save

. ,

i n his S traigh t Line he had no conception o f anything o ut of it Though

,
.

he had hea r d my v o ice when I fi rst addressed hi m the sou nds had come to ,

him i n a m anner so c o ntrary to his experience that he had made n o answer ,

seeing n o man as he expressed it and hearing a v o i ce as it were from

,
”

my o wn intestines U ntil the mo ment when I placed my mouth in h i s

”
.
 55
World he had neither seen m e n or heard any thing except con fus ed sou nds
, ,

beati ng against what I called h is side but what h e called his i ns i d e o r ,

nor had he even now the le ast concepti o n o f the regi o n from
s to m a ch ;
which I had c o me O utside his World or Lin e all was a blank to him
.
, ,

nay not eve n a blank for a blank i mplies Space ; say rather all was
, , , ,

non existent
-
.

H is subj ects — o f wh o m the s mall Li nes were Me n and the Points

Women— were all alike con fin ed in motion and eye sight to that single -

Straight Li ne which was thei r World I t need scarcely be added that the
,
.

whole of their horizon was li mited to a Point nor cou ld any one e ver see
anything b ut a Poi nt M an woman child thing— each was a Poi nt to the
.
, , ,

eye of a L i ne lan d e r O nly by the sou nd o f the voi ce could sex or ag e be

.

distinguished M o reover as each i ndividual occupied the wh o le of the

.
,

n arrow path so to speak which constituted his Universe an d n o on e could

, , ,

m o ve to the right or left to m ake way for passers by it followed that no ,

L i n e lan d e r could ever pass another O nce neighbours always neighbours

.
, .

Neighbourhood with them was like marriage with us Neighbours remained .

n eighbo urs till death did them pa r t .

S uch a life with all visi o n li mited to a Point and all motion to a Straight
, ,

Li ne see med to m e i nexpressibly dreary ; and I was surprised t o note the

,

vivacity and cheerfulness o f the K i ng Wondering whether it was possible .

,

amid circu mstances so u n favou rable to domestic relations to enj oy the ,

pleasures of conj ugal u nion I hesitated for som e tim e to question his
,

R o yal H ighness o n so delicate a subj ect ; b ut at last I plunged into it

“
by abruptly i nquiring as to the health of his fam ily M y wives and .

”
children he replied are well an d happy
, , .

Staggered at this answer— for in the i m mediate pr o xi mity o f the

Monarch (as I had noted i n my d rea m b efore I entered L i ne lan d ) there
—
were none b ut M en I venture d to reply “
Pardon m e b ut I cannot , ,

imagine how your Royal H ighness can at any ti me either see o r approach
56 Fla l la n d

T
th e i rFMaj es ti es ,
when there are at least hal f a dozen i ntervening indi
v i d uals whom you can n either see through nor pass by ! I s it pos s ible
, ,

t hat i n L i n elan d proxi mity is not necessa ry for m arriage an d for th e

”
generatio n of children !
“
H ow can yo u ask so absurd a question replied the M on arch If .

it were i ndeed as yo u suggest the U niverse would soo n be d epopulated

, .

N o n o ; neighbourhood is n eedless for the union of hearts ; and the b i rth

,

of children is too i mportant a matter to have been allowed to d epend upon

s uch an accid ent as proxim ity Yo u cann ot be ignorant of this Yet
. .

s ince you are pleased to affect ignoran ce I will i nstruct you as i f you ,

were the veriest baby i n L i n e lan d K now then that marriages are.
, ,

c onsu m mated by m eans of the fac ulty of sound and the sense o f heari ng .

“
You are o f course aware that every M an has two mouths or voices
as wel l as two eyes — a bass at o ne and a tenor at the other of his ex
t re m i t i es
I should n ot mention this b ut that I have b een u nable to
.
,

”
d istingu ish you r tenor i n the course of ou r co nversation I replied that .

I had b ut o ne voice an d t h at I had not been aware that H is Royal

,

H ighness had two That con firms my i mpression said the K ing that
.
“
,
”
,

yo u are not a M an b ut a fem i nin e Monstrosity wi th a bass voice and an

,

utterly unedu cated ear B ut to continu e . .

“
Nature hersel f having o rdained that every M an should wed two
wives Why two asked I Yo u carry yo ur affected simplicity
.

too far h e cried

,
“
H o w can there b e a completely h armo nious u nion
.

without the co mbi nati on of the Fo ur i n O n e viz the B ass an d Tenor of , .

“
the M an an d the Sopran o and Contralto o f the two Wom en !
”
B ut
“ ”
s upposing said I that a m an should prefer o ne wife or three !
,
”
,
It
” “
is impossible he said it i s as inconceivable as that two and one should
,

”
m ake five or th at the h u man eye should see a S traight Line
, I would .

have i nterrupted him ; but he proceeded as follows

“
O nce in th e middle o f each week a Law o f Natu re compels us to
 Fla tla n d 7

move to and fro with a rhythm ic motion o f more than usual v iolen ce which ,

contin ues for the tim e yo u wo uld take to count a h und red an d one I n th e .

midst o f this choral d ance at the fifty firs t p ulsation the inhabitants of th e
,
-

Universe pause in full career an d each individ ual sends forth his richest
, ,

fullest sweetest strain I t is in this decisive moment that all ou r marriages

,
.

are made S o exquisite is the ad aptation o f Bass to Trebl e of Te no r to

.
,

Contralto that oftenti mes the Loved Ones though twenty thousand
, ,

leagues away recognise at on ce the responsive n ote o f their destined

,

Lover ; and penetrating th e paltry obstacles of distance Lo v e u nites the

, ,

three The marriage in that i nstant consu m mated results i n a threefol d

.

Male an d Female o ffspring which takes its place i n Li n elan d .

“ “ ”
What ! Always threefold ! said I M ust one wife the n always .

have twins
“
Bass voice d M onstrosity !yes replie d the K ing
-
How else could
, .

the b alance o f the S ex es be mai ntai ned i f two girl s were n ot born for ,

every boy ! Woul d you ignore the v ery Alphabet of Natu re ! He

”

ceased spe echless for fu ry ; an d som e tim e elapsed before I could indu ce
,

hi m to resu m e hi s narrative .

Yo u will not o f course suppose that eve ry bachelor among us fi nds

, ,

h i s mates at the fi rst wooing in this u niversal Marriage Chorus O n th e .

contrary the process is by most of u s many times repeated Few are the
, .

hearts whose happy lot it is at once to recognise i n each other s v oices the
’

partner i ntended fo r the m by Pro v ide nce and to fly into a reciprocal an d ,

perfectly harmonio us embrace With most o f u s the courtship is of long

.

’
d uration The Wooer s voices m ay perhaps accord wi th one o f th e future
.

wives bu t not with both or not at fi rst wi t h either or the S o prano an d

, , ,

Contralto may not quite harmonise I n such cases Nature has provided .

that every weekly Chorus shall bring the three Lovers i nto closer harmony .

Each tria l o f voice each fresh discovery of discord al mos t imperceptibly

, ,

induces the less perfect to mod ify his or her v o c al utterance so as to

E
5 8 Fla tla n d

approximate to the m o re perfect A nd after m any trials and many ap .

p roxi mati o ns the result is at last achieved There co mes a day at l ast
, .
,

when , while the wonted Marriage Chorus goes forth from u niversal
L i ne lan d the three far o ff Lovers s uddenly fi nd them selves in exact
,
-

harmony and b efore they are aware the wedd ed Triplet is rapt vocally
, , ,

into a d uplicate e mbrac e ; and Nat ure rej oices o v er one more marriage and
”
over three more births .

—How I vai nly t ri ed t o explai n th e nature o

14 .
f Flatland .

Thinking that it was ti me to bri ng down the Monarch fro m his raptures
to the level o f com mon sense I determi ned to en deavour to open up to
,

hi m som e glimpses of the truth that is to say o f the n ature of things i n

,

Flatland S o I b egan thus : H ow d oes yo ur Royal H ighness distinguish

.

the shapes an d positions of h is subj ects ! I for my part n oticed by the

sense of sight before I entered your K ingdom that some o f you r people
, ,

are Lines and others Poi nts and that som e of the Lines are larger
,

“
Yo u speak of an i mpossibility i nterrupted the K ing ; you m ust have
“
,

seen a v ision for to detect the d i fference between a Line and a Point by
the sense o f sight is as eve ry on e knows i n the n ature of things i mpossible
, , ,

b ut it can be detected by th e sense of hearing an d by the sam e m eans m y ,

shape can b e exactly ascertained Behol d m e— I a m a Line the longest i n .

,

L i n eland , over si x inches of Space Of Length I v entured to suggest

,
”
.

” “
Fool , said he ,Space is Length . I nterru pt m e again and I have ,

”
done .

I ap logised ; but he contin ued scorn fully S i nce yo u are imperv io us

o
,
“

to argu ment you shall hear with you r ears how by m eans of my two
,

v oices I reveal my shape to my Wives who are at this moment six ,

thousand miles sev enty yar d s two feet eight inches away the one to ,

th e
”
North the other to the South
, . Listen I cal l to them
,
.
60 Fla l la n d

a ll the ends of so brutal and coarse a pr o cess are attained at on ce more

easily an d more exactly by the se nse of hearing As to you r suggested .

d anger of deception it is non existent for the Voice b eing th e essence o f

,
-

’
one s Being cannot b e thu s changed at will
,
B ut com e suppo se that .
,

I had the power o f passing thro ugh solid things so that I coul d penetrate ,

my subjects one after another e v en to the n u mber o f a billion

, , ,

verifying the size and distance o f each by the se nse o f feeli ng : how
m uc h tim e and energy wou ld be wasted i n this clumsy and inaccurate
m ethod ! Whereas now i n o ne m om ent o f audition I take as it were the
, ,

census and statistics lo cal corporal m ental an d spiritual of e v ery l iving

, , , , ,

”
being in Li ne land H ark on ly hark !
.
,

S o saying he paused and listen ed as if i n an ecstasy to a soun d , ,

which seemed to m e no better than a tiny chi rpi ng fro m an innu merab le
m ultitud e of lillipu tian grasshoppers .

