Historical Markers StoppingPoints.com Historical Markers, Sightseeing & Points of Interest Scenic Roads & Points of Interest
About Us | Photo Gallery | Free Widgets | Featured States | Search Site
HomeFree WidgetsThe Devil's Dictionary → Magnitude
 
The Devil's Dictionary:    

Definition of Magnitude

Magnificent
Magnificent
  MAGNITUDE   noun
Size.  Magnitude being purely relative, nothing is large and nothing small.  If everything in the universe were increased in bulk one thousand diameters nothing would be any larger than it was before, but if one thing remain unchanged all the others would be larger than they had been.  To an understanding familiar with the relativity of magnitude and distance the spaces and masses of the astronomer would be no more impressive than those of the microscopist. For anything we know to the contrary, the visible universe may be a small part of an atom, with its component ions, floating in the life- fluid (luminiferous ether) of some animal.  Possibly the wee creatures peopling the corpuscles of our own blood are overcome with the proper emotion when contemplating the unthinkable distance from one of these to another.
 

Devil's Dictionarydefinition from:
The Devil's Dictionary
by Ambrose Bierce, 1911

Magpie
Magpie

Last updated: 9/3/2011 12:48:30