cube would seem to be an ordinary square. Conceiving
such a race to exist, we might talk with them, might jostle them in the
streets, might even intermarry with them, sir--and always see in them
only human beings, and solely because of our senses' limitations."

"I comprehend. These are exactly the speculations that would appeal to
an unbalanced mind--is that not your thought, Philip?"

"Why, there is nothing particularly insane, Sir Thomas, in desiring to
explore in fields beyond those which our senses make perceptible. It
is very certain these fields exist; and the question of their extent I
take to be both interesting and important."

Then Sir Thomas said: "Like any other rational man, I have
occasionally thought of this endeavor at which you hint. We exist--you
and I and all the others--in what we glibly call the universe. All
that we know of it is through what we entitle our five senses, which,
when provoked to action, will cause a chemical change in a few ounces
of spongy matter packed in our skulls. There are no grounds for
believing that this particular method of communication is adequate, or
even that the agents which produce it are veracious. Meanwhile, we are
in touch with what exists through our five senses only. It may be that
they lie to us. There is, at least, no reason for assuming them to be
infallible."

"But reflection plows a deeper furrow, Sir Thomas. Even in the
exercise of any one of these five senses it is certain that we are
excelled by what we vaingloriously call the lower forms of life. A dog
has powers of scent we cannot reach to, birds hear the crawling of a
worm, insects distinguish those rays in the spectrum which lie beyond
violet and red, and are invisible to us; and snails and fish and
ants--perhaps all other living creatures, indeed--have senses which man
does not share at all, and has no name for. Granted that we human
beings alone possess the power of reasoning, the fact remains that we
invariably start with false premises, and always pass our judgments
when biased at the best by incomplete reports of everything in the
universe, and very possibly by reports which lie flat-footedly."

You saw that Browne was troubled. Now he rose. "Nothing will come of
this. I do not touch upon the desirability of conquering those fields
at which we dare only to hint. No, I am not afraid. I dare assist you
in doing anything Dr. Herrick asks, because I know that nothing will
come