” “
Tru ly replied I you r sense of hearing serves yo u i n good stead
, , ,

and fills u p many of your deficiencies B ut permit m e to point out .

that your li fe in L i ne lan d m ust be d eplorably d u ll To see nothing but .

a Poi nt Not ev e n to be ab le to Contem plate a S trai g ht Line ! Nay not ,

even to kn ow what a Straight Li ne i s ! To see yet to be cut o ff fro m ,

those Linear pros pects which are vouchsafed to us i n Flatland ! Bette r

surely to h av e n o sens e of sight at al l than to see so little ! I
gran t y o u I have not you r discri m inative faculty o f hearing ; for the
concert o f all L i n e land which gives yo u s uch i ntens e pleasure is to ,

me no better than a multitu dinous twittering or chirping B ut at .

least I can discern by sight a Li n e fro m a Point And let m e prove

, ,
.

it J. ust be fore I came i nto your ki ngdom I saw y o u dancing from ,

left to right and then fro m right to left with seven Men and a Woman
, ,

i n you r i m mediate p roxi mity on the left and eight Me n and two Wome n ,

on you r right Is n ot this correct

.

“
I t is correct ,
”
said the King ,
so far as the nu mbers and sexes are
 Fla t/a n d 6 I

’ ’
co ncerned though I know not what yo u m ean by right and left
,
‘ ‘
.

B ut I deny that you saw these things F or how could yo u see the Lin e .
,

that is to say the inside o f any Man ! B ut y o u must have heard these
,

things and then dreamed that you saw them And let m e ask what you
,
.

mean by those words l eft and right I suppose it is your way o f

‘ ’ ‘
.
’

saying Northward and S o uthward .

“ ”
Not so replied I ; besides you r motion o f N orthward and
,

”
S outhward there is another motion which I call fro m right to left
,
.

K i ng Exhibi t to m e i f you please this m otion fro m left to

.
, ,

right .

I . Nay that I cannot do un less you could step out of your Lin e
, ,

altogether .

K i ng . O ut o f my Lin e ! D o you mean o ut of the World ! Out

of Space !
1 Well yes
. O ut of y o u r World O ut of y o u r Space
, . For your . .

Space is not th e true Space Tru e Space is a Plane ; b ut you r Space .

is on ly a Li ne .

K i ng I f you cannot i ndicate this motion from left to right by

.

you rself moving i n it then I beg you to describe it to m e i n words

,
.

I I f yo u cann ot tell you r right side from my left I fear that no words
.
,

of m in e can make my m eaning clear to you B ut s urely you cannot be .

ignorant of so si mple a d istinction .

K i ng I do not i n the least understand you

. .

I Alas ! H ow shall I make i t clear ! When you m ove straight o n

. ,

d oes it not sometimes occur to you that you co uld move i n some other
way t urning your eye ro un d so as to look i n the d irection towards
,

which your sid e i s n ow fr onting ! I n o ther words instead of always ,

moving i n the direction o f on e of you r extremities d o you n ever feel a ,

desire to move in the d irection so to speak of your sid e , ,

K i ng Ne v er A nd what d o you m ean ! H ow can a m an s insid e

’
. .
62 Fla tla n d

“
front ”
in any d irection ! O r how can a man move in the d irection
of his inside !
1 Well then Si nce words can not explain the matte r I w i ll try deeds
.
, , ,

and will move grad ually o ut o f L i ne lan d i n the directio n which I

d esire to indicate to you .

At the word I began to move my body o ut o f L i n e lan d As long as .

an y pa rt of me remaine d i n his dom i nio n and i n his view the K ing ,

kept exclai m
“
ing I see ,

you I see you ,

sti ll you are

”
not moving .

B u t whe n I
had at last moved myself ou t o f his Li ne h e cried i n his shrillest voice , ,

She is v anished ; s h e is de ad “
I a m no t dead
.
” “
replied I ; I a m ,
”

p y o ut of Li n elan d that is to say out o f the S traight Line which yo u

Sl m l , ,

call Space and i n the true S pac e wh ere I can see things as they are
, , .

And at this moment I can see yo ur Line o r side— o r insid e as yo u are ,

ple as ed to call i t and I c an al s o see the M en and Women o n the Nort h

an d South o f you who m I will now en umerate des cri bi ng thei r order thei r
, , ,

s i z e an d the inte rv al be twee n e ach

”
, .

“
When I had done this at great length I c rie d triu mphantly D oes , ,

”
this at last convin ce yo u ! And with that I o nce m ore e ntered , ,

L i n e lan d taking u p the same position as be fore

,
.

But the Mo n arc h replied I f you were a M an o f s en s e —though as you

“
,
w
,

appear to have only on e voice I have little doubt y o u are not a Man b ut a
W o man — b ut i f y o u h ad a particle o f sense you would listen to reason
, ,
.

Yo u ask me to b elieve that there is an othe r Line besides that w hich my

s enses indicate and another m otion besides that o f which I am d aily
,

co nscio us I in return ask you to d esc ribe in words or i ndicate by

.
, ,
 Fla tla n d 63

motio n that other Li ne of which y o u speak I nstead of moving you .

,

merely exercise some magic art of vanishing and retu rning to sight ; and
instead of any lucid description of your new World you simply tell m e the ,

n umbers and sizes of some forty of my retin ue facts known to any ,

child in my capital Ca n anything be more irrational or audacious !

‘

”
Acknowledge yo ur folly or d epart fro m my dominions .

Fur i ous at his pe rversity an d especially indignant that he p rofesse d to

,

“
be ignorant o f my S ex I retorted in no measured terms Besotted Being !
, ,

Y o u think yourself the perfection o f existence while yo u are in reality ,

the most i mperfect an d i mb e c i le Yo u profess to see whereas you can see

y ,
.

nothing b ut a Point ! Yo u plu m e you rself on in ferring the existence of a

S traight Line ; but I ca n s ee Straight Lines and infer the existence o f
Angles Triangles S quares Pe ntagons H exagons and even Ci rcles Why
, , , , , .

waste more words ! su ffice it that I am the completion of you r in complete

self Yo u are a Li n e b ut I am a Line o f Lines called in my country
.
.

,
'

a S quare : and even I i n finitely superior though I am to y o u am o f l ittle

, ,

accou nt among the great N o b les of Flatland when ce I have com e to ,

v isit you i n the hope o f enlightening yo ur ignorance

, .
”

H earing these words the K ing advanced towards m e with a menaci n g

cry as i f t o pierce me through the d iagonal ; and in that same moment
there arose from myriads o f his subj ects a multitudinou s war cry -

i ncreasing i n vehemence till at last me thought it rivalled the roar of

a n army of a hu ndred thousan d Isosceles and the artillery o f a ,

t h o u s an d i Pentagons Spell bou nd and motionless I coul d neither

.
-

speak nor move to avert the impending d estruction ; an d still the

n oise grew louder and the K ing came closer when I awok e to fi
, nd ,

the break fast bell recalling m e to the r ealiti es o f F latl and

-

,
64 Fla tlan d

— Concerni n m Spaceland
1 5 .
g a Strang er f ro .

From d reams I proceed to facts .

I t was the last day of the 1 999 th year o f ou r e ra . The pattering o f

the rain had lon g ago announced n ightfall ; and I was sitti ng i n the 1

company of my wife m using on the ev e n ts o f the past an d the prospects ,

’

of the coming year the coming century the coming M illen nium , , .

M y fou r Sons and two orphan Grandchildren had reti red to thei r
several apartments ; an d my Wi fe alone rem ained with me to see the old
Millenni u m o ut a nd the new o ne i n .

I was rapt i n thought ponderi ng in my m ind som e words that had ,

casually issue d from the m outh o f my you ngest Grandson a most promising ,

you ng H exagon of un usual brilliancy and perfect a ngularity H is u ncles .

an d I h ad b een g i ving hi m his usu al p ractical lesso n i n Sight Recogn ition ,

t urn ing o urselves upon o ur centres now rapidly now more slowly and , , ,

question i ng hi m as to o ur positions .
; and his an swers had been so satis
factory that I had b een ind uced to reward hi m by giving hi m a few hints
on Ari thm etic as applied to Geo metry ,
.

Taking nin e S quares each an i nch e very way I had put the m together , ,

so as to m ake o n e l arge Sq uare w ith a side o f three i nches and I had , ,

hence proved to m y little Grandson that— tho ugh i t was i mpo ssibl e for us
to s ee the i nsid e o f the S quare— yet we m ight ascertain the n u mber of
square inches in a S quare by sim ply squaring the nu mber of inches .

1
h n I say si tti n
!V e f c urs I d t m an an y chan g
g
, f a tt it d such as y
o o in Flatla d
e o no e e o u e ou n

si g nify by that w rd f as w hav o f t w ca n m r i t

or s tand ( i n y ur s ns f
e e no ee , e no o e s
”
no r o e e o

th w rd ) tha n
e o f y ur s l s fl und rs
o ne o o o e or o e .

N v rth l ss w p rf c tly w ll r c gnis th di ff r n t m n tal s ta t s f v li ti n i m pli d i n

e e e e , e e e e e o e e e e e e o o o e

lying ,si tting a n d sta nding whi ch t s m t n t indicat d t a b h ld r by a slight

” “
,
”
,
”
are o o e ex e e o e o e

i n cr as f lustr c r sp n ding t th incr as f v li ti n

e e o e o re o o e e e o o o .

B t this and a th usan d th r k i n dr d sub c ts t i m f rb ids m t dw ll

u on ,
j o o e e e , e o e o e .
 Fla tlan d 65

“ “
in the side : and thus sai d I we know that 3 or 9 represents the , ,
2
,

n umber of square i nches i n a S quare whose side is 3 i nches l ong .

”

"
“
The little H exagon m editated on this a wh ile and then s ai d to m e : B ut
you have been teaching me to raise n umbers to the third power I suppose
3 m ust mean something in Geometry what does it mean ! N othing ”

3 ;
“
at all replied I n ot at least in Geometry ; for Geometry has only Two
,
”
,

D imensions An d then I began to show the boy how a Point by moving

.
”

through a length of three inches makes a Li ne of three inches which m ay ,

b e represented by 3 and how a Lin e o f three inches m ovi ng parallel to ,

itself through a length o f three i nches m ak es a Square of three i nches ,

every way which may b e re p resente d by 3

,
2
.

