Page:Philosophy and Fun of Algebra.djvu/89

FROM BONDAGE TO FREEDOM When that hypothesis was taken away, the imagination of such people as Isaiah took wings and flew to—well—we do not know where, but we call it Infinity. We know nothing about Infinity; except that it comes when a chain is loosened.

If you want to understand what it was that happened to Isaiah, and what Infinity means in algebra, this is how you can find out. Get a bowl and dip up some of the water out of a barrel in which a gnat has laid her eggs. Little wigglers are born from those eggs. If you watch them you will see that they swim in different positions, some with their tails uppermost, some with their heads uppermost. There may also be some worms; who do not swim much, but wriggle about at the bottom of the bowl. Perhaps if we could hear them talking we should hear them quarrelling about which was the right position. Some of them might be disputing about what would happen to them in the future. They might quarrel till the end ot the world, and know no more about it at the end than 85