oaching stranger, my view
will lie as it were evenly between his two sides that are next to me
(viz. CA and AB), so that I shall contemplate the two impartially, and
both will appear of the same size.

Now in the case of (1) the Merchant, what shall I see? I shall see a
straight line DAE, in which the middle point (A) will be very bright
because it is nearest to me; but on either side the line will shade
away RAPIDLY INTO DIMNESS, because the sides AC and AB RECEDE RAPIDLY
INTO THE FOG and what appear to me as the Merchant's extremities, viz.
D and E, will be VERY DIM INDEED.

On the other hand in the case of (2) the Physician, though I shall here
also see a line (D'A'E') with a bright centre (A'), yet it will shade
away LESS RAPIDLY into dimness, because the sides (A'C', A'B') RECEDE
LESS RAPIDLY INTO THE FOG: and what appear to me the Physician's
extremities, viz. D' and E', will not be NOT SO DIM as the extremities
of the Merchant.

The Reader will probably understand from these two instances how--after
a very long training supplemented by constant experience--it is
possible for the well-educated classes among us to discriminate with
fair accuracy between the middle and lowest orders, by the sense of
sight. If my Spaceland Patrons have grasped this general conception,
so far as to conceive the possibility of it and not to reject my
account as altogether incredible--I shall have attained all I can
reasonably expect. Were I to attempt further details I should only
perplex. Yet for the sake of the young and inexperienced, who may
perchance infer--from the two simple instances I have given above, of
the manner in which I should recognize my Father and my Sons--that
Recognition by sight is an easy affair, it may be needful to point out
that in actual life most of the problems of Sight Recognition are far
more subtle and complex.

If for example, when my Father, the Triangle, approaches me, he happens
to present his side to me instead of his angle, then, until I have
asked him to rotate, or until I have edged my eye round him, I am for
the moment doubtful whether he may not be a Straight Line, or, in other
words, a Woman. Again, when I am in the company of one of my two
hexagonal Grandsons, contemplating one of his sides (AB) full front, it
will be evident from the accompanying diagram that I shall see one
whole line (AB) in comparative brightness (shading off hardly at all at
the ends) and two smaller lines (CA