The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1878-02-01

many Of your readers have brought
fully home to their inner consciousness
the real significance Of that little word
>. billion =" which we have seen of late
SO glibly used in your columns. There
are, indeed, few intellects that can fairly
grasp il aud digest il as whole; and
there are, doubtless, many thousands
who can not appreciate It's true worth
even when reduced 10 fragments for
more easy assimilation. Its arithmetic
al symbol is simple and without much
preiension; there are no large figures
Just modest l, followed by dozen
ciphers, and that Is all.
Let use briefly take glance at il as a
measure Of time, distance, and weight.
A. measure Of time, would take one
second ~ the unit, and carry myself in
thought through the lapse Of ages back
To the first day of the year Of our era,
remembering that in all these years we
have 365 days, and in every day just
SO, 400 seconds Of time. Hence, in re-
turning in thought back again 10 this
year Of grace 1873, one might have sup
posed that billion Of seconds had long
since elapsed; but this is not so. We
have not even passed one-sixteenth part
Of that number in all these long. event
full years. for il takes just 81, 16S years.
= days, p hours. ID minutcs,and 3 sec
onds TO constitute billion Of seconds Of
time
II is no easy matter to bring under
the cognizance Of the human eye bill
lion Of objects Of any kind. Let us try
in imagination To arrange this number
for inspection, and for this purpose
would select sovereign as familiar
object. Let US put one on the ground
and pile upon ii as many rs will reach
20 feet in height then let US place num-
beers Of similar columns in close contact,
forming straight line, and making
sort Of wall 20 feet high, showing only
the thin edges Of the coin. Imagine
two such walls running parallel to each
other and forming, ms il were, a long
street. We must then keep on extend
ing these wallsfor milcs-nay, hundreds
of miles, aud still we shall be far short
Of the required number. And il is not
until we have extended oar imaginary
street 10 a distance Of 2,3s64 miles that
we shall have presented for inspection
our one billion Of coins.
Or in lieu Of this arrangement we may
place them flat upon the ground, form
ing one continuous line like long gold
en- cham. with every link in close con-
tact. But TO do this we must pass over
land and sea, mountain and valley,
desert and plain, crossing the equator,
and returning around the southern
hemisphere, through the trackless
ocean, retrace our way again across the
equator, then still on and on, until we
again arrive at our starting point; and
when we have thus passed golden
chain around the huge bulk Of the earth,
we shall be but al the beginning If our
task. We must drag this imaginary
chain no less than 163 times round the
globe. Ii we can further imagine all
these rows Of links laid closely side by
side, and every one ia contact with its
neighber, we shall have formed gold
en- band around the world Just 50 feet 6
inches wide; and this will represent our
one billion Of coins. Such chain, il
laid in straight line, would reach
fraction over ls,32S,445 miles, the
weight of which, il estimated at one
fourth ounce each sovereign, would be
6,gs5,447 tons. and would require for
their transport no less than 1926 ships,
each with full cargo Of 5000 tons.
Even then there would be residue Of
AZ tons, representing 6i,0sl, 1920 sovcr-
eigns.
For measure Of height let rs take a
much smaller unit a. our measuring
rod. The thin sheets Of paper on which
these lines are printed, il laid out Hat
and firmly pressed together as in we'll
bound book, would represent measure
Of about 1-333d Of an inch in thickness.
Let us see how high a dense pile formed
by billion Of these thin paper leaves
would reach We must, in magma
ton, pile them vertically upward, by
degrees reaching the height Of our
tallest spires; and, passing these,
the pile must still grow higher,
topping the Alps and the Andes, and
shooting up from thence through the
fieecy clouds, pass beyond the confines
Of our attenuaied atmosphere, and leap
up into the blue ether with which the
universe i filled, standing proudly up
far beyond the reach II All terrestrial
things; still pile on your thousands and
millions of thin leaves. for we are only
beginning to rear the mighty mass. Add
millions on millions Of sheets. and thou
sands Of miles on these, and still the
number will lack it, due amount Let
a. pause 70 look ~ the neat plowed
edges ~ the book before rs See how
closely lie those thin flakes ~ paper,
how many there are ia the mere width
~ span. and then turn orr ewes in
imagination upwards toonr mighty coll
umn of accumulated sheets ii now
contains ~ appointed number, and our
one BILL N sheets of the Times sGpcrim-
posed upon each other. aud pressed