The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-01-20
the sIoNiiIcaNcE or 4 BILLION.


Il would bc curious to know how many Of
your readers have brought fully home to their
inner consciousness tho real significance Of
that little word billion which we have seen
Of late so glibly used in your columns. There
are indeed. few inteller;s TINT can fairly grasp
il and digest II a. a whole and there are
doubtless many thousands who cannot appre-
ciaie it, true work. even when reduced To- frng-
ments for more easy Assimilation. lis arth-
metieal symbol Is simple ana without much
prctcu-ion there are no large ngures-Iust n
modes, followed ty dozen ophers. and that
- all.
Let us briefly take glance NJ It rs n measure
Of time. di-ulncc and weight. A. a measure u
time. would take ono 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 tlat in all those ycnrs We
have 3GO days. ana in every dav Just 400 scc-
ond- ~ time. Hence. in returning in thought
back again To- this year uf grace ISIS. one might
have supposed that billion OF seconds had
long sine" elapsed; tut this i- not 80. W" hive
not even passed Ones Niccnth OF that numhor
IA ali these long rvenliu years. or il takes Just
81 t-1 years. II DAYS % hours. % minutes and
, seconds TO constitute Il billion oil seconds of
II is no oasy matter 10 lring under tho cog
nizancc of the human eye a billion objects Of
any kind. l." us Try ia Imagination to arrange
TINS number for inspection. and for this pur-
pos would select a sovereign n a familiar
object. lu H. Iut one on the ground aud pic
upon it A. many ~ will reach twenty feet in
'IENis ilNu l'i u- place numbers ui similar
columns ia clos" contact forming u straight
line. and making sort of wall twenty ieet high
showing only mo iliin edges of the COIN. I'M
az u" two such walls running parallel To each
otllN and forming IL II were "a long street. We
must then keep on extending these walls for
mllH~-uny hundreds of milos-nud still We
shall hc far short of tho required number. And
II is not until We have extended our imaginary
street in di-tance Of 2,3St D. miles that We shah
hnvo presented Tor inspection our one billion Of
coins.
Or N lieu Of this arrangement we may place
them fiat u9Ou the ground, forming one cOutin-
u"us I'M" IN" golden chain. with every INK
in clos" contact But To- do this we must pus-
over land and sea. mountain and valley. desert
nnd pnin, 'r'ss ~ ~. 'uNaivt. and returning
around the southern hemisphere through tho
trarkl"Hs ocean. r"ttar" our way again across
tn" equator. then still ON an,I on. until We aguin
arrive IA our starting point, ana when We have
thus PASSED golden chain around the huge
hilk ui the earth, W. shall be but nj the brgin-
ming Of our task, We must drag this imaginary
chain no lrss than 1913 times round the globe.
u W" can further Imagine all these rows of
links laid closely side 10y sldc and every one in
cpnt9 with liS nelghh9r. we shall have formed
golden band around the globe Just 81 feet &
Inches wide and tins will represent our one
hlnon Of COINS. such a chain If laid in Il
straight line, would reach fraction over Is
32H,iiJ miles. the weight 81 which. II estimated
at on"-uuarrr ounce each sovereign, would bee
GH7j441 tons and would REQUIRE fnr th,ir
transport no less than 1928 ships each with a
iull cargo oi 3,Ouu'un- Even then there would
suNcrrlGns,
Fora measure of height let Us take much
Sin"l'l UNI III our measuring inl. In" llin
shr"is ul pln"r on win these lines Ar" printed
If lad gui nat and firmly pressed together az IN
aM,l-hnuni book, would reIrrs mt a measure
OF about 1881. of an inch in thirkno-s. ! 4
~ snr how nigh dense pilo formed hy a bill
non al thtsg INN INu'r leaves would reach
We must, in imagination, pile them vertically
upward Toy degrees reaching 10 the height of
our tallost spires and, passing those, the pile
must stu grow higher topping the Alps and
the Andes and tho highest peah of tho Him
Alhy1~. and shooting up FROM tlrnoc through
Tn" ilr"ry clouds, pasr beyond the confines ni
our ntt"nuntcd atmosphere. and lcap up into
the blue ether With which the universe is fllrd
standing proudly NJ far beyond the reach Of
terrestrial things sill pile on your thousands
ana millions 81 tlln leaves, ior We are only he-
ginning ip rear th" mighty nuss Add millions
on millions Of sheets, nnd thousands Of miles
ON these. ana SIN the numbcr viii lack III due
amount. Let us pause a. look al the neat
rioughnd edgrs II tlo book hcforc u.s. 500 how
closely lie those thin flakes of paper. how mnnv
there are IN the mere width of span. and tuen
llrn our Eyes m Imagination upward o. our
mighty column oi accumulated sheets. II now
contains iis appointed numh ~. ant our one bill
lion sheets Of the Times suporimposod uIolt
each other, and pressed utoa compact mass.
las reached an altitude of l73iS miles,