The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, APRIL 8. 1841.

PARIS FORTIFICATION BILL.

SIMPLE CALCULATIONS.

(From the Charivari.)
In order to termina.e the interminaWe question of the
fortifications one of the moat eminent statistical writers has
just made the following calculations :
By cutting out from the Moniteur the speeches that
were delivered on that occasion, and by placing them one
after the other, it will be seen that they would occupy a
space of 70,000 metre,:, that is to say, twice the eircum-
fcrenc: of the enceinte continue.
M. Thieri' ,:pceches alone would make the fronts of
twenty-two bastions, and ?hose of M. d'Argout might make
detached forts. The naial ornament of the Noble
Peer night occupy a half moon.

Anoth-er calcufation, which is not less ingenious :
If, instead of employing printed paper, the type which
had served for the printing of the speeches hid been made
use of,.tle following resolt would have, been obtliced:—
With the bourgeois, long primer, nonpareil, small-pica
&e., use i ou tl.e forificzitions, it is possible to obtain—
A wall thiit. -two metres high by five metres broad, in a
circumference of thirty-six metres, that it is to say the en-
tire enceinte with its exterior projectures.
It is even calculved—

That if each word uttered on that questlin bad been
turned into stone, thera would have been sufficient moilon
by that ewnomicAl means to erect the rampart as it is laid
down in the Bill voted by the Chamber:.
Intend of each word, if each le!ter is taken, a mass i 3
obtained, which, by cubing it c )rreztly, is equivalent to the
gre ,t wall of China, that chef-d'auvre of AFiaic gefiius.
The glasses of water that were drank on that occasion
are equivalent, on an inclint,cl plane, to twelve-horse power,
seven Vines more than the jet of the Artesian well of Gre-
noble.

The bits of sugar that were used in preparing those
glasses of water (eau sueree) would be sufficient to sweeten
all the basins of the Tuileries, and to procure for the fish
that are therein a delirious beverage.
One hundred cambric and three hundred silk pocket_
handkerchiefs, without reckoning the chalets and Madras
eLecks, a ere soiled in wipir g -he foreheads of the speakers.
Sixty coat', patelots, or parliamentary great coats, expe-
rienced sedutons of continuity in consequence of the fran-
tic attitudes which the triton! es exh'bited.

Medico., statistics give besides, as the result of an exag-
gerated account, six pleurisies, twelve sore throat:, and
f‘nty- two pulmonary complaints. We only cite hire the
cases of lassitude and colds but as a memento. Eighteen
catarrhs grew worse visibly, and are now in an alarming
state. In short, in the crowds that were present at the
first sittings, forty-five silk handkerchiefs and twenty-two
snuff-boxes, not counting the rz:filards, disappeared.
The total age of the orators who spoke for the fortifica-
tions amounts to eight thousand two hundred and thirty-
four years; that of those who spoke against, to nine thou-
sand seven hundred and twenty years. Total, seventeen
thotpand nine hundred and fifty-four years. Three times
the age of the globe.

By calculati74 each breath at a deeagrarnme of pressure
there has been sufficient breathing to make the windmills
of Montmartre go round for sixty-two years and a half.
Such are the calculations of our eminent statistician.
We confidently hand them over to all the mondeux and
inangiameles of France and of the Calabres. They arc in-
tricate calculations, if ever there were any. Just ask the
Institute !