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According to Mr. G.R.S. Mead similar ideas are to be found in certain of the Gnostic cosmogonies.

(Fragments of a Faith forgotten, p. 318.)

But a detailed historical review would be out of place here and I will therefore proceed at once to a discussion of what is meant by the term "fourth dimension" and will try to explain how it is that we can determine some of the necessary properties of four-dimensional space, even although we cannot picture it to ourselves.

At this point I would urge the reader to try to believe that the subject is not one of great difficulty. As a matter of fact it is really exceptionally straightforward if only one faces it and does not allow oneself to be frightened.

I know that it is impossible to form any clear mental picture of four-dimensional conditions, but that does not matter. The ideas involved are admittedly unprecedented in our experience, but they are not contrary to reason and I do not ask more than a formal and intellectual assent to the propositions and analogies concerned.