Download the full version of the ebook at ebookname.

com

Broken Promise The Subversion of U S Labor

Relations Policy 1947 1994 1st Edition James A.
Gross

https://ebookname.com/product/broken-promise-the-subversion-
of-u-s-labor-relations-policy-1947-1994-1st-edition-james-a-
gross/

OR CLICK BUTTON

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Download more ebook instantly today at https://ebookname.com

Instant digital products (PDF, ePub, MOBI) available
Download now and explore formats that suit you...

Broken Promise 1st Edition James Gross

https://ebookname.com/product/broken-promise-1st-edition-james-gross/

ebookname.com

A Survey of Arab Isareli Relations 1947 2001 1st Edition

David Lea

https://ebookname.com/product/a-survey-of-arab-isareli-
relations-1947-2001-1st-edition-david-lea/

ebookname.com

Going Global U S Government Policy and the Defense

Aerospace Industry U S Government Policy and the Defense
Aerospace Industry 1st Edition Mark A. Lorell
https://ebookname.com/product/going-global-u-s-government-policy-and-
the-defense-aerospace-industry-u-s-government-policy-and-the-defense-
aerospace-industry-1st-edition-mark-a-lorell/
ebookname.com

Ordinary Television Analyzing Popular TV 1st Edition Dr

Frances Bonner

https://ebookname.com/product/ordinary-television-analyzing-popular-
tv-1st-edition-dr-frances-bonner/

ebookname.com
Elite Soccer Drills 1st Edition Michael Matkovich

https://ebookname.com/product/elite-soccer-drills-1st-edition-michael-
matkovich/

ebookname.com

Beginning Teaching Beginning Learning in Primary Education

3rd Edition Janet Moyles

https://ebookname.com/product/beginning-teaching-beginning-learning-
in-primary-education-3rd-edition-janet-moyles/

ebookname.com

Kabbalah A Very Short Introduction Joseph Dan

https://ebookname.com/product/kabbalah-a-very-short-introduction-
joseph-dan/

ebookname.com

Participatory Journalism Guarding Open Gates at Online

Newspapers 1st Edition Jane B. Singer

https://ebookname.com/product/participatory-journalism-guarding-open-
gates-at-online-newspapers-1st-edition-jane-b-singer/

ebookname.com

Bridging the Medieval Modern Divide Medieval Themes in the

World of the Reformation James Muldoon (Editor)

https://ebookname.com/product/bridging-the-medieval-modern-divide-
medieval-themes-in-the-world-of-the-reformation-james-muldoon-editor/

ebookname.com
To Understand a Cat Methodology and Philosophy 1st Edition
Sam S. Rakover

https://ebookname.com/product/to-understand-a-cat-methodology-and-
philosophy-1st-edition-sam-s-rakover/

ebookname.com
Broken Promise
The Subversion of U.S. Labor Relations Policy, 1947-1994
In the series Labor and Social Change
edited by Paula Rayman and Carmen Sirianni
.rollen Promise
The Subversion of U.S. Labor
Relations Policy, 1947-1994

JAMES A. GROSS

Temple University Press

Philadelphia
Temple University Press, Philadelphia 19122
Copyright © 1995 by Temple University. All rights reserved
Cloth edition published 1995
Paperback edition published 2003
Printed in the United States of America

@) The paper used in this book meets the requirements

of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984

Text design by Nighthawk Design

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gross, James A, 1933-
Broken promise: the subversion of U.S. labor relations policy,
1947-1994/ James A Gross.
p. cm. - (Labor and social change)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-59213-225-1 (alk. paper)
1. Labor policy-United States-History-20th century.
2. Industrial relations-United States-History-20th century.
3. Labor laws and legislation-United States-History-20th century.
I. Title. II. Series.
HD8072.5.G76 1995
331 t .0973-dc20 94-42510
For Linda, Jim, John, Justin, and Caitlin
Contents

PREFACE ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv

1 Taft-Hartley: A Fundamental Change in Labor Policy or Merely

Adjustments to Eliminate Abuses? 1
2 Political Maneuvering to Control a New Law, a New Board,
and a New Labor Czar 15
3 Improper Influences 26
4 Repeal Taft-Hartley: A Tale of Missed Opportunities 42
5 Taft-Hartley Was Here to Stay 58
6 Bargaining National Labor Policy: A Misguided Process 72
7 The Eisenhower Board Remakes Labor Policy 92
8 Labor Law Reform, Employer Style 122
9 The New Frontier Labor Board: A Commitment to Industrial
Democracy 146
10 A New Labor Policy: Taking Industrial Democracy Seriously 163
11 Irreconcilable Differences 192
12 Making the Law Favor Employers Again 217
13 Management Interests over Workers' Statutory Rights:
The Final Irrelevance of National Labor Policy? 242
14 Conclusion 272

NOTES 287
INDEX 391
Preface

In 1935 Congress passed the Wagner Act, intended to democratize vast num-
bers of American workplaces so that workers could participate in the employ-
ment decisions that most directly affected their lives. Under the Wagner Act the
right of workers to participate in these decisions was considered essential for
social justice, and worker organization and collective bargaining were consid-
ered essential for a free and democratic society. The Wagner Act also commit-
ted the federal government to the encouragement of the practice and procedure
of collective bargaining. Industrial democracy was to replace employers' uni-
lateral determination of matters affecting wages, hours, and working conditions.
The Wagner Act, therefore, enabled a major redistribution of power from the
powerful to the powerless at U.S. workplaces covered by the statute.
Although the Wagner Act's statement of purpose was carried over to the
Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, labor never came close to achieving the system of
industrial democracy that was envisioned by Senator Robert Wagner and was
promoted by the act that bears his name. This book explains why the expecta-
tions of the Wagner-Taft-Hartley labor policy were never fulfilled. It shows how
a policy that encouraged the replacement of industrial autocracy with a demo-
cratic system of power sharing was turned into government protection of
employers' unilateral decision-making authority over decisions that greatly af-
fected wages, hours, and working conditions. It discusses the destructive conse-
quences of the contradiction that has been inherent in U.S. labor policy at least
since the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act: Congress, by statute, promotes and
protects employees' self-organization "for the purpose of negotiating the terms
and conditions of their employment or other mutual aid or protection"; at the
same time, by statute and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) case law, it
legitimizes employer opposition to the organization of employees, collective
bargaining, and industrial democracy. Although the NLRB greatly facilitated
the growth of organized labor in the United States in its early Wagner Act
years, this study demonstrates how the NLRB has contributed to the decline of
organized labor, particularly since about 1970.
This study of the events leading to the current state of national labor policy
focuses on the NLRB. However, the research approach used differs from that of

