The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-06-06
AN ENGLISH BILLION.
FEW APPRECIATE THE REAL SIGNIFE
CANOE OF THE WORD.

1t 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 'bil-
Hon," which we have so often seen used
in your columns There are indeed few
intellects that can fairly grasp it and di-
gest it as a whole, and there are doubt
less many thousands who cannot appre-
ciate its true worth, even when reduced
to fragments for more easy assimilation.
Its arithmetical symbol Is simple and
without much pretention. There are
no large fgures-just modest fol-
lowed by a dozen ciphers, and that is all
Let US briefly take glance at it as
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,
remern boring that in all those years we
have 365 days and in every day just &c.
4G1 seconds of time. Hence, in return
ing in thought back again to this year Of
grace, one might have supposed that l.
OOO. 000, O00, 900 Of seconds had long since
elapsed, but this is not SO. We have not
even passed one-sixteenth of that num-
Der in all these long eventful years, forit
takes just 81 .6S7 years Il days p hours
45 minutes and seconds to constitute
| 1000. 600, O00. 900 seconds of time.
1t is no easy matter to bring under the
cognizance of the human eye billion
objects of any kind. Let Us try in imaS-
nation to arrange this number for in
spection. and for this purpose would Sc
lect n sovereign as q 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 sort OF
wall 90 feet high, showing only the thin
edges OF the coin.
Imagine two such walls running par
| allel to each other and forming, as II
were. a 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
| If is not until we have extended onr
imaginary street to distance of 2,306s
miles that we shall have presented Tor
inspection our coo, 200. 000. COO of coins.
Or in lieu of this arrangement we
may place them fiat 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 and plain. crossing the equator and
returning around the southern hemi-
! 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
hair n
the huge bulk of the earth we shall be
but at the beginning Of our task. we
| must drag this imaginary chain no less
| 763 times around the globe.
Ii 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 90 feet Z inches
wide and this will represent our l ,0O0,-
| 600, OOO. 600 of coins. Such chain, II LAID
IN a straight line, would reach a fraction
over 1928, AS miles. the weight OF
| which. if estimated at one-fourth ounce
each sovereign. would be 6.975, AT tons
| and would require for their transport no
less than 2.325 ships. each with full
cargo of 5000 tons. Even then there
would be residue of 447 tons. repre-
senting ca .0Sl 800 sovereigns.
For a measure of height let US take
much smaller unit as our measuring rod.
| The sheets of paper on which The Times
| ID printed if laid out fat and firmly
pressed together as in a well boEnd
book, would represent measure OF
| about one-three hundred and thirty
third of an inch in thickness. Let Us
see how high dense pile formed by q
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 feecy clouds pass beyond
| the confines of orr attenuated atmos-
| phere and leap up into the blue ether
| with which the universe is filled, stand
| ing proudly up far beyond the reach OF
all terrestrial things-still pile on your
| thousands and millions of thin leaves,
for we are only beginning 10 rear the
| mighty mass. Add millions OH millions
of sheets and thousands Of miles on
! these, and still the number will lack its
due amount.
| Let US pause to look ut the neat piowed
edges of the book before US Sec how
closely lie those thin flakes OF paper; how
many there are in the mere width of
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 1000. 600.
| coo of sheets of The Times superimposed
upon each other and pressed into com
| pact mass has reached an altitude of A.
| 34S miles!
| Those who have taken the trouble to
follow me TINS far Will. think, agree
with me that GOO. OO0. 000. 900 is Il fearful
thing, and that few can appreciate its
real value AS for quadrillions and tr1l-
lions, they are simply words, mere words,
wholly incapable OF adequately impress
ing themselves on the human intellect
Sir Henry Ressener in London Times
Like Father, Like Son.
This is my youngest boy, Mr.. Cyni-
Gus" said the distinguished novelist.