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aced and caressed us rather than submitted to be sat upon, and there was that luxurious after-dinner atmosphere when thought roams gracefully free of the trammels of precision. and he put it to us in this way--marking the points with a lean forefinger--as we sat and lazily admired his earnestness over this new paradox (as we thought it:) and his fecundity. `you must follow me carefully. i shall have to controvert one or two ideas that are almost universally accepted. the geometry, for instance, they taught you at school is founded on a misconception.' `is not that rather a large thing to expect us to begin upon?' said filby, an argumentative person with red hair. `i do not mean to ask you to accept anything without reasonable ground for it. you will soon admit as much as i need from you. you know of course that a mathematical line, a line of thickness nil, has no real existence. they taught you that? neither has a mathematical plane. these things are mere abstractions.' `that is all right,' said the psychologist. `nor, having only length, breadth, and thickness, can a cube have a real existence.' `there i object,' said filby. `of course a solid body may exist. all real things--' `so most people think. but wait a moment. can an instantaneous cube exist?' `don't follow you,' said filby. `can a cube that does not last for any time at all, have a real existence?' filby became pensive. `clearly,' the time traveller proceeded, `any real body must have extension in four directions: it must have length, breadth, thickness, and--duration. but through a natural infirmity of the flesh, which i will explain to you in a moment, we incline to o