Upon this my Grandson again ret urning to his former suggestion took
, , ,

“
m e up rather s uddenly and exclai me d Well t h en i f a Poi nt by moving , , ,

three i nches m akes a Li ne of three i nc h es represented by 3 and i f a straight

,

Line of three inches m oving p arallel to i tsel f makes a S quare of three

, ,

inches every way represented by 3 ; it m ust be that a S quare of three

,
2

i nches e v ery way moving somehow parallel to itself (but I don t see how)
’

’
must m ake a Som ething else (but I don t see what) of three inches every
way— and this m ust be represented by
“
G 0 to bed
”
said I a little ru ffled by his i nterruption
, ,
if you would
”
talk less nonsense y o u wo uld remember more sense , .

S o my Grandson had disappeared in disgrace and there I sat by my

’
Wi fe s side endeavouring to form a retrospect o f the year 1 9 9 9 and of the
,

possibilities of the year 2 000 b ut not qu ite able to shake o ff the thoughts
“

suggested by the prattle of my bright little H exagon Only a few sands .

now remained i n the half hour glass Rousing myself from my reverie I-
.

tu rned the glass Northward for the last time in the old M illenniu m ; an d in
the act I exclaimed aloud The boy is a fool
, , .

Straightway I became conscious of a Presence i n the room and a ,

chilling breath thrilled t rough my v ery being

”
h “
H e is no such thing . ,
66 Fla t/an d

“
cried my Wi fe an d yo u are b reaking the Com mand m ents i n thus dis
,

’
honou ring your own Grandson B u t I took n o n otice of her Looking .
.

rou nd in every direction I could see n othing ; yet still I f elt a Presence ,

“
and shivered as the col d whisper cam e agai n I started up What is . .

“
the m atter ! said my Wi fe ”
there is no d raught ; what are yo u ,

lookin g fo r ! There is nothing There was no thing ; and I resu med .

“
m y seat again exclai ming The boy is a fool I say ; 3 3 can have n o
, , ,

’
meani ng in Geo metry At once there came a d istinctly audibl e reply
.
,

The boy is not a fool an d 3 3 has an obvious Geo metrical meaning .

”

M y Wi fe as well as mysel f heard the words although sh e did not ,

understan d their mean ing an d both of u s sprang forward i n the direction

,

of the soun d What was ou r horror when we saw b efore us a Figure !

.

At the fi rst glance it appeared to be a Woman see n sideways ; b ut a ,

moment s observation sh ewed m e that the extrem ities passed i nto d imness
’

t o o rapidly to represent o ne of the Female S ex ; and I should h ave

thought i t a C ircle only that it seemed to change its siz e i n a mann er

,

impossible for a Circl e o r for an y Regular F igure o f w hich I had had

experien ce .

B ut m y Wi fe h ad not m y experience nor the cool ness n ecessary to ,

note these characteristics With the usual hastiness and u nreason ing
.

j ealousy of her Sex she flew at on ce to the conclusion that a Wom an

,

“
had entered the house through som e small apertu re H ow comes this .

” “
person here ! she exclai med you prom ised m e m y cl ear that there, , ,

’3 ”
should be n o ve ntilators in ou r new house N o r are there any said I .
i
,

but what makes you think that the stranger is a Woman I see by my
“
power o f S ight Recognition Oh I have n o patience with you r ,

” ’
S ight Recognition replied she Feel ing is believing an d A S traight
, ,
‘ ‘

Lin e to the touch is worth a Circle to the sight —t wo Proverbs very ” ’

,

com mon with the Frailer S ex i n Flatland .

“ ”
“
Well , said I for I was afraid o f i rritating her
, ,
i f it must b e so ,
 Fla tlan d
'

68

I n a sitting room the absence o f Fog (and the season happened to be

-

remarkably d ry) made it d i ffic ult for m e to trust to S ight Recognition

,

w
,

especially at the short d istance at hich I was standi ng . D esperate with

fear I
,
rushed for w ard with an un cerem o nious Yo u mu st pe rm it me ,

S ir and felt him My Wife was right There was not the trace of a n
. .

angle , not the slightest roughness or i nequality : n ever i n my l ife had

I met with a more perfect C ircle H e remained m otionless while I .

walked roun d hi m b egin ning fro m his eye a nd returni ng to it agai n

, .

Ci rcular he was throughout a perfectly satis facto ry Circle ; there could,

n ot b e a d oub t o f it Then followed a dialogu e which I will en deavou r

.
,

to set down as n ear as I can recollect it o m itting o nly some of m y ,

profuse apologies — for I was covered with shame an d hu m iliation that I ,

a S quare should hav e b een guilty of the i mpe rti n ence of feeling a
,

Circle I t was co m menced by the S tranger with som e i mpatience at

.

the l engthiness of my introd uctory p ro cess .

S tra ng er H ave you felt m e e nough by this ti m e ! Are you not

.

i ntrod uced to m e yet !

1 Most ill ustrious S ir excuse my awkwardness which arises not fro m
.
, ,

ign orance o f the usages of polite society b ut fro m a l ittl e s urprise and ,

nerv ousness consequent o n this so mewhat u nexpected visit An d I

,
.

b eseech yo u t o reveal m y i ndiscretion to no o n e and especially not to ,

my Wife B ut befo re you r Lordship enters i nto fu rther com mu nications

.
,

w o uld he deign to satisfy the c u ri o s i tv o f o ne who would gladly know

when ce his Visi tor cam e
S t ra ng er Fro m Space fro m Space S ir : when ce else !
.
, ,

I . Pardon m e my Lord b u t is not yo ur Lordship already i n Space

, , ,

you r Lordship and his hu mbl e servant even at this m oment ,

S tra ng e r P o oh ! what do you kn ow of Space

. D efin e Space .

1 Space my Lord is height and breadth ind efin itely pr o lon ged
.
, ,
.

S tra ng er Exactly : you see you d o not even know what Space is
. .
 Fla tla n d 69

You thin k it is of Two Dimension s only ; but I have co m e to an nounce

to you a Third height breadth an d length
-

, , .

! Your Lordship is pleased to be merry

. We also speak of length .

and height or breadth and thickn ess thus denoting Two D i mensions by
, ,

fou r names .

S trang er B ut I mean not only three names b ut Three D i mensions

.
, .

1 Would your Lordship indicate or explai n to me i n what directio n

.

i s the Third D i mension u nknown to me ! ,

S trang er I came fro m it

. I t i s up above and down b elow
. .

I My Lord mean s seemingly that it is Northward and S o uthward

. .

S tra ng er I mean nothing of the ki nd

. I mean a d irection i n which .

you can not look because yo u have no eye in you r side

, .

’
1 Pardon me m y Lord a momen t s i nspection wil l convin ce you r
.
, ,

Lordship that I ha v e a perfect l u m i nary at the j u ncture o f two o f

my sides .

S tra ng er Yes : but in ord er to see i nto S pace yo u ought to hav e an

.

eye not on yo ur Perimeter but on your side that is o n what yo u would

, , , ,

prob ably call you r insid e but we in Sp ac e lan d should call it your sid e .

I A n eye i n my inside
. An eye in my stomach You r Lordship j ests .

S tra ng er I am in n o j esting h u mo ur
. I tell you that I com e .

fr o m Space o r since you will not u nderstan d what Space m eans fro m
, , ,

the Land of Three D i mensions whence I b ut lately looked down upo n

you r Plan e whi ch you call Space forsooth From that position o f .

ad v antage I discern ed all that you speak of as s o li d (by which yo u

“
m ean en closed o n four sides you r houses yo ur churches you r very , ,

chests and safes yes e ven you r insides an d s tomachs al l lyi ng O pen and
, ,

exposed to my V ie w .

1 S uch assertions are easily ma de my Lord

.
, .

S trang er B ut not easily pro v ed

. you mean , . B ut I mea n to
prove m in e .
70 F la t/an d

When I descended here I saw you r four S ons the Pe n t agons each in
, , ,

his apartment and your two Grandsons the H exag on s ; I saw you r
,

youngest H exagon remai n a while with yo u and then retire to his room ,

leaving you an d you r Wife alone I saw your Isosceles s ervants three .
,

in n umbe r in the kitchen at s upper and the little Page i n the s cullery
, , .

Then I came here and how d o yo u thin k I came !

,

1 Through the roof I suppose

.
, .

S trang er Not so You r roof as you k now ve ry well has been

. .
, ,

recently repaired an d has no aperture by which even a Wo man could

,

penetrate I tel l you I co m e fro m Space Are yo u not convi n ced by

. .

what I ha v e tol d you o f your childre n an d household .

1 You r Lordship must b e aware that such facts touching the belong
.

i ngs o f his h umble serv ant m ight b e easily ascertained by any o ne in

’
the neighbourhood possessing you r Lord ship s a mple m eans of ob taining
i nformation .

S tra ng erH ow shal l I con v i nce hi m ! S u rely a plai n statement

.

o f facts followed by ocular d em onstration o ught to s uffic e — Now S ir ; ,

listen to m e .

You are livi ng on a Plan e What yo u style Flatland i s the v ast

.

level s urface of what I may cal l a fluid on or i n the top o f whi ch yo u , , ,

and yo ur countryme n move about , witho ut rising abo v e it o r falling

below it .

I am not a plane Figu re b ut a Solid You call m e a Circle ; b ut i n

, .

reality I am not a Circle, but an i n finite n u mb er o f Circles o f size ,

v aryi ng from a Poin t to a Circle o f thirteen inches i n d iam eter on e ,

placed o n the top of the oth er When I c ut through you r plan e as I am

.

n ow doing I m ake i n your plane a section whi ch you very rightly

, , ,

call a Circle For even a Sphere — which is m y p roper nam e i n m y

.

—
own cou ntry i f he m anifest himself at all to an i nhabita nt of Flatland
m ust needs man i fest himsel f as a C ircle .
 ‘

Fla tlan d 7 1

D o y o u not rem ember— for I who see all things d iscern ed last night
, ,

the phantasmal vision of L i neland writte n upo n yo ur brain — do you n ot

remember I say how whe n you entered the real m o f L i n elan d yo u were
, , , ,

compelled to manifest yourself to the K ing not as a S quare b ut as a ,

Lin e because that Linear Real m had not Dimensions enough to represent
,

the whole of you b ut o nly a slice or section o f you ! I n precisely the

,

same way yo ur co untry o f Two D imensions i s n ot spacious en o ugh

,

to represent m e a bei ng of Three but c an only exhibit a slice or section

, ,

of me whi ch is what you call a Ci rcl e

,
.

