“It was in old days, with our learned men, an interesting and oft-investigated question, "What is the origin of light?" and the solution of it has been repeatedly attempted, with no other result than to crowd our lunatic asylums with the would-be solvers. Hence, after fruitless attempts to suppress such investigations indirectly by making them liable to a heavy tax, the Legislature, in comparatively recent times, absolutely prohibited them.”

Source: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (1884), PART I: THIS WORLD, Chapter 2. Of the Climate and Houses in Flatland

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Edwin Abbott Abbott 87
British theologian and author 1838–1926

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