The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1890-04-02
a VAST cEMETEeY.
c.,e.istioas on the Extent OF tis- Earth
wa.l-h Ran Inio BiE Figures


caieaiations the Extent OF th- Earth
wi.l~h. Fun Inio BiE Figures
Here IS a man who las taken the
trouble 10 calculate how much land il
would take TO bury the population of
the world for 5000 years or IOo. 600
years. he finds that the former could
be buried IN half OF Texas and the lat
ter in the territory east of the Missis-
sippi river
In COCO years you have sixty cen
turies. Ia each century YOU may
count three generations Of mankind.
or lS0 generations in all. each being a
generation of l. $50, 000. .O00 Now lay
out a cemetery for ono generation. Ii
will be huge estimate To give To
every man, woman and child a grave
i've feet by two, or ten square feet A
square mile contains something less
than 26.DO0. COO square feet. You
want. then, a graveyard not 55 miles
long by 10 wide for your whole gen
eration- Now multiply this by $50 and
! ss-s-s have your burying ground for
5000 years Of z.eankind. That is, a
strip of land $50 miles long by 81
miles wide will be ample In other
words. cemetery containing 1O0. 600
square miles would be sufficient for
the entire human race TO lie side By
side. Tho estimate which have given
YOU OF the continuous population is
obviously enormously large The es-
innate of the size of each grave is very
large A strictly correct estimate
would reduce the size of the required
cemetery more than one-half But
enormous as II is, you could Law out
your burial ground for all men who
have lived on earth. so that they could
lie side by side, in. Arizona or in Cali
fornia, or you could luy il out in Tex
as large enough TO accommodate the
race OF 5000 years past, and also the
race for 5000 years yet TO come, all
sleeping in the soil of that one state of
this union.
But some one says the race of man
has been on earth 100, 600 years. That
Is q purc imagination and there is not.
so far as ] know, fact on which to
rest it But suppose it is true, and the
population always what il now is.
You. have provided for q, 900 years of
it. You want nearly seventeen times
AZ large cemetery for the generations
of Thousand centuries That is, YOU
want 200, GOO squares miles in IL. Lay
II out whenever you please, 1, 700 miles
long by I, 1C9 miles wide. Ii is but a
part u the United States. And so
enormously large have been the rough
estimates thus far used, it is safe to say
that If the human race has been IN ex-
istenee loo, GOO years, separate grave
could be provided for every individ.
ual of the race within n part of the
United States east of the Mississippi
river"
Estimating that large man can
stand ON two square feet. and the av.
erage standing room of a crowd of
men, women and children is one aud
half square feet, he calculates that
tS, 000. 900 people can stand on a square
mile. According to this the popula
ton OF the world could stand on 81
square miles,
Then lie makes tliis curious sugges
ton:
Carry your arithmetie still further.
You Laid out cemetery for the /, 5OO,-
000. 600 Of mankind now living.
Bad a city for them 10 dwell in. Av
erSEe families Mt five persons to n fam.
lily. and give each family a house and
lot 20 feet by 100. Your cemetery gave
five persons fifty square feet for graves
Their city lot IS forty times rs large.
Your city lot must therefore be forty
times as large as yourcemetery. Add
20Pcr cent, Tor good streets.
On this basis the population of the
world could live in a city 100 miles
wide and 220 miles long, and have
twice the space per capita now being
occupied by the majority of people in
cur great citieS-Dr. Prince ia Jour
nal of Commerce