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Project Gutenberg's The Time Machine, by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
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This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
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almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
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re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
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with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
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Title: The Time Machine
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Author: H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
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Release Date: October 2, 2004 [EBook #35]
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[Last updated: October 3, 2014]
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Language: English
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*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TIME MACHINE ***
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The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells [1898]
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I
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The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of him)
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was expounding a recondite matter to us. His grey eyes shone and
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twinkled, and his usually pale face was flushed and animated. The
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fire burned brightly, and the soft radiance of the incandescent
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lights in the lilies of silver caught the bubbles that flashed and
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passed in our glasses. Our chairs, being his patents, embraced and
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caressed us rather than submitted to be sat upon, and there was that
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luxurious after-dinner atmosphere when thought roams gracefully
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free of the trammels of precision. And he put it to us in this
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way--marking the points with a lean forefinger--as we sat and lazily
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admired his earnestness over this new paradox (as we thought it)
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and his fecundity.
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'You must follow me carefully. I shall have to controvert one or two
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ideas that are almost universally accepted. The geometry, for
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instance, they taught you at school is founded on a misconception.'
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'Is not that rather a large thing to expect us to begin upon?'
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said Filby, an argumentative person with red hair.
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'I do not mean to ask you to accept anything without reasonable
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ground for it. You will soon admit as much as I need from you. You
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know of course that a mathematical line, a line of thickness _nil_,
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has no real existence. They taught you that? Neither has a
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mathematical plane. These things are mere abstractions.'
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'That is all right,' said the Psychologist.
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'Nor, having only length, breadth, and thickness, can a cube have a
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real existence.'
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'There I object,' said Filby. 'Of course a solid body may exist. All
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real things--'
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'So most people think. But wait a moment. Can an _instantaneous_
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cube exist?'
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'Don't follow you,' said Filby.
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'Can a cube that does not last for any time at all, have a real
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existence?'
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Filby became pensive. 'Clearly,' the Time Traveller proceeded, 'any
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real body must have extension in _four_ directions: it must have
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Length, Breadth, Thickness, and--Duration. But through a natural
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infirmity of the flesh, which I will explain to you in a moment, we
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incline to overlook this fact. There are really four dimensions,
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three which we call the three planes of Space, and a fourth, Time.
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There is, however, a tendency to draw an unreal distinction between
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the former three dimensions and the latter, because it happens that
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our consciousness moves intermittently in one direction along the
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latter from the beginning to the end of our lives.'
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'That,' said a very young man, making spasmodic efforts to relight
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his cigar over the lamp; 'that ... very clear indeed.'
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'Now, it is very remarkable that this is so extensively overlooked,'
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continued the Time Traveller, with a slight accession of
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cheerfulness. 'Really this is what is meant by the Fourth Dimension,
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though some people who talk about the Fourth Dimension do not know
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they mean it. It is only another way of looking at Time. _There is
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