The Time Machine, Chapter 1 summary
Chapter 1 of 17 · 7 min to read the chapter
In Chapter 1, the Time Traveller argues that time is a fourth dimension and says he has experimental proof that a machine can move through it. His guests question his reasoning and imagine possible uses for such travel, while he leaves for his laboratory and returns before showing the experiment.
What happens
- At an after-dinner gathering, the Time Traveller argues that real objects need duration as well as three spatial dimensions.
- He uses portraits at different ages and a weather chart to explain time as another dimension.
- The Medical Man and the Psychologist question whether people can move through time, and Filby rejects the argument.
- The Time Traveller describes a proposed machine whose operator can choose movement through space and time, and claims experimental proof.
- The guests imagine historical study, language learning, and financial gain, while the narrator suggests a communist future.
- The Time Traveller goes to his laboratory and returns while the others speculate about a trick.

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In this chapter
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What does the Time Traveller use the weather record to illustrate?

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