"
"True," said the Sphere; "it appears to you a Plane, because you
are not accustomed to light and shade and perspective; just as in
Flatland a Hexagon would appear a Straight Line to one who has not
the Art of Sight Recognition. But in reality it is a Solid,
as you shall learn by the sense of Feeling."
He then introduced me to the Cube, and I found that this marvellous
Being was indeed no Plane, but a Solid; and that he was endowed with
six plane sides and eight terminal points called solid angles;
and I remembered the saying of the Sphere that just such a Creature
as this would be formed by the Square moving, in Space, parallel to himself:
and I rejoiced to think that so insignificant a Creature as I could
in some sense be called the Progenitor of so illustrious an offspring.
But still I could not fully understand the meaning of what my Teacher
had told me concerning "light" and "shade" and "perspective";
and I did not hesitate to put my difficulties before him.
Were I to give the Sphere's explanation of these matters, succinct
and clear though it was, it would be tedious to an inhabitant of Space,
who knows these things already.
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