1. To do this, it would be necessary only to make a little ball of earth that can be accurately weighed; then we could easily calculate how many times the earth is larger than this little ball; and by so doing, we might tell, at one's fingerends, that if we suppose the little earth-ball to weigh a hundred-weight the whole globe, being so many times larger, must weigh so many hundred-weights.
要做到这一点，仅仅需要制作一个可以精确称出重量的小土球；然后我们可以很容易计算出地球比小土球大多少倍；如此做来，我们就可以掰着手指头说出，如果假定小土球重一百磅，那么地球大它多少倍，则必然重它多少倍。
2. This, it would be necessary only to make a little ball of earth that can be accurately weighed; then we could easily calculate how many times the earth is larger than this little ball; and by so doing, we might tell, at one's fingerends, that — if we suppose the little earth-ball to weigh a hundred-weight — the whole globe, being so many times larger, must weigh so many hundred- weights.
可是，这样的做法极可能误导我们。因为一切取决于制造小球的物质。如果用酥松的泥土制造小球，它的重量就小；如果泥土中掺杂石头，它的重量就大一些；如果掺杂金属，取决于掺杂金属的种类，它的重量将更大。