BY RAIL TO THE NEAREST STAR.

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 35, 31 March 1894, Page 15

BY RAIL TO THE NEAREST STAR.

The following' well illustrates the magnitude of astronomical distances, and the absolute meaninglessness of of a million miles to the human intellect unless brought, down to some concrete example. It is told, in the ‘ Boston Globe,’ of a lecturer who wished to give an illustration of the distance to Centauri, the nearest fixed star. This is what he said : ‘*We shall suppose that some wealthy directors, for want of outlet for theirenergy and capital, construct a railway ito Centauri. We shall neglect, far the present, the engineeringdifficulties—a mere detail—and suppose them overcome and the ral way open for traffic. We shall go further, and suppose that the directors have found the construction of such a railway to be peculiarly easy, and that the proprietors of inter-stellar space has not been exorbitant in their terms) for right of way _ Therefore, with a view to encourage traffic, the directors had made the fare exceedingly moderate—viz., first class at two cents per hundred milesDesiring to take advantage of these facilities, a gentleman, ioy way of pro Adding himself with small change for the journey, hays up the national debt of England and a few othercountries, and, presenting himself at the office demands a first class single ticket to Centauri. For this he tenders in payment the script of the national debt of England, which just covers the cost of his ticket ; but at this time the" national debt from little Avars has been run up from 8,300,000,000d0 1 to> 5,500,000,000d01. Having taken his. seat it occurred to him to ask: “At what rate do you travel ?’ ‘ Sixty miles an hour, sir, including stoppages,’ is the ans Aver. ‘ Then Avhen shall avc reach Centauri ?’ i ln 48V 663,000 years sir.’ ”