Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1903-06-05
Why ADAM ATE THE AppnnP
The Result Estimated il He Had
Not Indulged His Appe-
tite for Fruit

adapt for public ition an article
which I came acoss recently discuss
ing that problem important to his
tory Of "why Father Adam Ate the
Apple" This article considers but
one OF several reasons but that one
reason will be seen to be important
It is the opinion Of all who believe
the Bible that mankind would have
remained immortal il Adam bad not
yielded to Eve S entreaties and taken
a bite of that lucious apple in the
Garden Of Ellen. Snpposiug, how
ever, that he had refrained from
so doing, where in the world would
we find room for the immortal gem
erations that would have come into
being since his creation. Let us
figure a few minutes to get some
dim idea of how many people the
world at the present day would be
obliged to provide for. 70 keep
within moderate bounds we will
suppose each married couple to have
had but three children. Suppose
also that each man did not enrich
the world with a little citizen until
30 years of age. Also let us suppose
that but 5000 years have elapsed
since Adam S creation.
Now by tho use of formula and
an equation of geometrical progress
sion solved by the use of logarithms
we discover that the number OF
people who would be living today
would be 661, 1Os quintillions. You
pronounce this number mechanical.
ly with but little comprehension Of
its meaning. Think moment
66l, 1sO, 900, 900, 900, 900, 600, OOOl
A few examples will show whether
you have the idea. The surface ot
the whole earth (sea and land) con
tains 9,OOO,O 900 geographical square
miles, or not quite 5,347 billions o
geographical square feet, The as
tonishing fact at ohee becomes
evident that we cannot allow thii
multitude of people even q square
foot Of ground Cor water suface) I
piece. What shall we do with then
then-stack them up2 Very we'll
Consider then that 1913 trlllion peo
pie are after the foot of ground OF
which you are standing. We mus
heap them all on your shoulders
! Suppose the average height is onl!
four feet, how high up will they go
492 trillions of feet or 20, 900 billion
of geographical miles. Remembe
that all around the world ther
would be 5,347 billions of such liviu
columns of people, the foot of eacl
column occupying one square foot
If your youngest grandson were a
the top of your column he would b
distant from you 1000 million time
farther than the sun.
This multitude of columns we ar
imagining would displace not onl
the sun and moon but all the star
we can see. Does this make 20
dizzy? Then we will use but on
illustration further TO be sure yo
comprehend the immensity Of tn
figures with which we started.
Suppose, now, that under th
weight of the column you are SUI
porting you feel slightly depresse
today. You have just finished read
ing your paper and think you wi
send telegram to your youngss
grandson on top of the column in
quiring what he is doing up there
You telegraph him say at min
O'Clock in the morning. Abou
what time will you look for g reply
The answer is simple. We kno'
the electric spark is a very het
messenger and runs 60, 900 miles
second. How much time is require
: to make the jump of 20, 600 billior
of miles that exist between you an
your Youngest grandchild? Quicl
It is hardly worth rehecting upol
Your grandchild will receive I'll
messagein 1888, 900 millions Of secont
; which make 10, 900 years. 1t yor
grandchild answers immediately "
can easily ascertain in 10000 yea
what he was doing this morning.
is to be regretted that at that tin
he viii not be the Youngest gram
child bat an old man 20, 900 years
age and very likely he will be aboI
one trillion times grandfather hin
self
This is enough. Il is sufficient
: shown that you hardly understo,
i the meaning of the figures-6O1. L
;. quintillions It is also sufficient
q shown how necessary it was f
. Father Adam and Mother Eve
= bite the apple, otherwise they Won
y have caused us an innumerab
y number Of iuconveniences.
y (Adapted from an article creditl
: to an Hungarian paper)
q " A, WooD