The Time Machine

INGENIOUSLY arguing that time may be regarded as the fourth dimension of which our faculties fail to give us any distinct impression, the author of this admirably-told story has conceived the idea of a machine which shall convey the traveller either backwards or forwards in time. Apart from its merits as a clever piece of imagination, the story is well worth the attention of the scientific reader, for the reason that it is based so far as possible on scientific data, and while not taking it too seriously, it helps one to get a connected idea of the possible results of the ever-continuing processes of evolution. Cosmical evolution, it may be remarked, is in some degree subject to mathematical investigations, and the author appears to be well acquainted with the results which have been obtained in this direction. It is naturally in the domain of social and organic evolution that the imagination finds its greatest scope.The Time Machine.By H. G. Wells. (London: Wm Heinemann, 1895.)