Ix
x Preface

the conventional labor law and labor relations literature. The latter tends toward
an exclusive concentration on the procedures and doctrines of such administra-
tive agencies as the NLRB and on judicial review of their decisions. This book
analyzes how the NLRB's making of labor policy and labor policy making in
general have been influenced since 1947 by the president, the Congress, and the
Supreme Court, the manipulation of public opinion, resistance by organized
employers, the political and economic strategies of organized labor, and the
ideological dispositions of NLRB appointees. This approach provides a unique
inside look at the process of government regulation of this most important as-
pect of workplace labor-management relations. And it demonstrates how labor
policy can be made without legislative changes through presidential appoint-
ments to the NLRB.
The NLRB engages in lawmaking by giving specific meaning to broad statu-
tory language and by filling in gaps in the legislation. In the years since
Taft-Hartley, different NLRBs appointed by successive administrations have in-
terpreted the law in sharply contrasting ways. This lack of consistency has
resulted not only in conflicting and confusing case law that flip-flops over the
meaning of many important provisions of the act but also in complete disagree-
ment between Republican- and Democratic-appointed Boards over the funda-
mental purpose of the law.
This study examines how the roles of Congress and the Supreme Court in
making labor policy have become blurred as a result of Congress's abdication
of its legislative responsibility and the Court's propensity (particularly in the
1980s) to substitute its own labor policy preferences for those of the legislative
branch. It discusses the failure of the White House, through all its occupants
since 1947, to provide the politically risky leadership needed to recommit the
country to a labor policy with a precise set of objectives. It includes a thorough
discussion of the long-standing and determined opposition of U.S. employers to
unionization and collective bargaining, which discloses a coordinated, secret,
nationwide effort by the country's most powerful employers to end threats
to their management prerogatives posed by what they saw as the Kennedy-
Johnson Board's codetermination concept of collective bargaining. To U.S.
employers, industrial democracy and free enterprise are fundamentally incom-
patible. The Kennedy-Johnson Board marked the last time an NLRB was com-
mitted to the encouragement of organization and collective bargaining for any
sustained period of time.
Even the advocates of organization and collective bargaining, however, pre-
vented the realization of industrial democracy in some ways. Organized labor,
for example, often pursued unwise legislative objectives and strategies and was
too willing to accept, and even espouse, a limited role in management decision
 Preface xl

making, thereby voluntarily restricting the scope of collective bargaining far

short of the potential that Senator Wagner had envisioned.
The research for this volume was based on records at the NLRB and the
National Archives in Washington, D.C.; records at the Truman, Eisenhower,
Kennedy, and Johnson presidential libraries; the personal papers of former
NLRB chairmen and members and of other influential people inside and outside
the Board; records in the National Association of Manufacturers Archives at the
Hagley Museum and Library; papers from the George Meany Memorial Ar-
chives; and oral history interviews of approximately seventy-five people promi-
nent in the making of post-Taft-Hartley Act labor policy. The interviews with
people who influenced the making and reshaping of national labor policy af-
forded an invaluable and otherwise unattainable sense of the climate of the
times, disclosing historical connections that often could not be discerned from
documents alone.
This study of post-Taft-Hartley Act NLRBs and U.S. labor policy provides
the historical perspective and empirical basis necessary for the reevaluation of
national labor policy, which is currently being conducted by the Clinton admin-
istration. In 1993 President Clinton asked the secretaries of labor and commerce
to form the Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations to
investigate and respond to the following three questions:

What (if any) new methods or institutions should be encouraged or required to

enhance work-place productivity through labor-management cooperation and em-
ployee participation?
What (if any) changes should be made in the present legal framework and
practice of collective bargaining to enhance cooperative behavior, improve pro-
ductivity, and reduce conflict and delay?

What (if anything) should be done to increase the extent to which work-place
problems are directly resolved by the parties themselves, rather than through re-
course to state and federal courts and government regulatory bodies?!

The commission, chaired by former Secretary of Labor John Dunlop, issued

a fact-finding report in June 1994 and its final Report and Recommendations in
January 1995.2 The commission unanimously endorsed "employee participa-
tion" and "labor-management partnerships" as "good for workers, firms, and the
national economy" and encouraged their expansion and growth.3 The report
favors workers' having "a say," having "a voice," and "being heard" at the
workplace, but it does not define precisely what those ideas mean in terms of
management prerogatives and power sharing.
The commission concluded that "the current labor law is not achieving its
xii Preface

stated intent of encouraging collective bargaining," but a majority of its mem-

bers recommended legislative changes and interpretations that would "promote
expansion of employee participation in a variety of forms" and provide workers
with the opportunity "to choose, or not to choose, union representation and to
engage in collective bargaining.'" In order to promote a "variety of forms" of
worker participation, the commission proposed "clarifying" Section 8(a)(2) of
the National Labor Relations Act and its interpretation by the NLRB so that
"nonunion employee participation programs should not be unlawful simply be-
cause they involve discussion of terms and conditions of work or compensation
where such discussion is incidental to the broad purposes of these programs."
At the same time, the commission, "concerned that in encouraging employee
participation in nonunion settings, it does not adversely affect employees' abil-
ity to select union representation, if they so desire," reaffirmed "the basic prin-
ciple that employer-sponsored programs should not substitute for independent
unions."5
Commission member Douglas Fraser, former president of the United Auto-
mobile Workers, argued that a statutorily created exception to Section 8(a)(2)
"would be an invitation to abuse." "The kind of participation and cooperation
that should be encouraged," Fraser maintained, "is democratic participation and
cooperation between equals."6
The commission recommended steps to improve the representation election
process, to improve employee access to employer and union views on indepen-
dent representation, to increase the use of injunctions to remedy violations of
the Taft-Hartley Act, and to facilitate contractual agreement once a majority of
workers choose union representation for collective bargaining. 7 There is nothing
in the commission's report, however, recommending that the federal govern-
ment encourage collective bargaining and unionization or stating that unions
and collective bargaining are necessary for legitimate, mutual labor-manage-
ment decision making-that is, industrial democracy.
The issues of labor law reform and the future of U.S. collective bargaining
have become subjects of national concern and discussion. The Taft-Hartley Act
and its overall administration have been ineffective in encouraging the practice
and procedure of collective bargaining and in protecting workers' rights to
choose unionism and collective bargaining.
This book is not intended as a detailed blueprint for legislative changes, an
in-depth analysis of the current political scene, or an assessment of the political
prospects for any current labor reform proposals. 8 The study aims to provide the
historical perspective necessary for the reevaluation of national labor policy,
highlighting the underlying principles of democracy that constitute the most
appropriate standard for assessing not only the current state of labor policy but
 Preface xIII

also proposed changes. It offers a practical and useful basis for policy makers,
showing them where we are, how we got here, and what fundamental questions
must be addressed if changes are to be made.
At its core any national labor policy involves questions more moral and
ethical than legal, economic, or political. In that sense, this book is about an
even more important issue: how to reconcile the theory of democracy with
practice.
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
and the Vermilion square is to him as our Model 5 is to us. The left-hand
square of Model 5 is Indian-red, and is identical with that of the same
colour on the left-hand side of Model 2. In fact, Model 5 shows us what
lies between the Vermilion face of 1, and the Indian-red face of 2.
From the Gold point we suppose four perfectly independent lines to
spring forth, each of them at right angles to all the others. In our space
there is only room for three lines mutually at right angles. It will be found,
if we try to introduce a fourth at right angles to each of three, that we
fail; hence, of these four lines one must go out of the space we know. The
colours of these four lines are Brown, Orange, Blue, Stone. In Model 1 are
shown the Brown, Orange, and Blue. In Model 5 are shown the Brown,
Blue, and Stone. These lines might have had any directions at first, but we
chose to begin with the Brown line going up, or Z, the Orange going X,
the Blue going Y, and the Stone line going in the unknown direction, which
we will call W.
Consider for a moment the Stone and the Orange lines. They can be
seen together on Model 7 by looking at the lower face of it. They are at
right angles to each other, and if the Orange line be turned to take the
place of the Stone line, the latter will run into the negative part of the
direction previously occupied by the former. This is the reason that the
Models 3, 5, and 7 are made with the Stone line always running in the
reverse direction of that line of Model 1, which is wanting in each
respectively. It will now be easy to find out Models 3 and 7. All that has to
be done is, to discover what faces they have in common with 1 and 2, and
these faces will show from which planes of 1 they are generated by
motion in the unknown direction.
Take Model 7. On one side of it there is a Dark-blue square, which is
identical with the Dark-blue square of Model 1. Placing it so that it
coincides with 1 by this square line for line, we see that the square
nearest to us is Burnt-sienna, the same as the near square on Model 2.
Hence this cube is a model of what the Dark-blue square traces on moving
in the unknown direction. Here the unknown direction coincides with the
negative away direction. In fact, to see this cube, we have been obliged to
suppose the Blue line turned into the unknown direction, for we cannot
look at more than three of these rectangular lines at once in our space,
and in this Model 7 we have the Brown, Orange, and Stone lines. The
faces, lines, and points of Cube 7 can be identified by the following list.
 The Dark-blue square traces a Dark-stone cube (whose interior is
rendered invisible by the bounding squares), and ends in a Burnt-sienna
square.
Each Line traces a Square and ends in a Line.
The Orange line Azure square Leaf-green line
and
„ Brown „ traces Yellow „ Dull-blue „
​- - ​ ​ - ends - ​
„ French-grey „ an Yellow-green „ Dark-pink „
in a
„ Reddish „ Ochre „ Brown-green „.

