The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1889-11-08

accurate comprehension. can he do /
with q second mile in addition so tba
he comprehonds it as accurately as th,
hrst! 10 ask the question is to answer
1t in the negative. We think distance
as indefinite extension, or as yaru,
bignesscs, with greater or less pro
portion to each other, and will
comparisons based on mathcmatica
terms. Though the traveller know
that it is three thousand miles, say, il
round figures, from Boston to Sal
Francisco, yet he knows it in expert
ence only as very long journey
Doubtless it would bo impossible :,
find a man who would say that h,
comprchends it as just thirty times a
far as from Boston to Springfield
With no miles for his unit, Or witt
the distance from Boston to Springfield
as his unit wouldohe not be likely tt
say that the transcontinentalt trip wa.
much more than thirty units in tina
scale?
We are familiar, thanks to the as
tronomers, with figures representing
prodigious distances, and it is perfect
ly safe to say that those figures are
nearly meaningless to us, save as they
represent an extension Indefinitely ant
inconceivably big. We are taught thai
the moon is 23S,000 miles from the
earth, to speak in round numbers. anG
that the earth is $4,000. 900 miles from
the sun. Then it is said, as if we could
comprehend it, that the earth has &
velocity in its orbit of nineteen miles
In q second. We are told regarding
the velocity of light that it flies
through space at about 800. 00C
miles second, and we accept it as
if we understood it, together with the
companion statement that light from
the nearest fixed star requires over
forty years to reach us, while the
scintillations from the telescope stars
must have started on their ethereal
flight hundreds or thousands of years
before reaching the terrestrial be-
holder. But, though the figures are
true, yet they convey but little mean
ing to the human mind
Suppose we try to get an idea of
speed by joining our two IDEAS Of the
distance traversed and the time occu-
pied, with the understanding that
every foot of distance and every sec
ond Of time Is rated ut its full value.
The person who tries the experiment
will very sooE find That he has reached
the limit of his ment,l powers. He
may know that lightning moves with a
certain velocity a second; but let him
attempt to comprehend the speed of
the fash from the thunder cloud. and
he will sec partially how he fails to
the object of his atten-
tion. 1t may be fairly doubted whether
the average educated man can
grasp a rate of speed much be-
yond that of fast express train and
comprehend its value. The mind
might see that one velocity was much
more than another, but it would proba-
bly, fail to reach an accurate judgment.
Now. the highest railroad speed with
which the travelling world is familiar
Is that on the London & Northwestern
railroad, which makes the 100 miles
from London to Edinburgh in eight
hours, and on portion of the distance
,ttains the speed OF seventyfive miles
IN hour
With that speed as unit. see what
mean these celestial distances which
We are accustomed to mention famil-
arly. as if we understood them We
hink OF the moon as near us. So it is
with the sun; a very close
leighbor compared with the telescope
'tars. But if our locomotive were able
% fly to the moon at sevonty-livc miles
IN hour, making no stops for water or
uel, day or night how long would it
% before the man in the moon could
PASS the time Of day with our engineer?
t would be 8, 173 hours, Or a continu-
,us run, day and night, of 1870 of
,ur earthly days. That is, If our
locomotive should start New Years
morning at this furious speed OF sew
miles an hour (and that it is
urious no one who has seen train
move even fifty miles an hour will
,uestion), and continue without an
slackening, it would reach |
he end Of its trip the 10th OF May!
That may help in our comprehension
# the distance, in common language,
,ut docs it not also emphasize the fact
hat such distance is absolutely in
in the true meaning OF
he word comprehend?
But how is it with the distance to |
he sun? If so much time is needed to |
each the moon, it will take years to
each the sun. Yes it will-years and
ears. But how many! 1t Is mere
question OF mathematics. II the sun
5 $4,000, 900 miles from us, and our
locomotive travels seventy-fivc miles
n hour, 1t will be /, 226, 666 hours on
he journey, or 51,111 days OF twenty
our hours each, or 40 years In
ther words, had the locomotive
'een .nown in the middle OF
he last century, the fight could
lave been begun twenty-five years be-
ore the battle OF Bunker Hill, and the
ron horse could have been thunder
ng down the ages" ever since, day
nd night. at this t,.rific speed, and
ot have reached the sun yet. What
distance is that! Yet that is but the
adius OF the orbit whose circumfer-
noe tho earth travels every year.