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MIRROR WORLDS 129
Zollner Experiments
Early widespread interest in the fourth dimension did not take place in the scientific
and mathematical communities, but among the spiritualists. The American
medium and magician Henry Slade, became famous when he was expelled
from England for fraud connected with spirit writing on slates. Astronomer J.
C. F. Zollner was almost completely discredited because of his association with
spiritualism. However, he was correct to suggest that anyone with access to
higher dimensions would be able to perform feats impossible for creatures constrained
to a 3-D world. He suggested several experiments that would demonstrate
his hypothesis—for example, linking solid rings without first cutting
them apart, or removing objects from secured boxes. If Slade could interconnect
two separate unbroken wooden rings, Zollner believed it would "represent
a miracle, that is, a phenomenon which our conceptions heretofore of physical
and organic processes would be absolutely incompetent to explain." Similar
experiments were tried in reversing snail shells and tying knots in a closed loop
of rope made of animal gut. Perhaps the hardest test to pass involved reversing
the molecular structure of dextrotartaric acid so that it would rotate a plane of
polarized light left instead of right. Although Slade never quite performed the
stated tasks, he always managed to come up with sufficiently similar evidence
to convince Zollner and these experiences became the primary basis of Zollner's
Transcendental Physics. This work, and the claims of other spiritualists,
actually had some scientific value because they touched off a lively debate
within the British scientific community.