Avon Fantasy Reader No. 14 — page 38: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

your field of vision with one eye. You were instinctively trying to guess the depth by judging the apparent size of things. If you had known how big those pencils were you could have guessed their position.” Tubby was looking with one cye again. “I can give you three dimensions of that table,” he declared. “Of course, you can,” laughed the professor. “Because you are judging by how much smaller the back of the table looks than the front. The mind acts subconsciously on that, of course. But you don’t sce any depth—any thickness —to that table—you only guess at it. The laws of perspective make you think you see the third dimension, but you don't see it.” So Jake was right! “Tell me how it works,” urged Tubby with interest. “It is very simple,” said the professor. “And yet, in a way, it is very com- plicated.” He held a little cube of sugar a few inches from Tubby’s eyes. “When you look at that with only your right eye, you see the front face and part of the right side. Is that so?’ Tubby tried it, and nodded. “And with the left eye alone, you also see the front face, but instead of the right side you now see part of the left side. Do you?” : “No—yes,” said Tubby. “Sure I do.” “Very well. Now, with two eyes you combine both of those images. Your eyes see the object from different view points. Look now with both eyes. Now you see the front face of the cube and partially around both its sides. That is what gives you the third dimension—it is what makes that cube look solid. With one eye it merely looks like a picture of a lump of sugar—a flat picture, printed on a flat page. Do you follow me?” “Yes—no,” said Tubby. “Tell me more. Tell me about them tons of twenty- dollar gold pieces.” The professor nodded. “In a few moments I'll show them to you.” Tubby resigned himself to wait. The professor continued: “It is the combination in your brain of the different images your left and right eyes see that gives you a perception of our world of three dimensions. Is that clear?” “Absotutety,” declared Tubby. “Very well. Now listen carefully. One eye gives two dimensions. Two eyes give three dimensions. And then three eyes—” The professor paused expect- antly. “Three eyes—” prompted Tubby breathlessly. “Why, three eyes give four dimensions,” said the professor triumphantly. “With three eyes rightly equipped you can see that other world lying all about us—that other world science has been trying for so long to discover— the world of the Fourth Dimension! That is the world that holds our tons of twenty-dollar gold pieces!” Tubby gasped. So that was why the professor had three eyes. He could see into another world, where there were a hundred tons of twenty-dollar gold pieces lying all about! “That is my discovery,” the professor reiterated. “The most remarkable 36 comiclsooks.com