The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1878-02-06

jects Of any kind. Let us try in imaRina-
ton to arrange this number for inspee Ton,
and for this purpose I,would. select 8 SOW
ereAkn asia familiar object. Let Us nut one
on III ground and pilb upon it q many a.
will VGach t1yenty feetsssin height: then let us
plac1t humhSrs Of similar cdumns in close
contact, fOrmingla straight. line, and making
q sort Of wall twenty feet high, showing on
~ the thin edges Of the coin. Imagine two
such walls running parallel to each other
and forming as it were long street. We
must then keep on extending these walls
for miles-nay, hundreds Of miles-an
still we shall be far short of the required
number. And 1t is not until we have extern
ted our imagination street to a distance of
2,386H miles that We shall have presented
for inspection our one billion of coins.
6 Or in lieu Of this arrangement we may
place them fiat upon the ground, forming
one continuous line like q 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
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. 1853 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 it's neighbor, we
shall have formed golden band around
the globe just 50 feet inches vide;
and this will represent our one
billion of coins. Such chain, if laid in q
straight line, would reach fraction over
1885, 45 miles, the weight Of which, if
estimated at one-quarter ounce each sover-
eign,2 would be 6,975,4 AT tons, and would re-
qu1re for their transport no less than 1896
ships, each with a full cargo of 5000 tons.
Even then there would be residue of All
tons representing 81, 081 ,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 fat and firmly pressed
together as in a we'll bound book, would rep
resent q measure of about 1.333d of an inch
In thickness. Let us see how high dense
pile formed by a billion of these thin paper
leaves would reach. We must, in imagine,
ton, pile them vertically upward, by degrees
reaching to the height Of our tallest spires;
and, passing these, the pile must still grow
higher, topping the Alps and the Andes and
the highest peaks of the Himalayas, and
shooting up from thence through the leecy
clouds, pass beyond the confines of our at
tenuated atmosphere, and leap up into the
blue ether with which the blue universe is
filled, standing proudly up far beyond the
reach Of terrestrial things; still pile on your
thousands and millions of thin leaves, for
We are only beginning to rear the mighty
mass. Add millions upon millions of sheets,
and thousands of miles on these, and still
the number wilElack it's due amount Let
us pause to look at the neat ploughed edges
of the book before u.s.. See how closely lie
those thin flakes of paper, how many there
are in the mere width of span, and then
turn your eyes in imagination upward to our
mighty column of accumulated sheets. It
now contains its appointed number, and our
one billion sheets of the Times superimposed
upon each other, and pressed into compact
mass, has reached an altitude of 7,348
"a .