Each Point traces a Line and ends in a Point.

The Gold point Stone line Silver point
and
„ Fawn „ traces Smoke „ Turquoise „
​- - ​ ​ - ends - ​
„ Light-blue „ a Rich-red „ Quaker-green „
in a
„ Dull-purple „ Green-blue „ Peacock-blue „.

If we now take Model 3, we see that it has a Black square uppermost,

and has Blue and Orange lines. Hence, it evidently proceeds from the
Black square in Model 1; and it has in it Blue and Orange lines, which
proceed from the Gold point. But besides these, it has running downwards
a Stone line. The line wanting is the Brown line, and, as in the other
cases, when one of the three lines of Model 1 turns out into the unknown
direction, the Stone line turns into the direction opposite to that from
which the line has turned. Take this Model 3 and place it underneath
Model 1, raising the latter so that the Black squares on the two coincide
line for line. Then we see what would come into our view if the Brown line
were to turn into the unknown direction, and the Stone line come into our
space downwards. Looking at this cube, we see that the following parts of
the tessaract have been generated.
The Black square traces a Brick-red cube (invisible because covered by
its own sides and edges), and ends in a Bright-green square.
Each Line traces a Square and ends in a Line.
The Orange line Azure square Leaf-green line
and
„ Crimson „ traces Rose „ Dull-green „
​- - ​ ​ - ends - ​
„ Green-grey „ an Sea-blue „ Dark-purple „
in a
„ Blue „ Light-brown „ Purple-brown „.

Each Point traces a Line and ends in a Point.

The Gold point ​ - traces - ​ Stone line ​ - and - ​ Silver point
„ Fawn „ a Smoke „ ends Turquoise „
 „ Terra-cotta „ Magenta „ in a Earthen „
„ Buff „ Light-green „ Blue-tint „.

This completes the enumeration of the regions of Cube 3. It may seem

a little unnatural that it should come in downwards; but it must be
remembered that the new fourth direction has no more relation to up-
and-down than to right-and-left or to near-and-far.
And if, instead of thinking of a plane-being as living on the surface of a
table, we suppose his world to be the surface of the sheet of paper
touching the Dark-blue square of Cube 1, then we see that a turn round
the Orange line, which makes the Brown line go into the plane-being’s
unknown direction, brings the Blue line into his downwards direction.
There still remain to be described Models 4, 6, and 8. It will be shown
that Model 4 is to Model 3 what Model 2 is to Model 1. That is, if, when 3
is in our space, it be moved so as to trace a tessaract, 4 will be the
opposite cube in which the tessaract ends. There is no colour common to
3 and 4. Similarly, 6 is the opposite boundary of the tessaract generated
by 5, and 8 of that by 7.
A little closer consideration will reveal several points. Looking at Cube 5,
we see proceeding from the Gold point a Brown, a Blue, and a Stone line.
The Orange line is wanting; therefore, it goes in the unknown direction. If
we want to discover what exists in the unknown direction from Cube 5,
we can get help from Cube 1. For, since the Orange line lies in the
unknown direction from Cube 5, the Gold point will, if moved along the
Orange line, pass in the unknown direction. So also, the Vermilion square,
if moved along in the direction of the Orange line, will proceed in the
unknown direction. Looking at Cube 1 we see that the Vermilion square
thus moved ends in a Blue-green square. Then, looking at Model 6, on it,
corresponding to the Vermilion square on Cube 5, is a Blue-green square.
Cube 6 thus shows what exists an inch beyond 5 in the unknown
direction. Between the right-hand face on 5 and the right-hand face on 6
lies a cube, the one which is shown in Model 1. Model 1 is traced by the
Vermilion square moving an inch along the direction of the Orange line. In
Model 5, the Orange line goes in the unknown direction; and looking at
Model 6 we see what we should get at the end of a movement of one inch
in that direction. We have still to enumerate the colours of Cubes 4, 6,
and 8, and we do so in the following list. In the first column is designated
the part of the cube; in the columns under 4, 6, 8, come the colours
which 4, 6, 8, respectively have in the parts designated in the
corresponding line in the first column.
Cube itself:—
4 6 8
Chocolate Oak-yellow Salmon

Squares:—
Lower face Light-grey Rose Sea-blue
Upper White Deep-brown Deep-green
Left-hand Light-red Yellow-ochre Deep-crimson
Right-hand Deep-brown Blue-green Dark-grey
Near Ochre Yellow-green Dun
Far Deep-green Dark-grey Light-yellow

Lines:—
On ground, going round the square from left to right:—
4 6 8
1. Brown-green Smoke Dark-purple
2. Dark-green Crimson Magenta
3. Pale-yellow Magenta Green-grey
4. Dark Dull-green Light-green

Vertical, going round the sides from left to right:—

1. Rich-red Dark-pink Indigo
2. Green-blue French-grey Pale-pink
3. Sea-green Dark-slate Dark-slate
4. Emerald Pale-pink Green

Round upper face in same order:—

1. Reddish Green-blue Pale-yellow
2. Bright-blue Bright-blue Sea-green
3. Leaden Sea-green Leaden
4. Deep-yellow Dark-green Emerald

Points:—
On lower face, going from left to right:—
1. Quaker-green Turquoise Blue-tint
2. Peacock-blue Fawn Earthen
3. Orange-vermilion Terra-cotta Terra-cotta
4. Purple Earthen Buff

On upper face:—
1. Light-blue Peacock-blue Purple
 2. Dull-purple Dull-purple Orange-vermilion
3. Deep-blue Deep-blue Deep-blue
4. Red Orange-vermilion Red

