The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-04-19
AN ENGLISH BILLION.
FEW APPRECIATE THE REAL sicNlF,-
CAsCG OF THE WORD.
an English, y ritter isnaeavors to Give 81
re" illustrations In Order to Convey +,
the Reader comprehension of the Inor.
faits OF AN Expression.

49, - - 81 'IIlIi seen lisa.
IN vour columns There are indeed few
. ihteiIect> that can fairly #rtsp it and di
| Shst Ii as i whole, and t..tre are doubt.
less many thousands VINO .. mot arDrc.
cate lis true wafsl eytHa when reduced
To fragments for more easy assimilation.
IT'S itilthiiiet".s, symbol is simple aad
without fanct pretrntion There are
no large s@ures-last Il modest fol.
lowed by q dozen c~iplJcrs. and taEtis all
Let u briefly take ii glance, at it as a
measure ni time. distance and WEIGHT
AS "A measure OF time | would take one
second as The unit and carry myself in
thouSht through the lapse of ages back
TO the hrst day Of the year | of our era,
remefnoerlb. that in all those years we
have 800 days and in every day lust So
400 seconds of time. Hence. in return-
ing III thought back again to this wear of
grace, on might nave supposed that L.
ooo.oOo .OOo.GiD OF seconds had long since
elapsed, but this is not SO. We have no
even passed one-Sixteenth of that num-
Der IN all these long eventful years, forit
takes Just 81 .6S1 years II days - hours
20 minutes and ) seconds to constitute
l.OOO. COG. 900. 900 seconds Of time.
II Is no easy matter to bring under the |
cognizance of the human eye a billion
objects OF any kind Let us try in imar
nation to arrange this number for in
spectlon. and for this purpose | would Sc
lect Il sovereign as a familiar object.
Let us put one on the ground and pile
upon 1t as many as will reach 20 feet in
height Then let us place numbers of
similar columns in close contact. form
ing a straight line ant making "a sort of
wall ~ feet high. showing only the thin
edges of the coin.
imagine two such walls running par
al!ei to each other and forming, as il
were, a long street We must then keen
On extending these walls for miles, nav.
hundreds OF miles. and still we shall be
!ar short OF the required number. And
u Is not until we have extended our
street to a distance of o.3s6.
miles thai we shall nave presented for
inspection our 900. 600. 900. 900 Of coins
or III lieu OF this arrangement we
place them fiat upon the ground,
.ortiinS M continuous line like a long |
golden chain with every link in close !
contact, But to do this we must pass
e's SStts AlIoitIltdID anu valley.
'esert plain. crossing the equator and
eInrnlnS around the southern hemi-
phere, through tho trackless ocean, re-
race our way again across the equator,
ten still OF on until we again ar
i've at our starting point. and when we
ave thus passed a golden chain around
ae huge bulk OF the earth we shall be
Ut at the beginning OF our task. We
lnst drag this imaginary chain 10 less
~ times round the lobe.
II we can further imagine all those
'ws OF links laid closely side by side
al every one III contact with its neigh
Or. we shall have formed a golden band
'ound the globe just - feet 6 inches
and this will represent our 1000
2.ooe. coins. Such i. cham, if laid
d straight line. womb reach "A fraction
>: io."-s.it" niles. the weight of
li'ch. II esiiinated at o%ne-fourfh ounce
Gu sovereign. would be G.9.a.ft. tons
q would require for their transport no
$ 'han s,3e3 ships. each with "a full
rSo af 1900 tons, Even thrn there
'uid be IA residue of A.. tons, repre-.
ltlns Gi.Gsl 800 sovereigns. =
or a measure Of height 1T us take a -
len smaller unit Is ouf mea surfing rod.
g sheets OF paperon v lici The Times -
printed, II laid out 1ai and firmly Al
'ssed together as i'll a well bound ~
DIX, would represent "A measure of ton
tut one-three hundred and thirty gu.
rd OF an inch in thickness. Let us NE
how high Il dense pile formed by a
Ion OF these hin paper leaves would
Gu we must in imagination pile
IN vertically upward. by degrees
:fing To the height of our tallest i.
'es. u passing these the pile must
grow higher. topping the Alps and
les and the highest peaks of the HIM 70 ;.
AS. II shooting up from thence outf
ugh the fieecy clouds pass beyond Try
connnes OF our attenuated atm0s- stxe
re and leap up into the blue ether spare
J which the universe is filled, stand Two
proudly up far beyond the reach of Poop
things-still pile on your pleas
sands and millions of thin leaves any,
are only beginning to rear the ever,
1ty mass. Add millions on millions begin
heets and thousands of miles on more
,, and still the ulnb will lack its easily
amount. andu.
I us pause to look at the neat plovvea tree /
OF the book before us. See how
ly lie those thin fakes of paper: how
= there are in the mere width of a
: and then turn our eyes in imagina-
upwasd to our mighty column of
INFLATED sheets, 1t now containsit its -
lnted number. ant our LOGO COG. 900 -
I sheets OF The Times superimposed n
each other and pressed into a com
mass has reached an altitude of A.. -
who have taken the trouble In
' me thus far will, ! think. agree
that / 900, 900. 900. 600 is a fearfnI Csysst,
: anu that few can appreciate its
aiue As for quadrillions and tril.
they are simply words. mere words
y incapable of adequately impress In'or'