Plymouth advertiser. [volume] (Plymouth, Ohio) 1853-1988, 1853-11-12
Growth of the Human Body.

Of man has been about the some in all
ages and some have even pretended to
demonstrate, mathematically. the impossi.
bility Of giants. Dr.. Doram observes
that, though we read Of giants before the
food-Gen. vi. 4th, and more plainly af.
ter il, Numb. xiii. 33d-yet it is highly
probable the size Of man has been the
same from the creation, for, as TO the
Nephilim, Gen. 6. the ancients differ
about them, some taking them for mons
ieis Of impiety, atheism, tyranny, etc.
As to those in Numb. xiii, who were ev.
identity spoken Of as men Of gigantic |
stature, it is probable 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 were spoken Of
as rarities and wonders of the age, not Of
the common stature, and such instances
we have had in all ages. But il is no,
improbable that the first men were of q
strength and stature superior to those of
mankind at present, since they lived
much longer time-long life being com.
monty the effect of strong constitution.
There are many fabulous relations, such
as we take that to be of Thentobocchus,
who is said to have been dug up in the
year 1918. and was twenty-six 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 Hartman and Starcha,er
among the men, and among the women
were some measuring fifty cubits in length.
But, as for the more creditable relation
of Goliath, whose height was Dix cubits
and span, Sam. xviii, 3D. which ac-
cording to Bishop Cumberland. is about
eleven English feet; of Or, King Of Ba-
sau, (Deut. iii. llth.) whose bed 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 a skeleton dug
up at the place of Roman camp. near
St. Albans, by an urn Inscribed Marcus
Antonius, of which an account is given
by Mr.. Chese don, who judged by the
measurement of the bones, that the sub
iect was nine feet high. These antique
examples and relations, we say, may be
matched, nay outdone, by modern ones.
Hakewell speaks from names of porters,
and archers belonging TO the Emperor oi
China, fifteen feet high, and others from
Purchas, ten and twelve feet high.
The existence of race of men above
the common stature on the coast Of Pata-
gouia, in South America, has been a mat
ter of dispute for the last two centuries.
In our century almost all navigators, Of
every country, affirmed that there were
such persons, and in the next, the story is
elucidated by the greater number. Gar.
rilasso de Ia Vegn, in his history of Pc.
ru, relates that, according to a tradition
universally believed, q number of vessels
or iunks, came to 81. Helena, with a
company of giants on board, of dimen.
sions so enormous, that the natives of the
country were not higher than their kuees
that their eyes were as broad as the bot
tom of plate, and their limbs proportion
ally large.
Turner, the naturalist reports that h
had seen near the river Plata, on the coas
Of Brazil, a race Of giants who wer
stark naked, and one of whom was twelv
feet high, but he acknowledges that h
saw no other as tall. Knivet affirms tha
he measured several dead bodies, whic
, he found buried at Port Desire. whic
were from fourteen to sixteen spans higt
and that he had frequently seen at Brazi
!. one of the Patagonians, who, though
? youth, measured no less than thrice
! spans, and that the English prisoners
> Brazil assured him that they had see
= many Of the same gigantic stature on th
= coast of lhe Strait. This account is q
, so confirmed by Sebal de Vert; and Q
!, iver de Noorte Aris Clasz, commissal
on board lie Macre's feet, declares tn
! he found in the sepulchre, en- the coast
Patagonia, the bones Of men ten al
, twelve feet. Modal, and Sir Richa
- Hawkins Beverly, relate that these sava
,, es were nearly head taller than the
habitants Of Europe, and of such statu
, that the people on board their vess'
called them giants.
- Those who bear testimony to the CO
h trary, are Winter, the Dutch Admir-
, Hermite, Froger, in De Genne's narrati,
:. . and Sir John Marlborough. Sir Fran
. Drake is silent with regard to the stat,
: Of the Patagonians, but Winter positi
! ly affirms the falsehoods of these gig;
/. tic creations invented by the Spaniards
" Profane historians have given So,
% feet of height to Hercules, their first
:. m 70 and IN our day, we have seen m
~. eight feet high. A giant shown to Rou
- Of in Tbs, measured eight feet and so
ha inches.
hs hs The Emperor Maximilian was Of t
' no size. Goropius, a physician Of the
:. M century. saw a girl, who was ten
.h, ' high. Eugene, Scotchman, in the ii
,ne h'' Of James H., measured eleven feet an
.uy half. Chevalier Scory saw, at the P
-, "a Of Teneriffe, in sepulchre, the rem,
~ 81 of man who had eighty teeth, and !,
H. - fifteen feet high.
nd Roland, a celebrated anatomist,
IN 1915, saw in the suburbs Of ST. Germ
.he ~ the tomb Of the giant Isoret, who
;oh twenty feet in height.
zn II is evident we could 20 70 my les
NE in the way Of giants, were i desirable
multiply instances Of the exiraprdin