If any one of these cubes be taken at random, it is easy enough to find

out to what part of the Tessaract it belongs. In all of them, except 2, there
will be one face, which is a copy of a face on 1; this face is, in fact,
identical with the face on 1 which it resembles. And the model shows
what lies in the unknown direction from that face. This unknown direction
is turned into our space, so that we can see and touch the result of
moving a square in it. And we have sacrificed one of the three original
directions in order to do this. It will be found that the line, which in 1 goes
in the 4th direction, in the other models always runs in a negative
direction.
Let us take Model 8, for instance. Searching it for a face we know, we
come to a Light-yellow face away from us. We place this face parallel with
the Light-yellow face on Cube 1, and we see that it has a Green line going
up, and a Green-grey line going to the right from the Buff point. In these
respects it is identical with the Light-yellow face on Cube 1. But instead of
a Blue line coming towards us from the Buff point, there is a Light-green
line. This Light-green line, then, is that which proceeds in the unknown
direction from the Buff point. The line is turned towards us in this Model 8
in the negative Y direction; and looking at the model, we see exactly what
is formed when in the motion of the whole cube in the unknown direction,
the Light-yellow face is moved an inch in that direction. It traces out a
Salmon cube (v. Table on p. 127), and it has Sea-blue and Deep-green
sides below and above, and Deep-crimson and Dark-grey sides left and
right, and Dun and Light-yellow sides near and far. If we want to verify
the correctness of any of these details, we must turn to Models 1 and 2.
What lies an inch from the Light-yellow square in the unknown direction?
Model 2 tells us, a Dun square. Now, looking at 8, we see that towards us
lies a Dun square. This is what lies an inch in the unknown direction from
the Light-yellow square. It is here turned to face us, and we can see what
lies between it and the Light-yellow square.
 CHAPTER IV.
TESSARACT MOVING THROUGH THREE-SPACE. MODELS OF THE
SECTIONS.

In order to obtain a clear conception of the higher solid, a certain amount

of familiarity with the facts shown in these models is necessary. But the
best way of obtaining a systematic knowledge is shown hereafter. What
these models enable us to do, is to take a general review of the subject.
In all of them we see simply the boundaries of the tessaract in our space;
we can no more see or touch the tessaract’s solidity than a plane-being
can touch the cube’s solidity.
There remain the four models 9, 10, 11, 12. Model 9 represents what
lies between 1 and 2. If 1 be moved an inch in the unknown direction, it
traces out the tessaract and ends in 2. But, obviously, between 1 and 2
there must be an infinite number of exactly similar solid sections; these
are all like Model 9.
Take the case of a plane-being on the table. He sees the Black square,
—that is, he sees the lines round it,—and he knows that, if it moves an
inch in some mysterious direction, it traces a new kind of figure, the
opposite boundary whereof is the White square. If, then, he has models of
the White and Black squares, he has before him the end and beginning of
our cube. But between these squares are any number of others, the plane
sections of the cube. We can see what they are. The interior of each is a
Light-buff (the colour of the substance of the cube), the sides are of the
colours of the vertical faces of the cube, and the points of the colours of
the vertical lines of the cube, viz., Dark-blue, Blue-green, Light-yellow,
Vermilion lines, and Brown, French-grey, Dark-slate, Green points. Thus,
the square, in moving in the unknown direction, traces out a succession of
squares, the assemblage of which makes the cube in layers. So also the
cube, moving in the unknown direction, will at any point of its motion, still
be a cube; and the assemblage of cubes thus placed constitutes the
tessaract in layers. We suppose the cube to change its colour directly it
begins to move. Its colour between 1 and 2 we can easily determine by
finding what colours its different parts assume, as they move in the
unknown direction. The Gold point immediately begins to trace a Stone-
line. We will look at Cube 5 to see what the Vermilion face becomes; we
know the interior of that cube is Pale-green (v. Table, p. 122). Hence, as it
moves in the unknown direction, the Vermilion square forms in its course
a series of Pale-green squares. The Brown line gives rise to a Yellow
square; hence, at every point of its course in the fourth direction, it is a
Yellow line, until, on taking its final position, it becomes a Dull-blue line.
Looking at Cube 5, we see that the Deep yellow line becomes a Light-red
line, the Green line a Deep Crimson one, the Gold point a Stone one, the
Light-blue point a Rich-red one, the Red point an Emerald one, and the
Buff point a Light-green one. Now, take the Model 9. Looking at the left
side of it, we see exactly that into which the Vermilion square is
transformed, as it moves in the unknown direction. The left side is an
exact copy of a section of Cube 5, parallel to the Vermilion face.
But we have only accounted for one side of our Model 9. There are five
other sides. Take the near side corresponding to the Dark-blue square on
Cube 1. When the Dark-blue square moves, it traces a Dark-stone cube, of
which we have a copy in Cube 7. Looking at 7 (v. Table, p. 124), we see
that, as soon as the Dark-blue square begins to move, it becomes of a
Dark-stone colour, and has Yellow, Ochre, Yellow-green, and Azure sides,
and Stone, Rich-red, Green-blue, Smoke lines running in the unknown
direction from it. Now, the side of Model 9, which faces us, has these
colours the squares being seen as lines, and the lines as points. Hence
Model 9 is a copy of what the cube becomes, so far as the Vermilion and
Dark-blue sides are concerned, when, moving in the unknown direction, it
traces the tessaract.
We will now look at the lower square of our model. It is a Brick-red
square, with Azure, Rose, Sea-blue, and Light-brown lines, and with
Stone, Smoke, Magenta, and Light-green points. This, then, is what the
Black square should change into, as it moves in the unknown direction.
Let us look at Model 3. Here the Stone line, which is the line in the
unknown direction, runs downwards. It is turned into the downwards
direction, so that the cube traced by the Black square may be in our
space. The colour of this cube is Brick-red; the Orange line has traced an
Azure, the Blue line a Light-brown, the Crimson line a Rose, and the
Green-grey line a Sea-blue square. Hence, the lower square of Model 9
shows what the Black square becomes, as it traces the tessaract; or, in
other words, the section of Model 3 between the Black and Bright-green
squares exactly corresponds to the lower face of Model 9.
Therefore, it appears that Model 9 is a model of a section of the
tessaract, that it is to the tessaract what a square between the Black and
White squares is to the cube.
 To prove the other sides correct, we have to see what the White, Blue-
green, and Light-yellow squares of Cube 1 become, as the cube moves in
the unknown direction. This can be effected by means of the Models 4, 6,
8. Each cube can be used as an index for showing the changes through
which any side of the first model passes, as it moves in the unknown
direction till it becomes Cube 2. Thus, what becomes of the White square?
Look at Cube 4. From the Light-blue corner of its White square runs
downwards the Rich-red line in the unknown direction. If we take a
parallel section below the White square, we have a square bounded by
Ochre, Deep-brown, Deep-green, and Light-red lines; and by Rich-red,
Green-blue, Sea-green, and Emerald points. The colour of the cube is
Chocolate, and therefore its section is Chocolate. This description is
exactly true of the upper surface of Model 9.
There still remain two sides, those corresponding to the Light-yellow
and Blue-green of Cube 1. What the Blue-green square becomes midway
between Cubes 1 and 2 can be seen on Model 6. The colour of the last-
named is Oak-yellow, and a section parallel to its Blue-green side is
surrounded by Yellow-green, Deep-brown, Dark-grey and Rose lines and
by Green-blue, Smoke, Magenta, and Sea-green points. This is exactly
similar to the right side of Model 9. Lastly, that which becomes of the
Light-yellow side can be seen on Model 8. The section of the cube is a
Salmon square bounded by Deep-crimson, Deep-green, Dark-grey and
Sea-blue lines and by Emerald, Sea-green, Magenta, and Light-green
points.
Thus the models can be used to answer any question about sections.
For we have simply to take, instead of the whole cube, a plane, and the
relation of the whole tessaract to that plane can be told by looking at the
model, which, starting with that plane, stretches from it in the unknown
direction.
We have not as yet settled the colour of the interior of Model 9. It is
that part of the tessaract which is traced out by the interior of Cube 1.
The unknown direction starts equally and simultaneously from every point
of every part of Cube 1, just as the up direction starts equally and
simultaneously from every point of a square. Let us suppose that the
cube, which is Light-buff, changes to a Wood-colour directly it begins to
trace the tessaract. Then the internal part of the section between 1 and 2
will be a Wood-colour. The sides of the Model 9 are of the greatest
importance. They are the colour of the six cubes, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. The
colours of 1 and 2 are wanting, viz. Light-buff and Sage-green. Thus the
section between 1 and 2 can be found by its wanting the colours of the
Cubes 1 and 2.
Looking at Models 10, 11, and 12 in a similar manner, the reader will
find they represent the sections between Cubes 3 and 4, Cubes 5 and 6,
and Cubes 7 and 8 respectively.

