g the lower classes." It is only among the
higher classes and in our more 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 the
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?

It will be obvious, to every child in Spaceland who has touched the
threshold of Geometrical Studies, that, if I can bring my eye so that
its glance may bisect an angle (A) of the approaching stranger, my view
will lie as it were evenly between the 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 TO 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 to dimness, because