Amazing Stories — page 90: what you’re looking at

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Ca q d School Under the Lies APPrOWM 07 @ Othe tate of New York RANGERS. Ranger job; $125-$200 mo, an ish, trap, eto, ‘or details, » NORTON INST., 2030 Tomple Court. Denver, Colo. be ap penne ah —$2,50 a year, Inc., 230 Fifth Ave- yeachin forward in our stories, We tie by your view that not anything: a rWalr We appreciate the sent ment indicate ¢ is a eae and the achievements of the last few decades have been so wonderful that they have almost destroyed our sense of astonishment As regards The Master of the. World,” you will find that the end is very satisfactory, and you will not know what it is until you reach the concluding paragraph, | : Mr. Wells, among: his other merits as an au- thor, hns the faculty of giving what is called “atmosphere.” ‘[his appears in ‘Pollock and. the Porroh Man,’ where there is an atmosphere of utter drearingss, which is very impressive. Psy- chology plays an all-important part in this story. We are very glad to see your statement that science is interesting, even if imaginative. With- out-imagination, there would be few discoveries made. Imagination is all important in the laboratory. (e eae your letter with great pleasure.—EDITOR.] THREE DIMENSIONS AND FOUR DIMEN- SIONS—FUNDAMENTAL, CONCEPTIONS Editor, Amazing Stopizs: AS ani interested reader of Anazino Srortes I feel that I speak for the great majority of read- ergs When I say that stories in which time is turned backward or forward dre impossible, Time is something that cannot be tampered with; all that is with us is the present. The past has already gone, and the future-is yet to come: Authors, realizing that a trip into the future or past would make an interesting story, oast about for scientific means of accomplishing time: traveling. Finally, one hit upon the idea of -de- fining time as the fourth dimension and travelling in.that, Then-he gave a talk with flawless proofs that one should be able to travel in the fourth dimension as well as any other, Very convine- ing, but taking too much for granted. Is time the fourth dimension? No, it is not. It is not-a dimension any more than mass, or weight is. You may argue that a thing cannot exist without duration; something that exists only instantaneously, without exist- ing f time at all, cannot be said to exist at all. Therefore, time is needed. and is a dimen- sion as surely as length, height and width. _ But why pick only on time? Can a thing be said to exist without mass? Certainly not; that is a foolish question be- cause something with the three dimensions has Sptomatically, mass. There you are—something with the three dimensions has automatically time, or duration. _Our authors seem to have the wrong concep: tion of a dimension. Length, height, and width are dimensions—we .can see them, and measure them. You can point out no object that has other than these dimensions. They are something tangible in which it is possible to move, Then why bring in an abstract term—something which one cannot see, or touch? You catnot even talk about time intelligently, much less define -it. The dictionary says that time is a measure of din time, or manency as duration inability of one to define time well enough is proof of its nothing: — ness—why try to travel in nothing? Time is nothing in the last sense of the word. It cannot be measured. You can measure only the differ- ence between one moment and the other, and that by using the difference between the marks on_a clock or watch. When you come down to the point, nothing can be measured except by the three known dimen- sions. A thermometer is read by how high up the column of mercury is from zero. Not even mass can be directly measured, except in a few cases, and most of the time it is reckoned by its relation to length, height, and breadth. You tell weight by how far down a spring goes when somethin is pulling down on it. £verythtig comes bec: to the three dimensions, They are the only thing it is possible to be in, therefore the only things it is posstble to move in, An immateria term cannot be associated with a material body. The fourth dimension idea seems to be the prin- cipal one used in time-traveling stories, «als though in one, “The Astounding Hiscovenes 0 Doctor Mentiroso,” this man has a machine which travels faster than the carth. IIe reasoned that if it were 9 A. M. in San Franetsco and he could travel instantaneously to New York it would be twelve at noon, so he would go three hours-into the future, Of course this-type is not to be con- sidered, and the only other time-traveling scheme is in connection with light waves reflected trom the earth. If you capture these away out in space the scenes will be re-gnacted, but this is no more traveling into the past than seeing maving pictures. % But I believe the best proof that time-traveling will never be attained is the absence of trav- ellers now, The future beings do not come back to this era, for we do not see them; and as na one has seen or talked with any, it means that this ambition wiJl never be realized. If they recede in time at all. they will come back in- definitely, and we would see them. What better proof would one need? Yes, the average reader realizes that time- traveling stories are a lot of “bunk,” and I think that ou will agree with me that he does. I hope I have made myself clear in this Jetter, and thank you for the opportunity of being able to express my opinions in the magazine, — D, L, Cumming, Elizabeth, N, J. (The subject of dimensions has received very extensive application in physics and all the physical units have been referred to and based methodically upon the fundametita] dimensions or units, those of time, length and mass. And now, in the midst of this, which has led to a very interesting working out of the units, mechanic- ally ond pevaicatlys there appcars the fourth dimension, and the effect seems to be occa- sianing considerable confusion. We want to say about this letter, what we said about ofhers, that it is so well put that comment is unnecessary. It is interesting read- duration, It defines duration as a continuance ing. —EDITOR.) 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