The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1906-02-10
pIssEcTING A BILLION.
Its Arithmetical symbol Simple,
Says Henry Bessemer.

It's Arithmetical symbol simple,
Says Henry Bessemer.
One billion! What is it2 Its arith-
metical symbol is simple and without
much pretension, says London An
swers.
Let US briefly take glance at It as
measure of time, distance and weight.
AS a measure of time, 1 would take
one second as the unit and carry my
self In thought through the lapse of
ages back to the first day Of the year
1 Of our era, remembering that in all
those years We have 365 days and in
every day just S6,4OO seconds of time.
Hence, in returning in thought back
again to this year of grace 1905, one
might have supposed that a billion of
seconds had long since lapsed, but this
is not sa for it takes just 81 ,6S7 years,
II days % hours, As minutes and s
seconds co constitute a billion of Sec
onds of cine
Let u try in Imagination to arrange
billio'f sovereigns for inspection. Let
us put one on the ground and pile
upon ii as many as will reach twenty
feet in height; then let us place num-
bers Of similar columns in close con-
tact, forming straight line and max
ing a sort Of wall twenty feet high.
1magiI two such walls running par
allel tn each other and forming, as it
were, a long street. 1t is not until we
have extended our imaginary street to
a distance of 2,3S61a miles that we
shall have presented for inspection our
1000, 900 Of coins.
Or, in lieu of this arrangement we
may place them fat upon the ground,
forming one continuous line like a long
golden chain. with every link in close
contact. But to do this we must pass
over land and sea, mountain and val
ley, desert and plain, crossing the
equator and returning around the
southern hemisphere through the
trackless ocean, retrace our way again
across the equator, then still on and
on until we again arrive at our start
ing point, and when we have thus
passed golden chain round the huge
bulk Of the earth we shall be but at
the beginning Of our task. We must
drag this imaginary chain no less than
1853 times around the globe. Such
chain would require for it's transport
no less than 1925 ships, each with a
full cargo of 5000 tons. Even then
there would be a residue of AT tons,
representing 81 ,OS1 800 sovereigns.
For a measurt of height. let us take
the thin sheets of paper on which
these lines are printed. If laid out fiat
and firmly pressed together, as in q
well-bound book, these would repre-
sent a measure of about 1888 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 reach
Ing 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
IIlmalayas. Still pile on your thou
sands and millions of thin leaves, for
we are only beginning to rear the
mighty mass. Add millions on mill
lions of sheets and thousands of miles
on these, and still the number will
lack its due amount. When our one
billion sheets are superimposed upon
each other and pressed into compact
mass they have reached an altitude Of
s7,34S miles!