abbott, edwin a. - flatland

8/11/2019 Abbott, Edwin a. - Flatland

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FlatlandA Romance of Many Dimensions

With Illustrationsby the Author, A SQUARE

[Ed in Abbott Abbott!"#$%$'()*

"Fie, fie how franticly I square my talk!"

Second, re+ised edition, #$$

-able of .ontents [A Note on the Text] Dedication [Portrait of author] Frontispiece Preface to the Second and Revised Edition, 188 , !"

the Editor [A!!ott]

/art #0 -his World

1# $f the Nature of F%at%and $f the '%i(ate and )ouses in F%at%and *# 'oncernin+ the nha!itants of F%at%and # 'oncernin+ the -o(en .# $f $ur /ethods of Reco+ni0in+ one another # $f Reco+nition !" Si+ht 2# 'oncernin+ rre+u%ar Fi+ures 8# $f the Ancient Practice of Paintin+ 3# $f the 4niversa% 'o%our 5i%% 16# $f the Suppression of 'hro(atic Sedition 11# 'oncernin+ our Priests 1$f the Doctrine of our Priests

/art (0 1ther Worlds
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1*# )o7 had a ision of 9ine%and 1 # )o7 vain%" tried to exp%ain the nature of

F%at%and 1.# 'oncernin+ a Stran+er fro( Space%and 1 # )o7 the Stran+er vain%" endeavored to revea%

to (e in 7ords the ("steries of Space%and 12# )o7 the Sphere, havin+ in vain tried 7ords,resorted to deeds

18# )o7 ca(e to Space%and and 7hat sa7 there13# )o7, thou+h the Sphere she7ed (e other

("steries of Space%and, sti%% desired (ore:and 7hat ca(e of it

&6#)o7 the Sphere encoura+ed (e in a ision &1#)o7 tried to teach the Theor" of Three

Di(ensions to (" ;randson, and 7ith 7hatsuccess

&)o7 then tried to diffuse the Theor" ofThree Di(ensions !" other (eans, and of theresu%t

Dedication

-o-he Inhabitants of S/A.E I2 3E2ERA4

And 56.6 I2 /AR-I.U4AR

-his Wor7 is Dedicated8y a 5umble 2ati+e of Flatland

In the 5o9e thatE+en as he as Initiated into the Mysteries

1f -5REE Dimensions5a+in: been 9re+iously con+ersant

With 124; -W1So the .iti Dimensions

-hereby contributin:

-o the Enlar:ment of -5E IMA3I2A-I12And the 9ossible De+elo9ment

1f that most and e?cellent 3ift of M1DES-;Amon: the Su9erior Races1f S14ID 5UMA2I-;
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A 2ote on the -e?t

'op"


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'o+itators of the fourth di(ension shou%d !e a7are that Abbott is not talking about TIME # Ti(e is the fourthdi(ension in a three


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/refaceto theSecond and Re+ised

Edition, #$$

8y the Editor

[E6 A6 Abbott!

F (" poor F%at%and friend retained the vi+our of (ind 7hichhe en o"ed 7hen he !e+an to co(pose these /e(oirs, shou%d not no7 need to represent hi( in this preface, in


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7hich he desires, fu%%", to return his than@s to his readers andcritics in Space%and, 7hose appreciation has, 7ith unexpectedce%erit", re uired a second edition of this 7or@: second%", toapo%o+i0e for certain errors and (isprints Cfor 7hich,ho7ever, he is not entire%" responsi!%e : and, third%", to

exp%ain one or t7o (isconceptions# 5ut he is not the S uarehe once 7as# Hears of i(prison(ent, and the sti%% heavier !urden of +enera% incredu%it" and (oc@er", have co(!ined7ith the thou+hts and notions, and (uch a%so of theter(ino%o+", 7hich he ac uired durin+ his short sta" inSpace%and# )e has, therefore, re uested (e to rep%" in his

!eha%f to t7o specia% o! ections, one of an inte%%ectua%, theother of a (ora% nature#

The first o! ection is, that a F%at%ander, seein+ a 9ine, seesso(ethin+ that (ust !e thick to the e"e as 7e%% as long to the

e"e Cother7ise it 7ou%d not !e visi!%e, if it had not so(ethic@ness : and conse uent%" he ou+ht Cit is ar+ued toac@no7%ed+e that his countr"(en are not on%" %on+ and

!road, !ut a%so Cthou+h dou!t%ess to a ver" s%i+ht de+reethick or high. This o! ection is p%ausi!%e, and, toSpace%anders, a%(ost irresisti!%e, so that, confess, 7hen first heard it, @ne7 not 7hat to rep%"# 5ut (" poor o%dfriend?s ans7er appears to (e co(p%ete%" to (eet it#

ad(it, said he


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see a 9ine, 7e see so(ethin+ that is %on+ and bright"brightness, as 7e%% as %en+th, is necessar" to the existence ofa 9ine: if the !ri+htness vanishes, the 9ine is extin+uished#)ence, a%% (" F%at%and friends


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!earin+ on the point in uestion and 7hich he had previous%"o(itted as !ein+ tedious and unnecessar"#

/AR- #

-5IS W1R4DSection #

1f the 2ature of Flatland

'A99 our 7or%d F%at%and, not !ecause 7e ca%% it so, !ut to(a@e its nature c%earer to "ou, (" happ" readers, 7ho are

privi%e+ed to %ive in Space#

(a+ine a vast sheet of paper on 7hich strai+ht 9ines,Trian+%es, S uares, Penta+ons, )exa+ons, and other fi+ures,instead of re(ainin+ fixed in their p%aces, (ove free%" a!out,on or in the surface, !ut 7ithout the po7er of risin+ a!ove orsin@in+ !e%o7 it, ver" (uch %i@e shado7s


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ta!%e Cso that "ou are, as it 7ere, actua%%" a F%at%ander the penn" 7i%% then have ceased to appear ova% at a%%, and 7i%%have !eco(e, so far as "ou can see, a strai+ht %ine#

The sa(e thin+ 7ou%d happen if "ou 7ere to treat in the sa(e

7a" a Trian+%e, or a S uare, or an" other fi+ure cut out fro( paste!oard# As soon as "ou %oo@ at it 7ith "our e"e on theed+e of the ta!%e, "ou 7i%% find that it ceases to appear to "ouas a fi+ure, and that it !eco(es in appearance a strai+ht %ine#Ta@e for exa(p%e an e ui%atera% Trian+%e


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su! ect, and sa" a 7ord or t7o a!out the c%i(ate and housesin our countr"#

Section (

1f the .limate and 5ousesin Flatland

AS - T) "ou, so a%so 7ith us, there are four points of theco(pass North, South, East, and -est#

There !ein+ no sun nor other heaven%" !odies, it isi(possi!%e for us to deter(ine the North in the usua% 7a": !ut7e have a (ethod of our o7n# 5" a 9a7 of Nature 7ith us,there is a constant attraction to the South: and, a%thou+h inte(perate c%i(ates this is ver" s%i+ht


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-indo7s there are none in our housesG for the %i+ht co(es tous a%i@e in our ho(es and out of the(, !" da" and !" ni+ht,e ua%%" at a%% ti(es and in a%% p%aces, 7hence 7e @no7 not# t7as in o%d da"s, 7ith our %earned (en, an interestin+ and oft

abbott, edwin a. - flatland

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