The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1893-04-22
AN ENGLIsH BILLION.
FEW APPRECIATE THE REAL sleNlFl-
cANcE or THE WORD.

An English writer Eudcavors 60 Give
Few Illustrations In order to Convey 70
the Reader Comprehension Of the Tnor-
nifty Of an Expression.
It would be curious to know how
many Of your readers have brought fully
home to their inner consciousness the
real significance Of that little word bill
lion, which we have so often seen used
in your columns There are indeed few
intelleots that can fairly grasp it and di-
gest it as whole, and there are doubt
less many thousands who cannot appre-
ciate its true worth, even when reduced
to fragments for more easy assimilation
It's arithmetical symbol Is simple and
without much pretention There are
no large fgures-just a modest fol
lowed by dozen ciphers, and that is all
Let us briefly take glance at it as a
measure of time, distance and weight
As a measure of time / would take one
second as the unit and carry myself in
thought through the lapse Of ages back
to the first day Of the year Of our era.
remembering that in all those years we
have 1896 days and in every day just &c.
400 seconds of time, Hence, in return
/ ing In thought back again TO this year of
grace, one might have supposed that t.,
0O0, 900 900 900 Of seconds had long since
elapsed, but this is not so. We have not
even passed one-sixteenth Of that mum
bSr in all these long svsntful years, forit
takes Just 81 ,eeT yeasS II days 90 hours
~ ntnntOs and . seconds to constitute
| 1000. 900, 900, 900 seconds Of time.
It is no easy matter to bring under the
cognizance Of the humsu eye a billion
objects Of any kind. Let MS try In imag-
nation to arrange this number for in.
spection, and for this purpose would Sc
lect a sovereign as a familiar object
Let us put one on the ground and pile
upon it as many as will reach 20 feet in
height Then let us place numbers Of
similar columns in close contact form
ing straight line and making a sort Of
wall 20 feet high, showing only the thin
edges of the coin
Imagine two such walls running par
allel to each other and forming, as it
were, q long street. We must then keep
on extending these walls for miles, nay,
hundreds of miles, and still we shall be
far short of the required number. And
it ia not until we have extended our
imaginary street to distance Of 2,3sOi
miles that we shall have presented for
inspection our ,000, 600 900 600 Of coins
Or in lieu of this arrangement we
may place them fat upon the ground,
forming one continuous line like long
golden chain with every link in close
contact. But to do this we must pass
over land and sea, mountain and valley
desert aud plain, crossing the equator and
returning around the southern heIni-
sphere. through the trackless ocean, re
trace our way again across the equator
then still on and on until we again ar
rive at our starting point, and when we
have thus passed golden chain around
the huge bulk Of the earth we shall be
but at the beginning Of our task. We
must drag this imaginary chain no less
1888 times around the globe.
If we can further imagine all those
rows of links laid closely side by side
and every one in contact with its neigh
Dor, we shall have formed a golden band
around the globe just % feet Q inches
wide and this will represent our 1,000,-
900 900, 900 Of coins. Such chain, if laid
in straight line, would reach a fraction
over 1s,828,445 miles, the weight Of
which. if estimated at one-fourth ounce
each sovereign, would be 6,075, ,447 tons
and would require for their transport no
less than 2,325 ships. each with a full
cargo of 5000 tons. Even then there
would be a residue of 447 tons, repre-
senting "a, ,0S1 ,020 sovereigns
For measure of height let us take a
much smaller unit as our measuring rod.
The sheets of paper on which The Times
is printed, if laid out flat and firmly
pressed together as in a well bound
book, would represent a measure of
about one-three hundred and thirty
third of an inch in thickness. Let us
see how high a dense pile formed by a
/ billion of these 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 grow higher, topping the Alps and
, Andes and the highest peaks of the Him
: alayas, and shooting up from thence
! through the heecy clouds pass beyond
. tine confines of our attenuated atmos-
i phere and leap up into the blue ether
with which the universe is filled, stand
e ing proudly up far beyond the reach oi
5 all terrestrial things-still pile on youl
{ thousands and millions of thin leaves
5 for we are only beginning to rear the
mighty mass Add millions on millions
of sheets aud thousands of miles OF
these, and still the number will lack it,
due amount
o Let US pause to look at the neat plowei
! edges Of the book before us. See how
i closely lie those thin fakes Of paper; how
\ many there are in the mere width Of I
), span, and then turn our eyes in imagina
q; ton upward to our mighty column o
e accumulated sheets 1t now contains it
Q appointed number, and our 1,000, 600, 600
'e 900 of sheets of The Times superimpose,
upon each other and pressed into a com
~ pact mass has reached an altitude of Al,
ID 84S milesl
Il Those who have taken the trouble +
"a follow me thus far will, think, agre
y, with me that 900, 000, 600, 900 is fearfu
thing, and that few can appreciate 1t
real value, AS for quadrillions and tril
q. lions, they are simply words, mere words
wholly incapable of adequately impress
ing themselves on the human intellect
lr Sir Henry Bessemer in London Times.