CHAPTER V.
REPRESENTATION OF THREE-SPACE BY NAMES, AND IN A PLANE.

We may now ask ourselves the best way of passing on to a clear

comprehension of the facts of higher space. Something can be effected by
looking at these models; but it is improbable that more than a slight sense
of analogy will be obtained thus. Indeed, we have been trusting hitherto
to a method which has something vicious about it—we have been trusting
to our sense of what must be. The plan adopted, as the serious effort
towards the comprehension of this subject, is to learn a small portion of
higher space. If any reader feel a difficulty in the foregoing chapters, or if
the subject is to be taught to young minds, it is far better to abandon all
attempt to see what higher space must be, and to learn what it is from
the following chapters.

Naming a Piece of Space.

The diagram (Fig. 6) represents a block of 27 cubes, which form Set 1

of the 81 cubes. The cubes are coloured, and it will be seen that the
colours are arranged after the pattern of Model 1 of previous chapters,
which will serve as a key to the block. In the diagram, G. denotes Gold, O.
Orange, F. Fawn, Br. Brown, and so on. We will give names to the cubes of
this block. They should not be learnt, but kept for reference. We will write
these names in three sets, the lowest consisting of the cubes which touch
the table, the next of those immediately above them, and the third of
those at the top. Thus the Gold cube is called Corvus, the Orange, Cuspis,
the Fawn, Nugæ, and the central one below, Syce. The corresponding
colours of the following set can easily be traced.
 Olus Semita Lama
Via Mel Iter
Ilex Callis Sors
Bucina Murex Daps
Alvus Mala Proes
Arctos Mœna Far

Cista Cadus Crus

Dos Syce Bolus
Corvus Cuspis Nugæ

Thus the central or Light-buff cube is called Mala; the middle one of the
lower face is Syce; of the upper face Mel; of the right face, Proes; of the
left, Alvus; of the front, Mœna (the Dark-blue square of Model 1); and of
the back, Murex (the Light-yellow square).
Now, if Model 1 be taken, and considered as representing a block of 64
cubes, the Gold corner as one cube, the Orange line as two cubes, the
Fawn point as one cube, the Dark-blue square as four cubes, the Light-
buff interior as eight cubes, and so on, it will correspond to the diagram
(Fig. 7). This block differs from the last in the number of cubes, but the
arrangement of the colours is the same. The following table gives the
names which we will use for these cubes. There are no new names; they
are only applied more than once to all cubes of the same colour.
Olus Semita Semita Lama
Fourth Via Mel Mel Iter
-​
Floor. Via Mel Mel Iter
Ilex Callis Callis Sors

Bucina Murex Murex Daps

Third Alvus Mala Mala Proes
-​
Floor. Alvus Mala Mala Proes
Arctos Mœna Mœna Far

Bucina Murex Murex Daps

Second Alvus Mala Mala Proes
-​
Floor. Alvus Mala Mala Proes
Arctos Mœna Mœna Far

First - ​Cista Cadus Cadus Crus

Floor. Dos Syce Syce Bolus
Dos Syce Syce Bolus
Corvus Cuspis Cuspis Nugæ

Fig. 6.
Fig. 7.
 Fig. 8.

If we now consider Model 1 to represent a block, five cubes each way,

built up of inch cubes, and colour it in the same way, that is, with similar
colours for the corner-cubes, edge-cubes, face-cubes, and interior-cubes,
we obtain what is represented in the diagram (Fig. 8). Here we have nine
Dark-blue cubes called Mœna; that is, Mœna denotes the nine Dark-blue
cubes, forming a layer on the front of the cube, and filling up the whole
front except the edges and points. Cuspis denotes three Orange, Dos
three Blue, and Arctos three Brown cubes.
Now, the block of cubes can be similarly increased to any size we
please. The corners will always consist of single cubes; that is, Corvus will
remain a single cubic inch, even though the block be a hundred inches
each way. Cuspis, in that case, will be 98 inches long, and consist of a row
of 98 cubes; Arctos, also, will be a long thin line of cubes standing up.
Mœna will be a thin layer of cubes almost covering the whole front of the
block; the number of them will be 98 times 98. Syce will be a similar
square layer of cubes on the ground, so also Mel, Alvus, Proes, and Murex
in their respective places. Mala, the interior of the cube, will consist of 98
times 98 times 98 inch cubes.

Fig. 9
 Now, if we continued in this manner till we had a very large block of
thousands of cubes in each side Corvus would, in comparison to the whole
block, be a minute point of a cubic shape, and Cuspis would be a mere
line of minute cubes, which would have length, but very small depth or
height. Next, if we suppose this much sub-divided block to be reduced in
size till it becomes one measuring an inch each way, the cubes of which it
consists must each of them become extremely minute, and the corner
cubes and line cubes would be scarcely discernible. But the cubes on the
faces would be just as visible as before. For instance, the cubes
composing Mœna would stretch out on the face of the cube so as to fill it
up. They would form a layer of extreme thinness, but would cover the
face of the cube (all of it except the minute lines and points). Thus we
may use the words Corvus and Nugæ, etc., to denote the corner-points of
the cube, the words Mœna, Syce, Mel, Alvus, Proes, Murex, to denote the
faces. It must be remembered that these faces have a thickness, but it is
extremely minute compared with the cube. Mala would denote all the
cubes of the interior except those, which compose the faces, edges, and
points. Thus, Mala would practically mean the whole cube except the
colouring on it. And it is in this sense that these words will be used. In the
models, the Gold point is intended to be a Corvus, only it is made large to
be visible; so too the Orange line is meant for Cuspis, but magnified for
the same reason. Finally, the 27 names of cubes, with which we began,
come to be the names of the points, lines, and faces of a cube, as shown
in the diagram (Fig. 9). With these names it is easy to express what a
plane-being would see of any cube. Let us suppose that Mœna is only of
the thickness of his matter. We suppose his matter to be composed of
particles, which slip about on his plane, and are so thin that he cannot by
any means discern any thickness in them. So he has no idea of thickness.
But we know that his matter must have some thickness, and we suppose
Mœna to be of that degree of thickness. If the cube be placed so that
Mœna is in his plane, Corvus, Cuspis, Nugæ, Far, Sors, Callis, Ilex and
Arctos will just come into his apprehension; they will be like bits of his
matter, while all that is beyond them in the direction he does not know,
will be hidden from him. Thus a plane-being can only perceive the Mœna
or Syce or some one other face of a cube; that is, he would take the
Mœna of a cube to be a solid in his plane-space, and he would see the
lines Cuspis, Far, Callis, Arctos. To him they would bound it. The points
Corvus, Nugæ, Sors, and Ilex, he would not see, for they are only as long
as the thickness of his matter, and that is so slight as to be indiscernible to
him.
We must now go with great care through the exact processes by which
a plane-being would study a cube. For this purpose we use square slabs
which have a certain thickness, but are supposed to be as thin as a plane-
being’s matter. Now, let us take the first set of 81 cubes again, and build
them from 1 to 27. We must realize clearly that two kinds of blocks can be
built. It may be built of 27 cubes, each similar to Model 1, in which case
each cube has its regions coloured, but all the cubes are alike. Or it may
be built of 27 differently coloured cubes like Set 1, in which case each
cube is coloured wholly with one colour in all its regions. If the latter set
be used, we can still use the names Mœna, Alvus, etc. to denote the
front, side, etc., of any one of the cubes, whatever be its colour. When
they are built up, place a piece of card against the front to represent the
plane on which the plane-being lives. The front of each of the cubes in the
front of the block touches the plane. In previous chapters we have
supposed Mœna to be a Blue square. But we can apply the name to the
front of a cube of any colour. Let us say the Mœna of each front cube is in
the plane; the Mœna of the Gold cube is Gold, and so on. To represent
this, take nine slabs of the same colours as the cubes. Place a stiff piece
of cardboard (or a book-cover) slanting from you, and put the slabs on it.
They can be supported on the incline so as to prevent their slipping down
away from you by a thin book, or another sheet of cardboard, which
stands for the surface of the plane-being’s earth.
We will now give names to the cubes of Block 1 of the 81 Set. We call
each one Mala, to denote that it is a cube. They are written in the
following list in floors or layers, and are supposed to run backwards or
away from the reader. Thus, in the first layer, Frenum Mala is behind or
farther away than Urna Mala; in the second layer, Ostrum is in front,
Uncus behind it, and Ala behind Uncus.
Third, Mars Mala Merces Mala Tyro Mala
or
- ​Spicula Mala Mora Mala Oliva Mala
Top
Floor. Comes Mala Tibicen Mala Vestis Mala

