Butte record., 1853-12-31
GROWTH OF THE HUMAN BODY. GIANTS SC

! ure OF man has been about the same in
all ages and some have even pretended
to demonstrate, mathematically, the i'm
1 possibility of giants.
DIR. Doram observes that, though we
read of giants before the flood, ''Gen. vi.
4th, and more plainly after it, Numb. XIII
33d," yet it is highly probable that the
size OF man has been the same from the
creation; for, as to the Nphilim, Gen.
9th, the ancients differ about them, some
taking them for monsters of impietv,
atheism, tyranny, &c. As to those in
Numb. xiii, who were evidently spoken
Of as men of gigantic stature, it is prob
able that the fears of the spies might
have added to their bulk.
Be this as it may, it is manifest that
in both these places, giants are spoken
of as rarilies and wonders of the age, not
of the common stature, and such instan-
ces we have had in all ages. But it is
not improbable that the first men were
Of strength and stature superior to
those of mankind at present, since they
lived much longer time---long life be-
ing commonly the effect of a strong con-
stitution. There are many fabulous re-
lations, such as we take that to be of
Thentobocchus, who is said to have been
dug up in the year 1918, and was 26
feet in length. And no more real do we
suppose the giants to have been, OF
whom old magnus gives an account in
his fifth book such as Harthan and
Starchater among the men, and among
the women were some measuring fifty
cubits in length.
But, as for the more creditable rela-
ton Of Goliah, whose height was six Gu
bits and span, (Sam. xvii 3D. which.
according to Bishop Cumberland, is
about eleven English feet; of Or, King
Of Basau, (Deut. iii. llth) whose bed
was nine cubits long and four wide of
Maximus, the Emperor, who was nine
feet high and others, in the reign of
Augustus and other Roman Emperors, of
about the same height; to which may be
added the dimensions of skeleton dug
up at the place of Roman camp, near
st. Adams, by an urn inscribed Marcus
Antonius, Of which an account is given
by Mr.. Cheseldon, who Judged by the
measurement of the bones, that the
subject was nine feet high. These an
tique examples and relations, may be
matched, nay, outdone by modern ones.
HaIewell speaks from names of Porters
and archers belonging to the Emperor
of China, and of Others from Purchas,
ten and twelve feet high.
The existence of race of men above
the common stature, on the coast of
Patagonia, in south America, has been
matter of dispute for the last two CEN
turies. In our century almost all navi-
gators, OF every country, affirmed that
there were such persons, and in the next
the story is elucidated by the greater
number. Garrllasso de la Vega, in his
history Of Peru, relates that, according
to a tradition universally believed, a
number of vessels, or junks, came to St.
Helena with company of giants, of di
mensions 50 enormous, that the natives
of the country were not higher than
their knees; that their eyes were as
broad as the bottom of plate, and their
limbs proportionally large.
Turner, the naturalist, reports, that
he had seen near the river Plata, on the
coast of Brazil, race Of giants who
were stark naked, and one of whom was
twelve feet high, but he acknowledges
that he saw no other as tall Knivet
affirmed that he measured several dead
bodies, which he found buried at Port
Desire, which were from fourteen to six
teen spans high, and that he had fre-
quentlp seen at Brazil one of the Pata-
gonians, who, though but a youth, mea-
sured no less then thirteen spans, and
that the English prisoners at Brazil as
sured him that they had seen many of
the same gigantic stature on the coast of
the Strait This account is also con-
firmed by Sebal de Vert and Oliver de
Noorte Aris Clasz, a commissary on
board lie Macre's feet, declares that he
found in the Sepulchre, on the coast of
Patagonia, the bones of men ten and
twele feet high. Modal, and Sir Rich
ard Hawkins Beverly, relate that these
savages were nearly head taller than
the inhabitants of Europe, and of such
stature that the people on board their
vessels called them giants.
Those who bear testimony to the con-