The dimi nished brightness of your eye i n d icates incredul ity B ut now .

prepare to receive proof p o siti v e o f the truth of my assertions Yo u .

cann ot i ndeed see m ore than one o f my sections o r Circles at a time ;

, ,

for you h a te no power to raise you r eye ou t o f the plane of Flatlan d ;

but you can at least see that as I rise in S pace so my section becomes
, ,

s maller S ee now I will rise ; an d the e ffect upon yo ur eye will be

.
,

that my Ci rcle will become s maller and s maller till it dwi ndles to a
point an d fi nally vanishes .

There was n o r i sing that I coul d see ; b ut he d im inished and

finally v anished I winked once or twice to make s ure that I was not
.

dreaming But it was no d ream For fro m the depths o f nowhere

. .

—
came forth a hollow v oi ce close to my heart i t seemed — “
A m I quite
 -

72

gone ! Are you con v inced now ! Well now I will gra d ually retu rn ,

to F latland an d you shall see m y sectio n beco me larger and larger

, .
”

Every read er i n Sp ac e lan d will easily u nderstand that m y mysteriou s

G uest was speaking the language of truth and even of si mplici t y .

B ut to me profi cie nt though I was i n Flatlan d M athem atics it was by

, ,

no m eans a si mple m atter The rough diagram give n above will make .

it clear to an y Sp ac eland child that the Sphe re ascending in the three ,

positio ns i ndicate d there m ust needs have m ani fested hi mself to m e , ,

or to any Flatlander as a Circle at fi rst of full s iz e then s mall an d

, , , ,

at last very s m all i ndeed approaching to a Poin t But to m e although , .

,

I saw the fac ts b efore me the causes were as dark as e v er All that , .

I could comprehen d was that the C i rcl e had mad e hi msel f s malle r ,

a nd v anished ,
an d that he ha d n ow reappeared an d was rapidly
making hi mself larger .

When he had regai ned his origin al size he heaved a d eep sigh for b e ,

perceived by my silence that I had altogether failed to comprehend hi m .

And indeed I was now i nclining to the belie f that he m ust b e n o Circle
’
at all b ut some extrem ely clever j uggler or els e that the old wives
,

tales were tru e an d that after al l there were s uch people as E nchanters
,

and Magicians .

“
After a long pause he m uttered to hi msel f On e resource alon e ,

remains if I am n ot to reso r t to action

, I must try th e m e thod of .

’
Analogy The n followed a still longer silence after which h e co ntin ued
.
,

ou r dial o gue .

Sp he re
Tel l me M r M athematician ; if a Point moves Northward
.
, .
,

and leaves a l u mino us wake what name wou ld yo u give to the wake ,

1 A straight Lin e
. .

Sp he re . And a straight Lin e has how many extremities !

1 . Two .

Sphe re . Now concei v e the Northward straight l ine moving paralle l

 73
to itself East an d West so that every point i n i t leaves b ehin d i t the
, ,

wake of a straight Line Wh at name will yo u g i ve to the Figu re

.

thereby formed ! We will supp o s e that it m oves through a distanc e

equal to th eorigi nal straight Li n e — What name I say ! ,

I A Square
. .

And how many sides has a Square ! And how m any Angles !
Sp here .

1 Four sides and fou r angles

. .

Sp here N ow stretch you r i magi nation a little and conceive a

.
,

S quare i n Flatland moving parallel to itself upward

, .

What ! Northward !
Sp here No not Northward upward ; o ut o f F latlan d altogether
.
, .

I f it moved Northward the Southern points in the S quare woul d

,

have to move through the positions previously occupied by the Northern

points B ut that is not my m eaning
. .

I mean that every Point i n you — for you are a S quare an d wil l serv e
the purpose of my illustration — every Poin t i n yo u that is to say i n ,

what you call your i nside is to pass upwards through Space i n such a
,

way that no Point shal l pass through the position previously occupied
by any other Point ; but each Poin t shall describe a straight Line of its own .

This is all i n accordance with A nalogy s urely it m ust be cl ear to yo u .

Restraining m y impatience— fo r I was n ow under a strong temptation

to rush b li ndly at my Visitor a nd to precipitate him into Space or out ,

o f F latlan d anywhere so that I could get ri d of hi m — I replied

, ,

And what m ay be the n atu re of the Figure which I a m to shape

out by this motion which yo u are pleased to denote by the word
upward I presum e it is describable in the langu age o f Flatland .

Sp he re Oh certainly
.
, It is al l plai n and si mple an d in stri c t
.
,

accordance with Anal o gy— only by the way you m ust not speak of , ,

the result as b eing a Figu r e b ut as a Solid B ut I will describe it to

, .

you O r rather not I b ut Analogy

.
, .
74

We began wi t h a single Poi nt which o f course — being itsel f a Point ,

-
h asonly o ne term inal Point .

O n e Point prod u ces a Lin e wi th tw o terminal Poi nts

,
.

On e Line pro d uc es a S quare with f o u r term in al P o i nts .

Now you can yo urself give the a nswer t o you r own question : 1, 2,

4, are evid ently i n Geo metri cal Progression What is the n ext n u mber . .

1 Eight . .

Sp here E xactly Th e one S quare produces a So meth i ng w h i ch y o u

. .
- -

do n o t as y et h no w a n a me f o r hu t w h i ch w e call—
- - - - -
a Cu be with e i h t terminal
-

g
- - - - - -

Points Now are you co nvi nced

.

1 A n d has this Creature sides as well as angle s or what yo u cal l

.
,

“
term i nal Poi nts
Sp he re O f cou rse ; an d all accord ing to Analogy
. B ut by the .
,

way not what y o u call sides but what w e call sides Y o u wo uld call
, , .

And how man y solids or sides wil l appertai n to this Being whom I
1 .

am to generate by the motio n o f my i nsid e i n an upward direction and ,

whom yo u cal l a Cube

Sp here H ow can you ask . ! And yo u a m athem atician ! The side
o f anything is always if I m ay so say on e Di mension behind the thi ng
, , .

Conse quently as there is no Di mens ion b ehind a Point a Point h as 0

, ,

sides ; a Line i f I m ay so say has 2 sides ( for the Points of a Li n e m ay

,
, ,

b e called by cou rte s y its sides ) a S qu are has 4 sid es ; 0 2 4 ; what

, , ,

Progressio n d o you call that !

I Ari thme ti cal
. .

Sp he re . An d what i s the n ext n u mb er !

1 . Six .

Sp he re
Exactly The n you see you have answe red yo ur own question
. . .

The C ube whic h y o u will generate will be bo und ed by six sid e s that is to ,

s ay six o f your insid es You see it all now eh

, .
,
 Fla tlan d

c o rner of the room and at the same ti me the tablet appeared upon the
,

fl o or . I took it u p . There co uld b e no doubt — i t was the m issin g

tablet .

I groaned with horror doubting whether I was not o ut of m y senses ,

b ut the Stranger conti n ued S urely you m ust now see that m y expl ana
tion and n o other suits the phenom ena What yo u call Solid things are
‘

, ,

really s uperfi cial what yo u call Space is really n ot h ing bu t a great Plan e .

I am i n Space and look d own upon the in si des of the things o f which yo u
,

o nly see the o utsides You could leave this Plan e yourself if you could
.
,

b ut su m mon up the necessary volition A slight u p ward or d ownward .

m otion would enable you to see all that I ca n see .

“
The higher I m ou n t and the fu rther I go from you r Plane the more I
, ,

can see though of course I see it on a s maller scale For e xa mple I am

,
.
,

ascendi ng ; n o w I can see your n eighbour the H exagon a nd h i s family i n

thei r several apartments now I see the i nside of th e Theatre ten doors off
, ,

from which the audien ce is on ly j ust departing ; a nd o n the other sid e a

Circle i n his study sitting at his books Now I shall com e back to you
, . .

And as a crown ing proof what do yo u say t o m y gi v ing yo u a touch j ust

, , ,

the least tou ch i n you r stomach ,

I t will not s eriously inj ure you and the ,

slight pai n yo u may su ffer ca n not b e compared with the mental be nefi t
”
you will receive .

Before I could utter a w o rd of remonstrance I felt a shooting pain i n ,

my inside an d a d e m o ni acal laugh seemed to iss ue fr o m within m e A

,
.

moment afterwards the sharp agony had ceased leaving nothing b ut a dull ,

ache behin d and the Stranger b egan to reappear sayi ng as he grad ually
, , ,

increased in size “
There I have not hu rt yo u m u ch have I ! I f you
, , ,

are not convinced n ow I don t k now what will con v in ce you ,

What ’
.

”
say you !
M y resol ution was taken I t seemed intol erable th at I should end ure .

existence subj ect to the arbitrary visitations o f a Magician who co uld thus
 Fla tla n d 77
’
play tricks with one s very stom ach I f only I could i n any w ay m anage .

to pi n him against th e w all till he lp came

O nce more I dashed my hardest angle against him at the same tim e ,

a larming the wh o le househ o ld by my cries for aid I b elieve at the .

,

mome nt o f my onset the Stranger had su nk below o ur Plane an d really

, ,

found di fficulty i n rising I n any case he remain ed mot ionless while I

.
, ,

heari ng as I thought the so und o f som e help approaching pressed agai nst
, , ,

him wi th redoubled vigour and continued t o shout for a ssistan ce

, .

A c o nvulsive sh udder ran thr o ugh the Sphere “

This m ust not be .
,

I th o ught I h e ard hi m say ; either he m ust listen to reason or I m ust

“
,

have rec o u rse to the l ast resource o f civilization Then add ressing m e .
’
,

in a louder tone he hu rried ly exclaimed

,
“
Listen : n o stranger m ust ,

witness what yo u have witnessed Send you r Wife back at o nce before .
,

she en t ers the apartment The Gospel of Three D i mensions m ust not
.

be thus frustrated Not thus m ust the fruits of one thousand years o f
.

wai t i n g be thr o wn away I hear her c o ming Back ! back ! Away

. .

fr o m m e or you m us t go with me — whi the r you k now not— into t h e

,

Land o f Th r ee D i mensions !
“
Fool ! Mad man ! I rregular ! I exclaim ed ; never will I release ”

thee th o u shal t pay the pen alty of thine impostures

; .
”

“ ”
Ha ! Is it co m e to this ! thu ndere d the S tranger then m eet
’ ”
you r fate : o ut of yo ur Plane yo u go . O nce twice thrice ! Tis
, ,
d on e !