Second, Ala Mala Cortis Mala Aer Mala

or
- ​Uncus Mala Pallor Mala Tergum Mala
Middle
Floor. Ostrum Mala Bidens Mala Scena Mala
 First, Sector Mala Hama Mala Remus Mala
or
- ​Frenum Mala Plebs Mala Sypho Mala
Bottom
Floor. Urna Mala Moles Mala Saltus Mala

These names should be learnt so that the different cubes in the block
can be referred to quite easily and immediately by name. They must be
learnt in every order, that is, in each of the three directions backwards and
forwards, e.g. Urna to Saltus, Urna to Sector, Urna to Comes; and the
same reversed, viz., Comes to Urna, Sector to Urna, etc. Only by so
learning them can the mind identify any one individually without even a
momentary reference to the others around it. It is well to make it a rule
not to proceed from one cube to a distant one without naming the
intermediate cubes. For, in Space we cannot pass from one part to
another without going through the intermediate portions. And, in thinking
of Space, it is well to accustom our minds to the same limitations.
Urna Mala is supposed to be solid Gold an inch each way; so too all the
cubes are supposed to be entirely of the colour which they show on their
faces. Thus any section of Moles Mala will be Orange, of Plebs Mala Black,
and so on.
 Fig. 10.

Let us now draw a pair of lines on a piece of paper or cardboard like

those in the diagram (Fig. 10). In this diagram the top of the page is
supposed to rest on the table, and the bottom of the page to be raised
and brought near the eye, so that the plane of the diagram slopes
upwards to the reader. Let Z denote the upward direction, and X the
direction from left to right. Let us turn the Block of cubes with its front
upon this slope i.e. so that Urna fits upon the square marked Urna. Moles
will be to the right and Ostrum above Urna, i.e. nearer the eye. We might
leave the block as it stands and put the piece of cardboard against it; in
this case our plane-world would be vertical. It is difficult to fix the cubes in
this position on the plane, and therefore more convenient if the cardboard
be so inclined that they will not slip off. But the upward direction must be
identified with Z. Now, taking the slabs, let us compose what a plane-
being would see of the Block. He would perceive just the front faces of
the cubes of the Block, as it comes into his plane; these front faces we
may call the Moenas of the cubes. Let each of the slabs represent the
Moena of its corresponding cube, the Gold slab of the Gold cube and so
on. They are thicker than they should be; but we must overlook this and
suppose we simply see the thickness as a line. We thus build a square of
nine slabs to represent the appearance to a plane-being of the front face
of the Block. The middle one, Bidens Moena, would be completely hidden
from him by the others on all its sides, and he would see the edges of the
eight outer squares. If the Block now begin to move through the plane,
that is, to cut through the piece of paper at right angles to it, it will not for
some time appear any different. For the sections of Urna are all Gold like
the front face Moena, so that the appearance of Urna at any point in its
passage will be a Gold square exactly like Urna Moena, seen by the plane-
being as a line. Thus, if the speed of the Block’s passage be one inch a
minute, the plane-being will see no change for a minute. In other words,
this set of slabs lasting one minute will represent what he sees.
When the Block has passed one inch, a different set of cubes appears.
Remove the front layer of cubes. There will now be in contact with the
paper nine new cubes, whose names we write in the order in which we
should see them through a piece of glass standing upright in front of the
Block:
Spicula Mala Mora Mala Oliva Mala
Uncus Mala Pallor Mala Tergum Mala
Frenum Mala Plebs Mala Sypho Mala

We pick out nine slabs to represent the Moenas of these cubes, and
placed in order they show what the plane-being sees of the second set of
cubes as they pass through. Similarly the third wall of the Block will come
into the plane, and looking at them similarly, as it were through an upright
piece of glass, we write their names:
Mars Mala Merces Mala Tyro Mala
Ala Mala Cortis Mala Aer Mala
Sector Mala Hama Mala Remus Mala
 Now, it is evident that these slabs stand at different times for different
parts of the cubes. We can imagine them to stand for the Moena of each
cube as it passes through. In that case, the first set of slabs, which we
put up, represents the Moenas of the front wall of cubes; the next set, the
Moenas of the second wall. Thus, if all the three sets of slabs be together
on the table, we have a representation of the sections of the cube. For
some purposes it would be better to have four sets of slabs, the fourth set
representing the Murex of the third wall; for the three sets only show the
front faces of the cubes, and therefore would not indicate anything about
the back faces of the Block. For instance, if a line passed through the
Block diagonally from the point Corvus (Gold) to the point Lama (Deep-
blue), it would be represented on the slabs by a point at the bottom left-
hand corner of the Gold slab, a second point at the same corner of the
Light-buff slab, and a third at the same corner of the Deep-blue slab.
Thus, we should have the points mapped at which the line entered the
fronts of the walls of cubes, but not the point in Lama at which it would
leave the Block.
Let the Diagrams 1, 2, 3 (Fig. 11), be the three sets of slabs. To see the
diagrams properly, the reader must set the top of the page on the table,
and look along the page from the bottom of it. The line in question, which
runs from the bottom left-hand near corner to the top right-hand far
corner of the Block will be represented in the three sets of slabs by the
points A, B, C. To complete the diagram of its course, we need a fourth
set of slabs for the Murex of the third wall; the same object might be
attained, if we had another Block of 27 cubes behind the first Block and
represented its front or Moenas by a set of slabs. For the point, at which
the line leaves the first Block is identical with that at which it enters the
second Block.
 Fig. 11.

