Daily globe., 1878-01-28
The Significance of a Billion.

The Significance of u Billion.
Henry Bessemer in the London Times.
It would be curious to know how many OF
your readers have brought fully home to
their inner consciousness the real significance
of that little word ssbillion," which we have
seen of late so glibly used in your columns.
There are, indeed, few intellects that can
fairly grasp it and digest it as a whole; and
there are, doubtless, many thousands who
cannot appreciate it's true worth, even when
reduced to fragments for more easy assimila-
ton. It's arithmetical symbol is simple and
without much pretension; there are no large
fgures-just a modest 1, followed by dozen
ciphers, and that is all.
Let us briefly take glance at it as meas
ure of time, distance and weight. AS a
measure of time, would take one second as
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
those years we have 365 days, and in every
day just 86,4OO seconds Of time. Hence, in
returning in thought back again to this year
of grace 1878, one might have supposed that
a billion of seconds had long since elapsed;
but this is not so. We have not even passed
one sixteenth of that number in all these
long eventful years, for it takes just 3l,687
years, II days, % hours, 45 minutes, and 5
seconds to constitute billion of seconds of
time.
1t is no easy matter to bring under the
cognizance of the human eye billion OBJ
jects of any kind. Let us try in imagina-
ton to arrange this number for inspection,
and for this purpose would select a SOW
ereign as a familiar object. Let us put one
on the ground and pile upon it as many as
will reach twenty feet in height: then let us
place numbers Of similar columns in close
contact, forming straight line, and making
a sort of wall twenty feet high, showing on
ly the thin edges of the coin. Imagine two
and forming as it were a long street. We
must then keep on extending these walls
for miles-nay, hundreds of miles-and
still we shall be far short of the required
number. And it is not until we have extern
ted our imagination street to distance of
2,38615 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, forming
one continuous line like golden chain with
every link in close contact. 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, re-
trace 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 q golden chain around the huge bulk
of the earth, we shall be but at the beginning
of our task. We must drag this imaginary
chain no less than 763 times round the
globe. If we can further imagine all these
rows of links laid closely side by side, and
every one in contact with its neighbor, we
shall have formed golden band around
the globe just SO feet inches wide;
and this will represent our one
billion of coins. Such chain, if laid in a
straight line, would reach a fraction over
18,329,4 AS miles, the weight of which, if
estimated at one-quarter ounce each sover-
eign, would be 6,975,447 tons, and would re-
quire for their transport no less than 1926
ships, each with a full cargo of 5000 TONS
Even then there would be residue of 447
tons representing 64,O81, ,92O sovereigns.
For measure of height let us take much
smaller unit as our measuring rod The thin
sheets of paper on which these lines are
printed, if laid out fiat and firmly pressed
| LOpeUueI DIS Ill a We1l-DOuIu DOCK, WOulO rep
resent a measure of about 1.333d of an inch
in thickness. Let us see how high dense
pile formed by billion of these thin paper
leaves would reach. We must, in imagina
ton, pile them vertically upward, by degrees
and, passing these, the pile must still grow
higher, toppi4 the Alps and the Andes an6
the highest peaks of the Himalayas, ane
shooting up from thence through the feec,
clouds, pass beyond the confines of our at
tenuated atmosphere, and leap up into tn,
blue ether with which the blue universe il
filled, standing proudly up far beyond th,
reach of terrestrial things: still pile on you
thousands and millions of thin leaves, fo
we are only beginning to rear the might
mass. Add millions upon millions of sheets
and thousands of miles on these, and stl
the number will lack its due amount. LIE
us pause to look at the neat ploughed edge
of the book before us. See how closely Ii
those thin flakes of paper, how many ther
are in the mere width of a span, and the
turn your eyes in imagination upward to ou
= mighty column of accumulated sheets.
now contains its appointed number, and on
! one billion sheets of the Times superimpose
upon each other, and pressed into compac
mass, has reached an altitude 6f 47,34
miles!
l Eclipses for 1875.
There will be four eclipses during the yea
1878, two for each luminary, as follows
An annular eclipse of the sun near tw
, o'clock in The morning of February 2d,whic
will, therefore, be invisible to the people {
this part of the earth's surface. It will /
partially visible from nearly the whole {
! Australia, but from neither of the continent
3 its northern limits being south of the soutl
ernmost capes of Asia and Africa.