1 8 — How
. I came to Sp aceland, and w h at I s aw t h ere .

An unspeakable horror seized m e There was a d arkness ; then a .

dizzy sicken ing sensation of sight that was n o t like seeing I saw a Lin e
,

t hat was n o Line Space that was not Space I was mysel f and not mysel f ,
.

When I could fi nd v o ice I shrieked aloud i n agony ,

Either this is mad ,

“ ”
ness or i t is H ell I t is neither calm ly replied the voice of the Sphere
.
,
”
,
“
i t i s K n o w le d g e ; i t is Three D i me nsions : open yo ur ey e on c e again
‘

and try to lo o k steadily .

I lo o k e d a nd beh o ld a new world ! There stoo d before m e visibly

, , , ,

i nc o rp o rate all that I had before in ferred conj ectured d ream ed o f perfect
, , , ,

Circular beau ty What seemed the centre of the Stranger s fo rm lay

.
’

O pe n to my view : yet I c o u l d see n o heart n or lungs nor arteries only , , ,

a beau tiful harmoni o us Something — for which I had n o words ; b ut you ,

my Readers i n Sp ac e lan d w o uld call it the surface o f the Sphere

,
.

Prostrating mysel f m en tally before m y Guid e I cried H o w is i t O

“
, , ,

divine ideal o f consu m mate loveli ness and wisdom that I see thy insid e , ,

”
and yet cannot discern th y heart thy l ungs thy arteries thy liver !
, , ,

“
What you thi nk you see you see not he replied ; it is not given t o , ,
“

you nor to any other B ei ng to behold my i nternal parts I am of a

, ,
.

d i fferent order o f Beings fro m those i n Flat lan d Were I a C ircle you .
,

could discern my intestin es b ut I a m a Being composed as I told yo u , ,

b efore o f man y Circles the Many i n the O ne called i n this co untry a

, , ,

Sphere A nd j ust as the outside of a Cub e i s a S quare so the o utside

.
, ,

”
o f a Sphere presents the appearan ce of a Circle .

’
Bewildered though I was by my Teacher s enigmatic utteran ce I no ,

longer chafed against it but w orshipped hi m i n silen t adoration

,
He .

con tin ued with m o re m ildness i n his voice : D istress not you rself i f y o u
,

cannot at fi rst u nderstan d the d eeper m ysteries o f Sp ac e lan d By degre e s .

they will da w n up o n you Let us begin by casting back a glance at the

.

regi o n whence yo u cam e Return with m e a while to the plains o f F lat

.

land an d I wil l show yo u that which yo u have so often reas o ned and
,

thought ab out bu t never seen with the sense o f sight— a visible angle
,
.

I mp o ssible ! I cried b ut the Sphere leading the way I followed as if

f‘ ”

, ,

“
i n a dream till on ce m ore his voice arrested m e : Look yonder and
, ,

”
behold yo ur own Pentagonal house and all its i n mates .

I looked be low and saw with my physi cal eye all that d omes tic
,
 Fla tlan d 79
individ uality which I had hitherto m erely i n ferred with the u nderstan ding
,

And h o w po o r a n d shad o wy was the i n ferred c o nj ecture i n com paris o n

'

w ith the reality which I now beheld ! My four Sons calmly asleep i n the

North Western
-

rooms m y tw o
,

orphan Grand
sons to the
South the
S ervan ts t h e
,

T HE HAL L
Butler my ,

D aughter all ,

in their several
ap a rt m en ts .

O nly my affe c
t i o n ate Wife ,

alarmed by my
continued ab
sence had quit
,

ted her roo m an d was roving up an d down in the H al l anxiously awaiting ,

my return Als o the Page ar o used by my cries had left his room and
.
, , ,

under pretext of ascertain ing w h e th e r J had fallen somewhere i n a faint ,

was prying into the cabinet i n my study Al l this I could now s ee not
.
,

merely i nfer and as we cam e nearer and nearer I could discern even the
,
.

contents of my cabinet and the two chests o f g o ld and the tablets o f

' ’

, ,

which th e Sphere had m ade mention .

’
Touched by my Wi fe s distress I wou ld have spru ng downward to
,

reassure her but I fo un d m yself incapable o f motion

,
“
Tr o uble not .

yourself abou t you r Wife said my G uide ; she wi ll not b e long left i n
,
”

anxiety meanti m e let us take a su rvey of F latlan d

, .

O nce more I felt myself risi n g through space I t was even as the .
80 Fla tla n d

S phere had said The further we receded fr o m the obj ect we beheld the
.
,

larger became the field o f visi on My native city wi t h the interior of .

,

every house an d eve ry creature therein lay open to my view i n m iniat ure , .

We mou nted higher and lo the secrets o f the earth the depths of mi nes
, , ,

and inmost cavern s o f the hills were bared before m e , .

Awestruck at the sight o f the mysteries of the earth thus u nveiled ,

before my unworthy eye I said to m y Co mpanion B ehold I am becom e

, , ,

as a God F o r th e wise m e n i n o u r count ry say that to see all thin g s o r

.
,

as they express i t o m n i v i den ce is the attrib u t e o f God alone

,
There was
, .
”

something o f scorn i n the voice o f m y Teacher as he m ad e answer : I s i t

so in deed ! Then the very p ick p o ckets and o ut thr o ats of my co untry are t -

to be worshipped by yo u r wise m e n as being Gods : for there is not one o f

the m that does no t see as mu ch as you see now B ut trust m e you r wise .
,

”
m en are wrong .

I Then is om nivid e nce the attri b ute o f others besid e Gods !

.

Sp h e re I do not know
. B ut i f a pick pocket or a cu t throat o f ou r
.
,
- -

cou ntry can see everything tha t is i n yo ur cou ntry surely that is n o reas o n ,

w h y the pick pocket o r cut throat should be accepted by yo u as a God

- -
.

This o mnivi den ce as y o u call i t— i t i s n ot a com mo n word i n Space

,

land — d be s it m ake you m ore j ust m ore m erci fu l less selfish m ore , , ,

l ovin g ! Not in the least Then how d o es it m ake y o u m ore divi ne

.

l
. More m erciful m ore loving ! B u t these are the qualities o f
,

women ! And we know that a Circle i s a higher B eing than a Straight

Lin e i n so far as kn owledge and wisdo m are m ore to be esteemed than
,

m ere affection .

Sp h ere I t is not fo r m e to classi fy h u man faculties acc o rding t o

.

m erit Yet m any o f the best an d wisest i n Sp ac e lan d think more o f the
.

a ffections than of the un derstand ing m ore o f you r despised S t raight Li nes ,

than o f you r belauded Circles . But eno ugh o f this . Look yonder . Do
you know that b uilding !
 Fla tla n d 8 I

I looked and afar off I saw an im m ense P o lygonal structure in wh ich

, ,

I recognized the General Assembly Hall o f the States o f Flatland s ur ,

r o unded by dense lines o f Pentagonal b uildings at right a ngles to each

other wh i ch I k new to be streets and I perceived that I was approaching
,

the great M etropolis .

H ere we de s c end said my Guid e I t was n ow morning the fi rs t h o ur

, .
,

of th e fi rs t d ay of t h e two thousandth year o f ou r era Ac t ing as was .

,

t heir w o nt i n s trict accordance wi t h preceden t t h e highest C ircles of the

, ,

realm were meeting i n sole mn conclave as they h ad m et o n the first hou r ,

o f the first day of the year 1 0 00 and also o n the first hou r of the first
,

day o f the year 0 .

The m inutes of the previous meetings were now read by o ne who m I

at o n ce recognized as my brother a perfectly Sy m metrical S quare and
, ,

the Chief Clerk o f the H igh C o un cil I t was fo un d recorded on each

.

“
o ccasion that Whereas th e States
: h ad b e en t roubled
by divers ill i n '
-

t e n t i o n e d persons pretendi ng to have received revelations from another

Worl d a nd professi ng to prod uce demon st r ations w h ereby they h ad insti

,

gated to fren zy b o th themselves an d others it had been fo r this cause ,

unani mously resolved by the Gran d C o un cil that on the first day of each
m illenary special i nj u ncti o ns b e sent to the Pre fects in the several
,

d is t ricts of Flatland to m ake s t rict search for such m isguided persons

, ,

and with o ut form ality o f m athem atical exam ination to destroy all such
’

as were Isosceles o f any d egree to scou r ge and imp r ison any regular
,

Triangle to cau se any S quare o r Pentagon to b e sent to th e dis t r ic t

,

Asyl um and t o arrest any on e o f higher rank sendi ng hi m straightway to

, ,

the Capital to be examined and j udged by the C o un cil .

“
Y o u hear you r fate said the Sphere to me while the Counci l was
,
”
,

passing for the third ti m e the formal resol ution Death or i m prisonment .

awaits the Apostle o f the Gospel of Three D i mensions “

Not so .
”
,

“
replied I the matter is now so clear to m e the nature of real space so
, ,
 82 Fla tla n d

palpable that m e thinks I could m

,
ake a child u nderstand it Permit m e .

“ ” ”
b ut t o descend at this m oment and e nlighten the m Not yet said .
,

my Guide the time wi ll co m e fo r that M ean ti me I m ust perform my

“
, .

m issi o n S tay thou the re i n thy place

. Sayi ng these words he leaped .
’
,

with great d exterity into the sea (if I may so call it) o f Flatlan d right i n ,

“ “
the midst o f th e ri n g o f Co un sellors
‘

I co me cried he to proclaim .
, ,

”
t hat there is a land of Three Di mensions .

I coul d see m any of the younger Co unsellors start b ack i n mani fest
’
horror as the Sphere s circular sec t ion widene d before them B ut on a
,
.

sign from the presiding Circle — who showed not the slightes t alarm or
,

s urprise— six Isosceles o f a low type from six d i fferent quarters rushed
“ ”
upo n the Sphere We have hi m they cried ; N o yes ; we h ave hi m
.
,

’ ’ ”
still ! he s going ! h e s gone !
My Lords said the Presid ent to the Ju nior Circl es of the C ouncil
, ,

there is n ot th e slightest need for surprise the sec ret archives to which ,

I alone h ave a ccess tel l m e that a similar o ccu rren ce happen ed on the
,

l as t two m illen ni al com mencements Yo u wi ll of co urse say nothing o f .

