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The Christian Philosopher; or, Science and Religion

Note III—On the ideas of Magnitude, Motion, and Duration, as expressed by numbers. See p. 39, 41, etc

Note III—On the ideas of Magnitude, Motion, and Duration, as expressed by numbers. See p. 39, 41, etc

In the pages referred to and in other parts of this work some very large numbers are expressed in figures. Some readers have insinuated, that it would have been better to express such numbers in words. The author, however, is of a different opinion; because, to some readers, not much acquainted with Numeration, a thousand trillions would convey nearly the same idea as a thousand nonillions, though the one number contains 58 places of figures, and the other only 22. It is chiefly the number of figures, or ciphers, in such large sums, that leads us to form a comparative estimate of their value or extent. Our ideas of magnitude and extension, conveyed by such numbers, must, of course, be very vague and undefined. If we have been accustomed to traveling we have a tolerably clear conception of a hundred, and even of a thousand miles; but we have no clear nor adequate conception of a body, or of a portion of space, ten hundred thousand, ten hundred millions, or ten hundred billions of miles in extent. The mind, however, may be assisted in its conceptions, and in its comparative estimate of different numbers, by fixing on some particular number as a standard. If, according to the common reckoning, we suppose, that 5828 years have elapsed since the commencement of time, the numbers of seconds, or moments, in this period, will amount to 183,913,782,212, or one hundred and eighty-three thousand, nine hundred and thirteen millions, seven hundred and eighty-two thousand, two hundred and twelve, which is less than a fifth part of a billion. If the distance of the nearest stars from the earth be at least 20 billions of miles, then this distance may be otherwise expressed, by saying, that the number of miles which intervene between us and these bodies is more than a hundred times greater than the number of moments which have elapsed since the creation; and, by a similar comparison, it will be found, that the number of cubical miles, within the limits of the planetary system, is 132,000,000,000,000,000, or, one hundred and thirty-two thousand billions of times greater than the number of moments in 5828 years.

It has been computed, that the earth, supposing it a solid globe, contains about 30,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, or thirty quintillions of grains of sand, supposing a hundred grains of sand to be equal in length to an inch, and, consequently, a million of such grains for every cubical inch. If we use this number as a standard for estimating the number of cubical miles contained within the space which intervenes between us and the nearest stars, we shall find that the number of cubical miles comprehended within this space is more than ten thousand millions of times greater than the number of the grains, of sand contained in the globe on which we dwell.

Though the human mind can form no definite conceptions of such numbers and magnitudes, yet it may be useful occasionally to ruminate on such subjects; as it is the only, or at least the principal mode by which limited minds like ours can approximate to an idea of the infinity of the Creator. And if an image of infinity is presented to the mind in the spaces comprehended within the limits of our system, how overpowering the conception of innumerable systems, to which ours bears no more proportion than a drop of water to the mighty ocean! How ineffably glorious must be the attributes of that Incomprehensible Being who pervades every part of this vast universe, and who continually superintends all its minute and diversified movements!