If we suppose a sheet of glass to be the plane-world, the Diagrams 1,

2, 3 (Fig. 11), may be drawn more naturally to us as Diagrams α, β, γ
(Fig. 12). Here α represents the Moenas of the first wall, β those of the
second, γ those of the third. But to get the plane-being’s view we must
look over the edge of the glass down the Z axis.

Fig. 12.

Set 2 of slabs represent the Moenas of Wall 2. These Moenas are in

contact with the Murex of Wall 1. Thus Set 2 will show where the line
issues from Wall 1 as well as where it enters Wall 2.
The plane-being, therefore, could get an idea of the Block of cubes by
learning these slabs. He ought not to call the Gold slab Urna Mala, but
Urna Moena, and so on, because all that he learns are Moenas, merely the
thin faces of the cubes. By introducing the course of time, he can
represent the Block more nearly. For, if he supposes it to be passing an
inch a minute, he may give the name Urna Mala to the Gold slab enduring
for a minute.
But, when he has learnt the slabs in this position and sequence, he has
only a very partial view of the Block. Let the Block turn round the Z axis,
as Model 1 turns round the Brown line. A different set of cubes comes into
his plane, and now they come in on the Alvus faces. (Alvus is here used to
denote the left-hand faces of the cubes, and is not supposed to be
Vermilion; it is simply the thinnest slice on the left hand of the cube and
of the same colour as the cube.) To represent this, the plane-being should
employ a fresh set of slabs, for there is nothing common to the Moena
and Alvus faces except an edge. But, since each cube is of the same
colour throughout, the same slab may be used for its different faces. Thus
the Alvus of Urna Mala can be represented by a Gold slab. Only it must
never be forgotten that it is meant to be a new slab, and is not identical
with the same slab used for Moena.

Fig. 13.

Now, when the Block of cubes has turned round the Brown line into the
plane, it is clear that they will be on the side of the Z axis opposite to that
on which were the Moena slabs. The line, which ran Y, now runs -X. Thus
the slabs will occupy the second quadrant marked by the axes, as shown
in the diagram (Fig. 13). Each of these slabs we will name Alvus. In this
view, as before, the book is supposed to be tilted up towards the reader,
so that the Z axis runs from O to his eye. Then, if the Block be passed at
right angles through the plane, there will come into view the two sets of
slabs represented in the Diagrams (Fig. 13). In copying this arrangement
with the slabs, the cardboard on which they are arranged must slant
upwards to the eye, i.e., OZ must run up to the eye, and the sides of the
slabs seen are in Diagram 2 (Fig. 13), the upper edges of Tibicen, Mora,
Merces; in Diagram 3, the upper edges of Vestis, Oliva, Tyro.
 Fig. 14.

There is another view of the Block possible to a plane-being. If the

Block be turned round the X axis, the lower face comes into the vertical
plane. This corresponds to turning Model 1 round the Orange line. On
referring to the diagram (Fig. 14), we now see that the name of the faces
of the cubes coming into the plane is Syce. Here the plane-being looks
from the extremity of the Z axis and the squares, which he sees run from
him in the -Z direction. (As this turn of the Block brings its Syce into the
vertical plane so that it extends three inches below the base line of its
Moena, it is evident that the turn is only possible if the Moena be
originally at a height of at least three inches above the plane-being’s earth
line in the vertical plane.) Next, if the Block be passed through the plane,
the sections shown in the Diagrams 2 and 3 (Fig. 14) are brought into
view.
Thus, there are three distinct ways of regarding the cubic Block, each of
them equally primary; and if the plane-being is to have a correct idea of
the Block, he must be equally familiar with each view. By means of the
slabs each aspect can be represented; but we must remember in each of
the three cases, that the slabs represent different parts of the cube.
When we look at the cube Pallor Mala in space, we see that it touches
six other cubes by its six faces. But the plane-being could only arrive at
this fact by comparing different views. Taking the three Moena sections of
the Block, he can see that Pallor Mala Moena touches Plebs Moena, Mora
Moena, Uncus Moena, and Tergum Moena by lines. And it takes the place
of Bidens Moena, and is itself displaced by Cortis Moena as the Block
passes through the plane. Next, this same Pallor Mala can appear to him
as an Alvus. In this case, it touches Plebs Alvus, Mora Alvus, Bidens Alvus,
and Cortis Alvus by lines, takes the place of Uncus Alvus, and is itself
displaced by Tergum Alvus as the Block moves. Similarly he can observe
the relations, if the Syce of the Block be in his plane.
Hence, this unknown body Pallor Mala appears to him now as one
plane-figure now as another, and comes before him in different
connections. Pallor Mala is that which satisfies all these relations. Each of
them he can in turn present to sense; but the total conception of Pallor
Mala itself can only, if at all, grow up in his mind. The way for him to form
this mental conception, is to go through all the practical possibilities which
Pallor Mala would afford him by its various movements and turns. In our
world these various relations are found by the most simple observations;
but a plane-being could only acquire them by considerable labour. And if
he determined to obtain a knowledge of the physical existence of a higher
world than his own, he must pass through such discipline.

Fig. 15. Fig. 16.

 We will see what change could be introduced into the shapes he builds
by the movements, which he does not know in his world. Let us build up
this shape with the cubes of the Block: Urna Mala, Moles Mala, Bidens
Mala, Tibicen Mala. To the plane-being this shape would be the slabs,
Urna Moena, Moles Moena, Bidens Moena, Tibicen Moena (Fig. 15). Now
let the Block be turned round the Z axis, so that it goes past the position,
in which the Alvus sides enter the vertical plane. Let it move until, passing
through the plane, the same Moena sides come in again. The mass of the
Block will now have cut through the plane and be on the near side of it
towards us; but the Moena faces only will be on the plane-being’s side of
it. The diagram (Fig. 16) shows what he will see, and it will seem to him
similar to the first shape (Fig. 15) in every respect except its disposition
with regard to the Z axis. It lies in the direction -X, opposite to that of the
first figure. However much he turn these two figures about in the plane,
he cannot make one occupy the place of the other, part for part. Hence it
appears that, if we turn the plane-being’s figure about a line, it undergoes
an operation which is to him quite mysterious. He cannot by any turn in
his plane produce the change in the figure produced by us. A little
observation will show that a plane-being can only turn round a point.
Turning round a line is a process unknown to him. Therefore one of the
elements in a plane-being’s knowledge of a space higher than his own,
will be the conception of a kind of turning which will change his solid
bodies into their own images.

CHAPTER VI.
THE MEANS BY WHICH A PLANE-BEING WOULD ACQUIRE A
CONCEPTION OF OUR FIGURES.

Take the Block of twenty-seven Mala cubes, and build up the following
shape (Fig. 18):—
Urna Mala, Moles Mala, Plebs Mala, Pallor Mala, Mora Mala.
If this shape, passed through the vertical plane, the plane-being would
perceive:—
(1) The squares Urna Moena and Moles Moena.
(2) The three squares Plebs Moena, Pallor Moena, Mora Moena,
and then the whole figure would have passed through his plane.
If the whole Block were turned round the Z axis till the Alvus sides
entered, and the figure built up as it would be in that disposition of the
cubes, the plane-being would perceive during its passage through the
plane:—
(1) Urna Alvus;
(2) Moles Alvus, Plebs Alvus, Pallor Alvus, Mora Alvus, which would all
enter on the left side of the Z axis.
Again, if the Block were turned round the X axis, the Syce side would
enter, and the cubes appear in the following order:—
(1) Urna Syce, Moles Syce, Plebs Syce;
(2) Pallor Syce;
(3) Mora Syce.
Fig. 17.
 Fig. 18.