, ,

these tri fles outsid e the Cabinet

”
.

Raising his v oice he n ow su m mo ned the guard

,
“
Arrest the poli ce .

m en ; gag them Yo u k now you r d uty

. A fter h e had consign ed to .

thei r fate the wretched policem e n — ill fated and u nwilli ng witnesses o f a -

State secret which they were not to b e permitted to reveal — h e agai n

-

addressed the Counsellors My Lords the business of th e Coun ci l being

.
,

con cl uded I have only to wi sh yo u a happy New Year

, B efore d ep art .

i ng he expressed at so m e length to the Clerk m y excellent b ut most

, , , ,

u nfortunate brother his sincere regret that i n accordance with precedent

, ,

and for the sake of secrecy he must co nde m n hi m to p erpetual i mprison

,

ment but added his satisfaction that u nless some mention were mad e by
, ,

’
hi m of that day s incident his life would b e spared
'

, .
84 F la t/mod

F latlan d a H ex agon wo uld appear a Straight Li ne to on e who has

not the Art of S ight Recognition B ut i n reality it is a Solid as you
.
,

shall learn b y the sense o f Feeling .

H e the n i nt r o d uced m e to the Cub e an d I found that this m arvellou s

,

B ei ng was indeed no Plan e b ut a S olid ; an d that he was endowed Wi th

,

six plane sides an d eight terminal points called solid angles ; and I re
m embered the saying o f the Sphere that j ust s uch a C r eature as this
would be fo rmed by a Square moving i n S pace parallel to h i mself a nd
, ,

I rej oiced to thi nk that s o i nsignifi cant a Creature as I c o uld i n so m e

sense b e called the Progenitor of so ill us trious a n o ffspring .

B ut still I cou ld n ot fully un dersta nd t h e m ean ing of what my

Teacher had tol d me c o ncerning light “
and ” “
shad e and p e rs p e c
tive and I di d not hesitat e to p ut my d i fi ’
i c ult i e s before him .

’
Were I to give the Sphere s explanation of these m atters su ccinct ,

an d clear though it was i t w o uld b e tedious to an inhabitant of

,

Space who knows these things already S u ffi ce it that by h is l ucid

, .
,

statements and by changing the positio n of o bj ects an d lights an d b y

, ,

allowin g m e to feel th e several obj ects and even his own sacred
Perso n h e at l ast mad e all t hings clear to m e so that I could n o w
, ,

read ily disti nguish between a Ci rcle an d a Sphere a Plane Figure ,

and a S ohd .

This was th e C limax th e Paradise of my strange eventful H istory

, ,
.

H en ceforth I have to relate the story of my miserab le F all z— most

miserable yet s urely most u ndeserved ! For w h y should the thirst fo r
,

knowledge b e aroused only to be disappoi nted an d p u nished ! M y

,

voliti o n sh r i nks fro m the painful task o f recallin g my hu m iliation ; y e t ,

like a second Prometheus I w ill e ndu re this an d worse i f by any

, ,

means I m ay arouse in the i nteriors of Plan e an d S olid H u man ity a

spirit o f rebellion agai nst the Conceit which w oul d limit our Di me n
sion s t o Two or Three or any n u mbe r sho rt of I n fi ni t y Away then .
 F la t/erred 85

with all personal consid erations ! Let me con tin u e to the end as I ,

began wi th o ut fu r ther d igressions or anticipations pursuing the pl ai n

, ,

path of d ispassion ate H ist o ry The exact facts the exact words
.
, ,

and they are b urnt i n upo n my brain — shall be set down witho ut ,

al teration of an iota ; and let my Readers j udge between m e and

D estiny .

The Sphere wo uld willingly have continued his lesson s by i n d o c

t ri n ati ng m e i n the conformation o f all regular S o lids Cylinders Co nes , , ,

Pyrami d s Pentahedrons H exahed rons Dodecahedrons and Spheres

, , ,

but I ve ntu red to interrupt hi m Not that I was wearied of knowledge . .

O n the c ontrary I thirsted for yet d eeper and fuller draughts than
,

he was o ffering to m e .

“ ”
Pardon m e sai d I O Tho u Whom I m ust no longer address as
, ,

the Perfectio n o f al l B eauty ; b ut let m e beg thee to vou chsafe thy

servant a sight o f t hin e interior .

“ ”
Sp h ere My what !
.

“
I . Thine i nteri or : thy stomach thy intestines , .

“
Sp here Whence this ill t imed impertinent request !
. An d what
-

mean yo u by saying that I am n o longer the Perfection o f all

”
Beauty !
1 My Lord you r own wisdom has taught m e to aspire to One
. ,

eve n more great more beautiful an d more closely approximate to

, ,

Perfectio n than yo ursel f As you yourself superior to all Flatlan d

.
,

forms combine many Circles in O n e so d o ubtless there is On e above

, ,

you who combines many Spheres i n On e S uprem e E xistence su r ,

passing even the Sol ids o f Sp ac e lan d And even as we who are now .
,

in Space look down on Flatland and see the i nsides o f all things s o
, ,

of a certainty there is yet above u s som e higher purer region whither , ,

thou dost s urely purpose to l ead m e— O Thou Whom I shall always

call eve rywhere an d in all D i mensions my Priest Philosopher and
, , , ,
86 F la t/med

F rien d— som e yet more s pacious Sp ace so m e more d i m e ns i o n ab le ,

Di mension ality from the vantage gro u n d o f wh ich we shall look down
,
-

'

together upon the revealed insides o f Solid thin gs an d where thine ,

own i ntesti nes and those o f thy ki ndred Spheres will li e e x posed t o
, ,

the V iew of the poor wan dering e xile fro m Flatland to who m s o ,

mu ch has already been v ouchsafed .

Sp here . Pooh ! Stu ff ! E nou g h of this tri fl ing ! The tim e is short ,

an d m u ch re mains to be don e before you are fi t to proclaim the Gospel o f

Three Dimensions to you r bli nd be nighted cou ntrymen in F latland .

I Nay gracious Teacher deny me not what I know it is i n thy power

.
, ,

to perform Grant me b ut on e g limpse o f thine in terior and I am sa t isfied

.
,

for ever rem ain i ng henceforth thy docil e pupi l thy u nemancipable slave
, , ,

ready to receive all thy teachings and to feed upon the words that fall
from thy lips .

Sp here Well then to content an d si lence you let m e say at once I

.
, , , ,

would show yo u what y o u wish i f I cou ld ; b ut I can not Woul d you .

have m e tu rn m y stom ach in side o ut t o ob lige yo u !

I B ut my Lord has sho w n m e the intestin es o f all my cou ntry m en in
.

the Land o f Two D i mensions by taking m e with hi m i nto the Lan d of

Three Wha t there fore more easy t han now to take his servant o n a
.

secon d j ou rney i nto the blessed region of the Fourth D i mension where ,

I shall look down with hi m once m ore up o n this land of Three B i men
sion s and see the insid e o f eve ry three di mension ed house the secrets
,
-

of the solid earth the treasu res o f the m i n es i n Sp ac e lan d and the
, ,

intestines o f every soli d li vi ng creatu re even of the nob le and a d orable ,

Spheres .

Sp h ere B ut w h ere is this land of F our D imension s !

.

1 . I know not : b ut d oubtless my Teacher knows .

Sp here No t I. . There is no s uch land . The v e ry i d ea o f it is utterly

i ncon ce i v able .
 F la t/ari d 87

1 .
Your Lordship tempts his se rvant to see whether he remembers the
revelations imparted to him Tri fle not wi th m e my Lord ; I crave I
.
, ,

t hi rst fo r more knowledge

,
D oub tless we can not s ee that o t her higher
.

Sp ac e lan d n o w because we have n o eye in o ur stomachs

,
B ut j u st as .
,

there w as the real m o f Flatland though that poor pu ny L i n e lan d ,

Monarch c o uld neither tu rn to left nor right to discern it and j us t as there ,

w as close at hand an d touching my fram e the land of Three Dimensions

, , ,

t hough I blin d sen seless wretch had n o power to tou ch it no eye i n my

, , ,

i nterior to discern it so o f a s urety there is a Fou rth D im ension which

, ,

my Lord perceives with the in ner eye of thought And that it m ust exis t .

my Lord hi mself has taught m e Or can he have forgotten what h e .

himself i mparted to his servant !

I n O ne D imension did not a moving P o int prod uce a Li ne with
,
tw o

term inal points !

I n Two D i m ensi on s d id not a movi ng Lin e produ ce a S quare with
,

f o u r terminal points
I n Three D imension s d id not a moving Square produc e —d id not
,

this eye o f m ine behold i t— that blessed Being a Cub e

, , with a ge:
terminal points !
And in Fo ur D imensions shall not a moving Cube — alas fo r Analogy , ,

and alas for the Progress o f Truth i f it b e no t s o — shall not I say the , , ,

motio n of a divine Cube result i n a still more divi ne O rganization with

s i x teen term inal points !

Behold the infallib le con firmation of the S eri es 2 4 8 I 6 : is not thi s , , , ,

a Geometrical Progression ! I s not this— i f I m ight quote m y Lord s o wn ’

words strictly acco r ding to Analogy

Again was I not taught by my Lord that as in a Lin e there are tw o
,

bou nding Points and i n a S quare there are f o u r bound ing Lines s o i n a
, ,

Cube there must be s ix bounding Squares ! Behold onc e more the con
firming S eries 2 4 6 : is not this an Arithmetical Pr o g r essio n ! And
, , ,
‘
88 F la tla n d

consequently does it n ot o f n ecessity fo llow that the m ore d ivi n e o ffspri ng

o f the d ivine C ub e i n the Land of Fou r D i mensions m ust have
bou nding , 8
Cubes : an d is not this also as my Lord has taught m e to believe strictly , ,

acc o rdi ng to An alogy

O my Lord my Lord behold I cast myself i n faith upon conj ectu re
, , , , ,

n o t knowing the facts ; and I appeal to your Lordship to con firm or den y
my logical anticipations I f I a m w ro n g I yield and will n o longer demand
.
, ,

a Fourth D imension ; b ut if I a m right my Lord will listen to reason , , .

