The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1880-03-06
Our Wliu.
Wha. : BaIiaa Z.


What Billion Is.
Il would be curious to know how many
Of your readers have brought fully home
to tbsir inner consciousness the real sig-
nifcauce Of that little word ubilIion,r
which we have seen Of late 80 glibly used
In your columns. There are, no doubt.
many thousands who cannot appreciate ID
true worth even when reduced to fragments
for more easy assimilation. Its arithmet-
ical symbol is simple and without much
Pretension; there are nolarge fgures-iust
a modest j, followed BY dozen cIphers
and that is all. 7 e n's Z
Let US briefly take glance at II as a
measure Of time, distance and weight. As
measure Of time, ] would take one sec.
ond as Che nnit, and carry nysslfih thought
through the lapse Of ages back 70 shs FIRST
day Of the year Of our era, remembering
that in all those years we have 365 days.
and in every day just SO, 400 seconds Of
time, Hence in returning 10 thought
back again to this year of graso 1880, one
might have supposed that a billion seconds
had long since elapsed, but this is not 50.
We have not passed 1-16 Of that number
10 all those long eventful years, forit takes
I
just 81 ,6s7 years, II days, 22 hours, As
minutes and seconds to constitute bil.
lion Of seconds Of time.
Il is no easy matter to bring under the
cognizance Of the human eye a billion oh.
jeets of any kind. Let US try in imagina.
tion to arrange this number for inspection,
aud for this purpose I would select SOY.
ereign as familiar object Let us put
one on the ground and pile upon It as many
as will reach twenty feet in height; then let
psplace numbers Of similar columns ia close
contact forming a straightline and making
sort Of wall twenty feet high, showing
only the thin edges Of the coin. Imagine
two such walls running parallel to each
other and forming, as il were, a long street.
We must then keep on extending these
walls for miles, and still we shall be far
short Of the required number. And il Is
not until we have extended our imaginary
street to distance of 2,3s6l miles that
we shall have presented for inspection our
one billion Of coins.
For measure Of height let us take n
much smaller unit as our measuring rod
The thin sheets Of paper on which these
lines are printed, ig laid out fat and firmly
pressed togather as 10 well bound book
would represents measure Of about .333
of an inch in thickness. Let us see how
high a dense pile formed by billion oi
these thin paper leaves would reach. w,
must, in imagination, pile them vertical,
upward, by degrees reaching to the heigh
OF our tallest spires; and passing these, tn,
pile must still go higher, topping the Alp
and the Andes and the highest peaks Of th,
hlmalayas, and shooting up from theme,
through the feeey clouds, pass beyond th,
T confines OF our attenuated atmosphere ans
leap up into the blue ether with which III,
universe is filed, standing proudly up ial
beyond the reach Of all terrestrial things
still pile on your thousand and millions o
thin leaves, for We are only beginning /,
rear the mighty mass.
Add millions on millions Of sheets and
thousands Of miles on these, and stil tb,
number will lack its due amount. Let u,
pause to look at the neat pIowed edges oI
the book before u.s. See how closely liz
the thin fakes Of paper how many there
are Ia the mere width Of span, and ther
turn our eyes 10 Imagination upward d
our mighty column of accumulated sheets
II now contains its appointed number, and
our ,OOO, ,O0o, 10000 sheets of the Times
suPorimposed upon each other and pressed
into compact mass has reached an plti
tude Of 47,34s miles.
Those who have taken the trouble Il
follow me thus far will, | think, agree
with me that 1,OOo,oOO,OOo,ooo is fear
ful thing, and that few can appreciate III
real value. As for quadrillions and tril
lions, they are simply words, mere words
wholly incapable Of adequately imprcssiu,
themselves on the human intellect. Lon
don Times.