now go further and amalgamate the fourth order, sooner-and-later. This is still harder for the mind. It does not imply that there is no distinction between space and time; but it gives a fresh unbiassed start by which to determine what the nature of the distinction is.
The idea of putting together space and time, so that time is regarded as a fourth dimension, is not new. But until recently it was regarded as merely a picturesque way of looking at things without any deep significance. We can put together time and temperature in a thermometer chart, or pressure and volume on an indicator-diagram. It is quite non-committal. But our theory is going to lead much further than that. We can lay two dimensional surfaces—sheets of paper—on one another till we build up a three-dimensional block; but there is a difference between a block which is a pile of sheets and a solid block of paper. The solid block is the true analogy for the four-dimensional combination of space-time; it does not separate naturally into a particular set of three-dimensional spaces piled in time-order. It can be redivided into such a pile; but it can be redivided in any direction we please.
Just as the observer by changing his orientation makes a new division of the two-dimensional plane into right-and-left, backwards-and-forwards—just as the observer by changing his longitude makes a new division of three-dimensional space into vertical and horizontal—so the observer by changing his motion makes a new division of the four-dimensional order into time and space.
This will be justified in detail later; it indicates that observers with different motions will have different time and space-reckoning—a conclusion we have already reached from another point of view.
Although different observers separate the four orders differently, they all agree that the order of events is four-fold; and it appears that this undivided four-fold order is the same for all observers. We therefore believe that it is inherent in the external world; it is in fact the synthesis, which we have been seeking, of the appearances seen by observers having all sorts of positions and all sorts of (uniform) motions. It is therefore to be regarded as a conception of the real world not relative to any particularly circumstanced observer.
