THE SPACE THE DEAD OCCUPY.
We find the following question and answer in the New York Observer. If all the human race, from the creation to the present day, were buried side by side, how many square miles would they cover? ANSWER. The population of the globe at the present time is estimated at 900,000,000. It is also estimated that a number equal to the entire population of the globe, existing at any one time, passes away three times in every century. As the present population of the earth has increased from a single pair, created about sixty centuries ago, one-half of the present population might be taken as a fair estimate of the average number who have passed away during each of the 180 periods, or thirds of centuries, during which the earth may have been inhabited; which would give 8,100,000,000 for the whole number who have lived on the earth. Allowing an average of three square feet for the burial of each person, on the supposition that one half the number die in infancy, and they would cover 24,300,000,000 of square feet of earth; dividing this by 27,878,400, the number of square feet in a square mile, and we have less than 872 square miles, which would afford sufficient room to bury side by side all who have been buried in the dust of the earth—all of whom would not suffice to cover the little State of Rhode Island. This estimate shows how widely those persons draw on their imaginations, who affirm that, not a foot of earth exists on the globe that has not served as the burial place of man; or who deny the possibility of the resurrection of the body, on the pretense that the earth would not afford room for the resurrected inhabitants to stand!