A comparison of these three sets of appearances would give the plane-being a full account of the
figure. It is that which can produce these various appearances.
Let us now suppose a glass plate placed in front of the Block in its first position. On this plate let the
axes X and Z be drawn. They divide the surface into four parts, to which we give the following names
(Fig. 17):—
Z X = that quarter defined by the positive Z and positive X axis.
Z X = that quarter defined by the positive Z and negative X axis (which is called “Z negative X”).
Z X = that quarter defined by the negative Z and negative X axis.
Z X = that quarter defined by the negative Z and positive X axis.
The Block appears in these different quarters or quadrants, as it is turned round the different axes. In
Z X the Moenas appear, in Z X the Alvus faces, in Z X the Syces. In each quadrant are drawn nine
squares, to receive the faces of the cubes when they enter. For instance, in Z X we have the Moenas
of:—
Z
Comes Tibicen Vestis
Ostrum Bidens Scena
Urna Moles Saltus

And in Z X we have the Alvus of:—

Z
Mars Spicula Comes
Ala Uncus Ostrum
Sector Frenum Urna
 -X

And in the Z X we have the Syces of:—

Urna Moles Saltus

Frenum Plebs Sypho
Sector Hama Remus
-Z

Now, if the shape taken at the beginning of this chapter be looked at through the glass, and the
distance of the second and third walls of the shape behind the glass be considered of no account—that
is, if they be treated as close up to the glass—we get a plane outline, which occupies the squares Urna
Moena, Moles Moena, Bidens Moena, Tibicen Moena. This outline is called a projection of the figure. To
see it like a plane-being, we should have to look down on it along the Z axis.
It is obvious that one projection does not give the shape. For instance, the square Bidens Moena
might be filled by either Pallor or Cortis. All that a square in the room of Bidens Moena denotes, is that
there is a cube somewhere in the Y, or unknown, direction from Bidens Moena. This view, just taken, we
should call the front view in our space; we are then looking at it along the negative Y axis.
When the same shape is turned round on the Z axis, so as to be projected on the Z X quadrant, we
have the squares—Urna Alvus, Frenum Alvus, Uncus Alvus, Spicula Alvus. When it is turned round the X
axis, and projected on Z X, we have the squares, Urna Syce, Moles Syce, Plebs Syce, and no more. This
is what is ordinarily called the ground plan; but we have set it in a different position from that in which
it is usually drawn.

Fig. 19.

Now, the best method for a plane-being of familiarizing himself with shapes in our space, would be to
practise the realization of them from their different projections in his plane. Thus, given the three
projections just mentioned, he should be able to construct the figure from which they are derived. The
projections (Fig. 19) are drawn below the perspective pictures of the shape (Fig. 18). From the front, or
Moena view, he would conclude that the shape was Urna Mala, Moles Mala, Bidens Mala, Tibicen Mala;
or instead of these, or also in addition to them, any of the cubes running in the Y direction from the
plane. That is, from the Moena projection he might infer the presence of all the following cubes (the
word Mala is omitted for brevity): Urna, Frenum, Sector, Moles, Plebs, Hama, Bidens, Pallor, Cortis,
Tibicen, Mora, Merces.
Next, the Alvus view or projection might be given by the cubes (the word Mala being again omitted):
Urna, Moles, Saltus, Frenum, Plebs, Sypho, Uncus, Pallor, Tergum, Spicula, Mora, Oliva. Lastly, looking at
the ground plan or Syce view, he would infer the possible presence of Urna, Ostrum, Comes, Moles,
Bidens, Tibicen, Plebs, Pallor, Mora.
Now, the shape in higher space, which is usually there, is that which is common to all these three
appearances. It can be determined, therefore, by rejecting those cubes which are not present in all
three lists of cubes possible from the projections. And by this process the plane-being could arrive at
the enumeration of the cubes which belong to the shape of which he had the projections. After a time,
when he had experience of the cubes (which, though invisible to him as wholes, he could see part by
part in turn entering his space), the projections would have more meaning to him, and he might
comprehend the shape they expressed fragmentarily in his space. To practise the realization from
projections, we should proceed in this way. First, we should think of the possibilities involved in the
Moena view, and build them up in cubes before us. Secondly, we should build up the cubes possible
from the Alvus view. Again, taking the shape at the beginning of the chapter, we should find that the
shape of the Alvus possibilities intersected that of the Moena possibilities in Urna, Moles, Frenum, Plebs,
Pallor, Mora; or, in other words, these cubes are common to both. Thirdly, we should build up the Syce
possibilities, and, comparing their shape with those of the Moena and Alvus projections, we should find
Urna, Moles, Plebs, Pallor, Mora, of the Syce view coinciding with the same cubes of the other views, the
only cube present in the intersection of the Moena and Alvus possibilities, and not present in the Syce
view, being Frenum.
The determination of the figure denoted by the three projections, may be more easily effected by
treating each projection as an indication of what cubes are to be cut away. Taking the same shape as
before, we have in the Moena projection Urna, Moles, Bidens, Tibicen; and the possibilities from them
are Urna, Frenum, Sector, Moles, Plebs, Hama, Bidens, Pallor, Cortis, Tibicen, Mora, Merces. This may
aptly be called the Moena solution. Now, from the Syce projection, we learn at once that those cubes,
which in it would produce Frenum, Sector, Hama, Remus, Sypho, Saltus, are not in the shape. This
absence of Frenum and Sector in the Syce view proves that their presence in the Moena solution is
superfluous. The absence of Hama removes the possibility of Hama, Cortis, Merces. The absence of
Remus, Sypho, Saltus, makes no difference, as neither they nor any of their Syce possibilities are
present in the Moena solution. Hence, the result of comparison of the Moena and Syce projections and
possibilities is the shape: Urna, Moles, Plebs, Bidens, Pallor, Tibicen, Mora. This may be aptly called the
Moena-Syce solution. Now, in the Alvus projection we see that Ostrum, Comes, Sector, Ala, and Mars
are absent. The absence of Sector, Ala, and Mars has no effect on our Moena-Syce solution; as it does
not contain any of their Alvus possibilities. But the absence of Ostrum and Comes proves that in the
Moena-Syce solution Bidens and Tibicen are superfluous, since their presence in the original shape
would give Ostrum and Comes in the Alvus projection. Thus we arrive at the Moena-Alvus-Syce solution,
which gives us the shape: Urna, Moles, Plebs, Pallor, Mora.
It will be obvious on trial that a shape can be instantly recognised from its three projections, if the
Block be thoroughly well known in all three positions. Any difficulty in the realization of the shapes
comes from the arbitrary habit of associating the cubes with some one direction in which they happen
to go with regard to us. If we remember Ostrum as above Urna, we are not remembering the Block, but
only one particular relation of the Block to us. That position of Ostrum is a fact as much related to
ourselves as to the Block. There is, of course, some information about the Block implied in that position;
but it is so mixed with information about ourselves as to be ineffectual knowledge of the Block. It is of
the highest importance to enter minutely into all the details of solution written above. For,
corresponding to every operation necessary to a plane-being for the comprehension of our world, there
is an operation, with which we have to become familiar, if in our turn we would enter into some