I ask therefore is it o r is it not the fact that ere n o w your country

, , , ,

m en also have witnessed the desce nt o f Bei ngs o f a higher ord er than
their own e ntering closed rooms even as you r Lordship entered mi ne
, , ,

without t h e open ing of doors o r windows an d appearing an d vanish ,

i ng at will ! O n the reply to this question I am ready to stake every

thing Deny it an d I a m hen ceforth silent O nly vou chsafe an an swer
.
, . .

Sp here ( f ter a p a us e
) It is
a reported so B ut men are d ivided i n . .

opi n io n as to the facts A nd even granting the facts they explai n them
.
,

i n di fferent ways An d in any case however great m ay be the nu mber of

.
,

d ifferen t explan ations n o one has adopted or suggested the theory o f a

,

Fourth D i mension Therefore pray have done with this trifling and let
.
, ,

u s retu rn to b usiness .

I I was certain of it I was certain that my anticipations wou ld be

. .

ful filled A nd now have patien ce with m e an d answer m e yet on e more

.

question best of Teachers ! Those who have th us appeared — no on e

,

knows whence — an d have returned — n o on e knows whi ther— ha v e they

als o contracted thei r sections an d vanished somehow i nto that more
S pacious Space whither I now entreat you to condu ct m e !
,

Sp he re (mo o d i iy) They have vanished c ertainl y— i f they ever ap

.
,

p e are d B ut mos t people say that these visions arose from the thought
.

you will not understand me — fro m the brain from the pertu rb ed angularity
o f the Seer .
 F la t/a ri d 89

I .
Say they so ! Oh believe the m not O r if it indeed be so that
,
.
,

t his other Space is really Th o u g h t lan d t hen take m e to that blessed ,

Region where I i n Thought shall see the i nsides of all s o lid things .

There befo re my ravished eye a C ube m ovi ng i n some altogether new

,
, ,

direction but strictly acc o rding t o A nalogy so as to m ake every particle

, ,

of his interior pass through a new kin d of Space wi th a wake of its o wn

shall create a still m ore perfect perfection than hi mself with sixteen terminal ,

Extra s o lid angles an d Eight solid C ubes for his Peri meter And once
-

,
.

there shall we stay ou r upward co urse ! I n that blessed region of F o ur

,

D imensions shall we linger o n the threshold o f the Fifth an d n o t e nter

, ,

t herein ! Ah no ! Let us rathe r resolve that o ur a mbition shall soar with

,

ou r c o rp o ral asce nt Then yielding to o u r i nte llectual onset the gates o f

.
, ,

the S ixth Dim ension shall fly open ; after that a Seventh and then ,

an Eighth
H ow l o ng I should have continued I know not I n vai n d id the .

Sphe r e in his voice of thun der reiterate his com mands of silence and
, , ,

t hreaten m e w ith the d irest penalties i f I persisted

'
Nothing co uld .

stem the flood of my ecstatic aspirati o ns Perhaps I was to bla me ; .

but indeed I w as int o xicated wi th the recen t draughts o f Truth t o

which he himself had introd uced m e H o wever the en d was n ot long .
,

i n coming My words were cut shor t by a crash o utsid e an d a

.
,

si multaneous crash inside m e which i mpelled m e t hrough Space wi th,

a veloci ty tha t precluded speech D own ! d o wn ! down ! I was rapidly .

descending ; and I k new that return t o Flat land was my doom O ne .

gli mpse one last an d never t o b e fo rgotten glimpse I had o f that d ull
,
- - -

level wilderness — which was n o w t o bec o me m y Un iverse again — spread

out be fore m y ey e Then a darkn ess Then a fi n al all c o nsu m m ating
. .
,
-

t hunder pea ! and when I cam e t o mysel f I was o nce more a c o m m o n

-

, ,

c r eeping S quare in m y St udy at home listeni ng to the Peace Cry o f

, ,
-

my approaching Wife .
 ’
gq F la tla ua

— Ho w the Sp h ere enco ura e d me in V i s i on

20 .
g a .

Although I had less than a min ute for refl ection I felt by a kin d
'

, ,

of instin ct that I m ust conceal m y experi ences from m y Wife N o t

, .

that I app rehen ded at the m oment any danger from her divulging
, ,

m y secret b ut I k now that to any Woman i n Flatlan d the n arrative

, ,

of my adventures m ust needs be u ni ntelligibl e S o I e ndeavoured .

to reassure her by som e story i nve nted for the occasion that I h ad
, ,

accid entally falle n through the trap door of the cellar an d had there-

lain stun ned .

The So uthward attraction i n o ur cou ntry is so slight that even to

a W o man my tale n ecessarily appeared extraord inary an d well nigh -

i ncredible ; b ut my Wife whose good sense far excee d s that o f

,

t h e average o f her Sex and wh o perceived that I was u n usually

,

exci ted did n ot argu e wi th m e on the subj ect b ut i nsisted that I was
, ,

ill an d requ ired repose I was glad of an exc us e fo r retiring to my

.

chamber to thi n k quietly o ver wha t had happen ed When I was at .

last by myself a drowsy sensa t ion fel l on m e ; b ut b efo re my eyes

,

closed I en deavoured to repr o duce the Third Di m ensio n and especially ,

the pr o cess by which a C ub e i s constructed through the m o tio n o f a

S quare I t was n ot so cle ar as I could have wished ; b ut I remembered
.

”
that it m ust b e Upward an d yet n ot Northward and I determined
, ,

stead fastly to retai n these words a s the cl ue which i f fi rmly grasped , ,

c o uld not fail to gu ide m e to the sol ution S o m echani cally repeating .
,

like a charm the w o rds ,

“
Upward yet n o t Northward I fell i nt o a
, ,
”

s o un d refreshing sleep .

D uring m y slu mber I had a d rea m I thought I was once more by .

the side of the Sphere whose lustro us h ue bet o kened tha t he had
,

exchanged his wrath against m e for perfect placab ili t y We were .

moving together t o wards a bright but i n fini te s i m ally s mall Point to ,

9 2 F la t/a ri d

what I t fills I t is What I t thinks that It utters ; an d what I t u tters

,
.
, ,

that I t hears ; and I t itself is Thinker Utterer H earer Thought Word , , , , ,

Audi t ion ; it is the O n e and yet t h e Al l in All Ah the happi ness

”

, .
, ,

ah th e happi ness o f B ei ng !
”

Can y o u n o t start le the little thing o ut of its co mplacen cy ! sai d ”

I. Tell i t what it really is as you told m e ; reveal to it the narrow

,

li mitations o f Po i n tlan d and lead t up to something higher

i ,
“
That is .

” “ ”
n o easy task said my M aster ; t ry you
,
.

H ereon raising m y voice to the uttermost I add ressed the Poin t

, ,

as foll o ws
“
S ilence silence contem ptible Creature You call you rself the All
, , .

i n All but you are the Nothing : yo ur s o cal led Un iverse is a m ere speck
,
-

i n a Li ne and a Line is a mere shadow as compared with

,
H ush ,

“ ”
h ush yo u have s ai d enough i nterru pted the S phere
,
now l isten and
, , ,

m ark the effect of yo ur harangu e o n the K ing of Po i n tlan d .

The l us t re o f the M onarch who beamed more b rightly than ever ,

upon heari ng my words sh o wed cl early that he retained his com ,

p lac e n c y ; and I had hardly ceased when he took up his strai n agai n .

Ah the j o y ah the j o y o f Thought ! What can I t not achieve by

, , ,

thi nki ng ! Its own Though t com ing t o I tsel f s uggestive of Its d is ,

p a ra g e m e n t thereby to
,
enhance I ts happi ness ! Sweet rebellion stirred
up to result i n triu mph ! Ah the d ivin e creative power of the A ll ,

”
i n O ne ! Ah the j oy the j oy o f Being ! ,

Y o u see said m y Teacher “

how little you r words have d one
, , .

S o far as the M on arch u nderstands the m at all he accepts them as ,

his own — fo r he cannot con c eive o f any other except himsel f— and pl umes
’
himself upo n t h e varie t y of Its Thought as an i ns tance of creative ‘

Power Let us leave this G o d of Po i n tlan d to th e ign o rant fruition of his

.

omnipresence an d omniscience : n o t hing that yo u o r I can do can rescue

him fr om his self satisfac t i o n -
.
”
 F i a t/a n d 93

After this as we floated gently back t o F latlan d

, , I could hear the
m ild v o ice of my C o mpanion poin t i ng t h e moral o f m y vision an d ,

sti mulating me to aspire and to teach o thers to aspire H e had bee n

, .

angered at firs t — h e —
co nfessed by my ambiti o n t o soar t o D imensi o ns
abo ve the Third b ut since then he had received fresh insigh t and he was
, ,

not t o o proud to acknowledge 11 15 error to a Pupil Then h e proceeded .

t o i ni t iate m e i n t o mys t eries yet higher than those I had witnessed ,

sh o wing me h o w to c o ns t ru ct Ex t ra S o lids by the moti o n o f S olids and -

D ouble Extra S o l ids by the m otion o f Extra Solids an d all

-
“
strictly -

accord ing to Anal o gy all by m ethod s so simple so easy as to be

,
”
, ,

patent even to the Fe m ale S ex .

— How I t ri ed t each th e t h eory Th ree D i mens i ons

21 . to f
o

to my Grands on, and w i th w h at s uccess .

I awoke rej oicing an d began t o reflect o n th e glorious career b efore

,

m e I w o uld go for t h me thought at once and evangelize the wh o le

. , , ,

o f Flatland Even to W o men and Sold iers should the Gospel of Three
.

D imensions b e pr o clai med I wo uld b egin with my Wi fe . .

Just as I had decided on plan of my operations I heard the th e ,

s o und of m any voices in the st r eet commanding silence Then fo llowed .

a lou der v o ice I t was a he r ald s pr o clamation Listening attentively

’
. .
,

I recognized the words o f the Resolution o f the C o u ncil enj o ining the ,

arrest imprisonment o r executio n o f any one who should pervert the

, ,

minds of the pe o ple by delusi o ns an d by pr o fessi ng to h ave received ,

revelati o ns fr o m an o ther World .

