Hinton - The Fourth Dimension.pdf

106
THE FOURTH DIMENSION
Americans.” And this method is what is called the
“quantification of the predicate.”
The laws of formal logic are coincident with the conclusions
which can be drawn about regions of space, which
overlap one another in the various possible ways. It is
not difficult so to state the relations or to obtain a
symmetrical poiograph. But to enter into this branch of
geometry is beside our present purpose, which is to show
the application of the poiograph in a finite and limited
region, without any of these complexities which attend its
use in regard to natural objects.
If we take the latter—plants, for instance—and, without
assuming fixed directions in space as representative of
definite variations, arrange the representative points in
such a manner as to correspond to the similarities of the
objects, we obtain configurations of singular interest; and
perhaps in this way, in the making of shapes of shapes,
bodies with bodies omitted, some insight into the structure
of the species and genus might be obtained.