Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1880-06-15

every day just $4,000 seconds of time.
Hence, in returning in thought back again
to this year Of grace 1880, one might
have supposed that 100000, oOo, 900
Of seconds had long since elapsed; but
this is not so. We have not passed the
one sixteenth of that number in all these
long eventful years, for it takes just
81 ,6S7 years, IL days, % hours, 40 min
utes and 5 seconds to constitute l,000,-
900 900, 900 OF seconds of time.
1t is no easy matter to bring under the
cognizance Of the human eye 200, 000,-
100000 objects of any kind. Let us
try in imagination to arrange this num-
Der for inspection, and for this purpose 1
would select sovereign 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 us place
numbers Of similar columns in close con-
tact, forming a straight line, and making
a sort Of wall twenty feet high, showing
only the thin edges of the coin. lmag.
inc two such walls running parallel tc
each other and forming, as it were, long
street. We must then keep on extend
ing these walls for miles-nay, hundred:
of miles, and still we shall be far short
of the required number. And it is moi
until we have extended our imaginary
street to distance of 2,3s6i miles that
we shall have presented for inspection our
| Zoo, 900, 900, 900 of coins.
Or in lieu of this arrangement We
may place them fiat upon the ground
forming one continuous line Ike a 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 tracklcss ocean, retrace our way again
across the equator, then still on and on,
until we arrive at our starting point
and when we have thus passed the golden
chain around the huge bulk of the earth
we shall be at the beginning of our task
We must drag this imaginary chain no
less than 763 times round the globe. II
we can further imagine 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 50 feet inches wide. and this
will represent our 1000, ZOO, 10000 OF
coin. Such a chain, if laid in straight
line, would reach fraction over S,32S.-
4i5 miles, the weight Of which, if esti-
mated at / OF. each sovereign, would be
6,974,447 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 6f,0sl,920 SOW
ereigns.
For a measure of height let US take a
much smaller unit as measuring rod.
The thin sheets Of paper on which these
lines are printed, if laid out fiat and
firmly pressed together as in well bound
book, would represent a measure of about
1888 of an inch in thickness. Let US
see how high dense pile formed by a
billion of these very thin paper leaves
would reach. We must, in Imagination,
pile them vertically upward, by degrees
| reaching to the height of our tallest
spires; and passing these, the pile must
still go higher, topping the Alps and the
Andes and the highest peaks of the Him
alayas, and shooting up from thence
through the fleeing clouds, pass beyond
the confines of our attenuated atmosphere
and leap up into the blue ether with
which the universe is filed, standing
proudly up far beyond the reach of all
terrestrial things; still pile on your thou
sands and millions of thin leaves, for we
are only beginning to rear the mighty
mass. Add millions on millions Of sheets
and thousands of miles on these, and
still the number will lack its due amount.
Let us pause to look at the neat plowed
edges of the book before US. See how
| closely lie those thin fakes of paper, how
many there are in the mere width Of a
span, and then turn our eyes in magma
ton upward to our mighty column Of
accumulated sheets. 1t now contains its
appointed number, and our 1000, 000,-
000, 1000 sheets of the Times, superim-
posed upon each other and pressed into a
compact mass, has reached an altitude Of
Al, $40 miles.
Those who have taken the trouble to
follow me thus far will, ! think, agree
with me. that 100000, 100000 is a
fearful thing, and that few can appreciate
its real value. 4 As for quadrillions and