THE EARTH 



ure 6 followed by twenty-one zeros, or by 6 sextil- 

 lions of kilograms." 



"That number means nothing to me; it is too 

 large," Jules declared. 



"That is the trouble with all large numbers. Let 

 us get around the difficulty. Suppose the earth 

 placed on a car and drawn on a surface like that of 

 our roads. For such a load, what should the team 

 be f Let us put in front a million horses ; and ,in 

 front of that row a second million; then a third 

 row, still of a million; a hundredth, finally a thou- 

 sandth. We shall thus have a team of a thousand 

 millions of horses, more than could be fed in all the 

 pastures of the world. And now start; apply the 

 whip. Nothing would move, my children; the 

 power would be insufficient. To start the colossal 

 ma-s, it would need the united efforts of a hundred 

 millions of such teams!" 



"I don't grasp it any better," said Jules. 



"Nor I, it is so enormous," assented his uncle. 



"Yes, enormous, Uncle." 



"So that the mind gets lost in it," said Claire. 



"That is what I wanted to make you ackno\\l 

 oneluded Uncle Paul. 



