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e goal of 60 degrees is reached; when the condition of serfdom is quitted; and the freeman enters the class of Regulars。
Consequently; Nature herself supplies us with an ascending scale or Alphabet of angles for half a degree up to 60 degrees; Specimens of which are placed in every Elementary School throughout the land。 Owing to occasional retrogressions; to still more frequent moral and intellectual stagnation; and to the extraordinary fecundity of the Criminal and Vagabond Classes; there is always a vast superfluity of individuals of the half degree and single degree class; and a fair abundance of Specimens up to 10 degrees。 These are absolutely destitute of civic rights; and a great number of them; not having even intelligence enough for the purposes of warfare; are devoted by the States to the service of education。 Fettered immovably so as to remove all possibility of danger; they are placed in the class rooms of our Infant Schools; and there they are utilized by the Board of Education for the purpose of imparting to the offspring of the Middle Classes that tact and intelligence of which these wretched creatures themselves are utterly devoid。
In some States the Specimens are occasionally fed and suffered to exist for several years; but in the more temperate and better regulated regions; it is found in the long run more advantageous for the educational interests of the young; to dispense with food; and to renew the Specimens every month which is about the average duration of the foodless existence of the Criminal class。 In the cheaper schools; what is gained by the longer existence of the Specimen is lost; partly in the expenditure for food; and partly in the diminished accuracy of the angles; which are impaired after a few weeks of constant 〃feeling〃。 Nor must we forget to add; in enumerating the advantages of the more expensive system; that it tends; though slightly yet perceptibly; to the diminution of the redundant Isosceles population an object which every statesman in Flatland constantly keeps in view。 On the whole therefore although I am not ignorant that; in many popularly elected School Boards; there is a reaction in favour of 〃the cheap system〃 as it is called I am myself disposed to think that this is one of the many cases in which expense is the truest economy。
But I must not allow questions of School Board politics to divert me from my subject。 Enough has been said; I trust; to shew that Recognition by Feeling is not so tedious or indecisive a process as might have been supposed; and it is obviously more trustworthy than Recognition by hearing。 Still there remains; as has been pointed out above; the objection that this method is not without danger。 For this reason many in the Middle and Lower classes; and all without exception in the Polygonal and Circular orders; prefer a third method; the description of which shall be reserved for the next section。
Section 6。 Of Recognition by Sight
I am about to appear very inconsistent。 In previous sections I have said that all figures in Flatland present the appearance of a straight line; and it was added or implied; that it is consequently impossible to distinguish by the visual organ between individuals of different classes: yet now I am about to explain to my Spaceland critics how we are able to recognize one another by the sense of sight。
If however the Reader will take the trouble to refer to the passage in which Recognition by Feeling is stated to be universal; he will find this qualification 〃among the lower classes〃。 It is only among the higher classes and in our temperate climates that Sight Recognition is practised。
That this power exists in any regions and for any classes is the result of Fog; which prevails during the greater part of the year in all parts save the torrid zones。 That which is with you in Spaceland an unmixed evil; blotting out the landscape; depressing the spirits; and enfeebling the health; is by us recognized as a blessing scarcely inferior to air itself; and as the Nurse of arts and Parent of sciences。 But let me explain my meaning; without further eulogies on this beneficent Element。
If Fog were non…existent; all lines would appear equally and indistinguishably clear; and this is actually the case in those unhappy countries in which the atmosphere is perfectly dry and transparent。 But wherever there is a rich supply of Fog objects that are at a distance; say of three feet; are appreciably dimmer than those at a distance of two feet eleven inches; and the result is that by careful and constant experimental observation of comparative dimness and clearness; we are enabled to infer with great exactness the configuration of the object observed。
An instance will do more than a volume of generalities to make my meaning clear。
Suppose I see two individuals approaching whose rank I wish to ascertain。 They are; we will suppose; a Merchant and a Physician; or in other words; an Equilateral Triangle and a Pentagon: how am I to distinguish them?
C (1) | … _ D | ||… _ | || … _ | || …+(》 Eye…glance ___C' (2) | / A|| _ … ___… … _D' | / ||_ … __… || … _ |/ _ … E | || … _ B | || … _ | Eye…glance || … _ |