I reflected This danger was not to be t ri fle d wi th I t would be

. .

better to avoid it by omitting all men t ion of my Revelation and by ,

pro ceeding o n the path of D emonstrati o n — whi ch after all seemed s o ,

simple and so concl usive that nothing would be lost by d iscarding the
94

fo rmer m eans Upward not Northward — was th e clue to th e whole

.
“
,

pr oo f I t had se emed to m e fairly clear be fo re I fell asleep ; an d when

.

I first awoke, fresh fr om m y d r ea m it had appeared as p at ent as,

Arithmetic ; but som eh o w it d id n o t see m to m e quite so obvious n o w .

Th o ugh my Wi fe entered the roo m o pportu nely j ust at that m o m e n t I ,

decided aft er we had i nterchanged a few words of c o m monplace

,

c o nversation not to begin with her

, .

My Pentagonal S ons were m en o f character and standing and ,

physicians o f no mean reputati o n bu t not great i n m athematics and in

, , ,

that respect u nfit for my pu rpose B ut i t occu rred to m e that a young

, .

an d docile H exagon with a mathem atical tu rn woul d be a most s uitable

, ,

pupil Why therefore not m ake my fi rst experiment wi th my little

.

precocious Grandson whose casual remarks on the m eaning of 3 3 had met

,

with the approval of the Sphere ! Discussing the m atter with him a ,

m ere b oy I should be i n perfect safety ; for he wo uld k now no thing o f

,

the Proc lamation of the Coun cil ; w hereas I could not feel sure that m y
S ons— s o greatly di d their patriotis m an d reverence for the C ircles pre
domi nate over m ere b lind a ffecti o n — m ight not feel compelled t o han d
!

m e over to the Prefect if they fou nd m e serious ly m aintaini ng the

,

seditious heresy of the Thi rd D i m ension .

B ut the fi rst thi ng to b e do ne was to satisfy in some way the

curiosity of my Wi fe who n aturally wished to know some thing of the
,

reasons for which the Circle had desired that mysterious interview an d ,

of the m eans by which he had entered ou r house Withou t entering .

i nto the details of the elaborate account I gave her an accou nt I fear ,
-

, ,

not quite so consistent with truth as my Readers i n Sp ac e lan d might

desire , I m ust b e conte nt with saying that I s ucceeded at last
i n persuad ing her to return quietly to her household du t ies withou t
eliciti ng from m e any referen ce to the World o f Three Dimensions .

This d one I im m ediately se nt for m y Gran dso n ; fo r to confess the

, ,
9 6 Fla l lan d

somewhere — n ot exactly like this b ut s o mehow H ere I b rought my ,

sentence to an i nan e con cl usio n shaki ng the S qu are about i n a pu rpose

, ,

less manner m uch to the am usemen t of m y Grandson who b urst ou t

, ,

l aughing louder than ever an d d eclared that I was not teaching him
, ,

b ut j o king wi th hi m ; an d so sayi ng he unlocked th e door an d ran

out of the room Th us e nded m y first attem pt to convert a pupil to
.

the Gospel of Three D imensions .

22 .
— How I t h en t ri ed to fi
di ies e th e Th eory o f Th ree
D i mens i o ns hy o t h er means , a nd
f
o th e res ult .

My fail ure with my Grandson d id not encou rage me t o com m unicate

my secret to others of my ho usehold ; yet neithe r was I led by it to
despai r of success O nly I saw that I must n ot wholly rely on the catch
.

phrase Upward n ot Northward but m ust rather endeavou r t o seek a

“
, ,
”

dem onstration by setting b efore the public a clear view of the whol e
s ubj ect ; an d for this p urpose it seemed necessary to resort to writing .

So I devoted several mon ths in privacy to the composition of a treatise

on th e mysteries o f Three D i mensi o n s Only with the view o f evadi ng .
,

the Law i f possible I spoke not of a physical D i men si o n but of a

, , ,

Th o ug h tlan d whe nce i n theory a Figure could look d own upon Flatlan d
, ,

and see sim ultaneously the i nsides of al l things an d where it was ,

p o ssib le that there might be supposed to exist a Figure environ ed as it ,

were with six S quares an d contai ning eight terminal Points

, ,
. B ut i n
writing this b o ok I foun d mysel f s ad ly h am p e re d by the i mp o ssibility
o f d r awing such d iagrams as were n ecessary fo r my purpose ; for o f
course in ou r coun try of Flatland there are n o tablets b ut Li nes and
, , ,

n o d iag r ams b ut Lines all i n o ne straight Li ne an d o nly d istinguishable

,

by difference of size and b rightness ; so that when I had fi nished my ,

“
treatise (which I entitled Through Flatland to Th o ug h tlan d ) I could ”

n o t feel ce rt ain that many wou ld u nderstand m y meaning .

 Fla tla n d 97

M eanwhile my life was u nder a cloud All pleasu res palled upon .

m e ; all sights tantalized an d tempted m e to outspoken treason because ,

I coul d not but co mpare what I saw i n Two D i mensions with what it
really was if see n i n Three and co uld hard ly refrai n from making my
,

comparisons aloud I n eglected my clients and my o wn b usin ess to give

.

mysel f to th e contemplation o f the mysteries which I had on ce beheld ,

yet which I could i mpart to no one an d found daily more d i fficul t to

,

reprod uce even before my own m ental vision .

O n e day about el even months after my return fro m Sp ac e lan d I

, ,

tried to see a Cube with my eye closed b ut failed and tho ugh I s ucceeded
,

afterwards I was n ot then qu ite certain (n or have I been ever afterwards )

,

that I had exactly realized the original This mad e m e more !melan choly
.

than before and determi ned m e to take some step yet what I knew not
, ,
.

I felt that I would have been willing to sacrifice my li fe for the Cause ,

i f thereby I co ul d have produced conviction B ut i f I co uld not convince

.

my Gran dson how could I convi nce the highest an d most developed
,

Circles i n the land !

An d yet at ti mes my spirit was too strong for me and I gave vent to ,

danger o us utteran ces A l ready I was considered heterodox i f not

.

treas o n able and I was keenly alive to the dangers of my position ;

,

nevertheless I could not at ti mes refrai n fro m b ursting o ut into suspicious

or hal f sediti o us utterances even am ong the highest Polyg o nal an d
-

Circular socie t y When for example the questio n arose about the
.
, ,

treatment of those l unati cs who said that they had received the power o f
seei ng the i nsides of things I would quote the saying of an an cient C ircle
, ,

who declared that prophets and i nspi red people are always consid ered by
the maj o rity to be mad ; an d I could not help occasionally droppi ng s uch
“ “ ”
expressions as the eye that discern s the interiors of things an d the ,

“
all seeing l and : on ce or twice I even let fall the forbidden terms the
-

Third and Fo urth D imensions . At last to complete a series of minor

,

H
9 8 Fla t/a n d

i nd iscreti o ns at a m eeting o f our Local Speculative Society held at the

,

palace of th e Pre fect him self —some extremely silly perso n having read an
,

elaborate paper exhibiting the precise reasons why Providen ce h as limited

the n umber of D i mensio ns to Two a nd why the attrib ute o f o m nivid ence
,

is assigned to the S upre m e alone — I so far forgot mysel f as to give an

exact accou nt of the whole o f my voyage with the S phere into Space an d ,

t o the Assembly H all in our Metropolis and then to Space again and o f , ,

m y retu rn h o me and o f everything that I had seen and heard i n fact o r

,

vision At first ind eed I pretend ed that I was describing th e i maginary

.
, ,

experiences of a fictitiou s perso n ; b ut my enthu siasm soo n fo rced m e t o

throw o ff all disguise a nd fi nally i n a fervent peroration I exhorted all
, , ,

m v hearers to divest themselves of prej udi ce and to become b elievers i n

t h e Third D imensio n .

Need I say that I was at once arrested an d taken before th e Co uncil !

Next m o rning standi ng i n the very place where but a very few months
,

ag o the Sphere had stood i n my compan y I was allowed to begi n and to ,

conti nue m y n arrati o n u nquestion ed and u ninterrupted B ut fro m t h e fi rst .

I fo resaw m y fate for the President noting that a guard o f the better sort
,

of P o licemen was i n attendance of angularity little i f at all u nder

, , ,

ordered them to be relieved be fore I b egan my defen ce by an i n fe rior ,

°
class o f 2 or I knew o nly too well what that m eant I was to be .

executed or i mprisoned an d my story was to b e kept sec r et from the

,

w or ld by the si m ultaneous destru ction of the o fli c i als who had heard it ;

f

and this being the case th e President desired to substitute the cheaper for
, ,

t h e m ore expensive victi ms .

After I had c o ncl uded my d efen ce the President perhaps perceiving, ,

t hat some o f t h e j u nior Circles had been moved by m y eviden t earnestness ,

asked m e two ques t ions

Whether I could indicate the direct ion which I m eant when I used
1 .

“
the words Upward not N orthward ! ,
”
I OO

Prometheus up i n Sp ac e lan d was bou nd for b ri nging down fire for

m ortals
,
b ut I — poo r Flatland Prometheus — lie here i n prison for b ring
ing down nothing to my cou ntrymen Yet I exist i n the hope that
.

these memoirs i n som e m anner I know not how m ay fi nd their way t o

, , ,

the m inds o f humani ty in So me D imension and may stir u p a race of ,

rebels who shall refuse to be con fined to li mited D i m ensionality .

That is th e h O p e o f my brighter m oments Alas it is n ot always so .

,
.

He avi ly weighs o n m e at tim es the b u rdensome reflectio n that I can not

honestly say I am confident as to the exact shape of the o nce seen oft -

regre tted C ube ; an d i n my nightly visio ns the m ysterious precept ,

“
Upward not Northward haunts m e like a so ul devouring Sphinx I t
, ,
-
.

is part of the martyrdo m which I end ure for the cause of the Truth that
there are seasons of m ental weakness when C ubes an d S pheres flit away
,

i nto the backgroun d of scarce possible existences ; when the Lan d of

-

Three D i me nsions seems al most as visionary as the Land of O ne or

No ne n ay when even t his hard wall that b ars m e from my freedom these
, ,

very tablets o n which I a m writing and all the substantial realities of

,

Flatlan d itsel f appear n o better than the o ffspring of a diseased i magination

, ,

or the baseless fabric of a d ream .

E / Vp

L O N DO N : R . CL A Y , SO N S, A N D T A YLO R , PR I N T E RS .