The Cecil Whig., 1869-06-26
Some Giants.

In 111S a French academician named
Henrion endeavored to show great de
crease in the height of men between the
periods of the Creation and the Christian
Era. Adam, he says, was 123 feet nche,
high; Eve, 11S feet inches; Noah, 81 feet
Abraham 20; Moses, 13 feet The allega.
ton about Adam is moderate compared
with that made by early Rabbinicial wri-
terS, who affirm that his head overtopped
the atmosphere, and that he touched the
Arctic Pole with one hand and the Antarc-
tic with the other. Traditionary memo
rials of the primeval giants still exist in
Palestine in the form of graves of enor-
nous dimensions; as the grave of Abel
near Damascus, which is 30 feet long; that
of Seth about the same size: and that of
Noah, in Lebanon, which is 70 gard, in
length!
Pliny says that by an earthquake in Crete
mountain was opened, and in it was discov-
cred skeleton standing upright, 46 cubits
long, which was supposed to be that of
Orion or Otus. The same author relates
that in the time Of Claudius Caesar there
was man, named Gabbaras, brought by
that Emperor from Arabia to Rome, who
was feet inches high, "the tallest man
that has been seen in our times" But
this giant was not SO tall as Posio and Sc
cundilla, i'll the reign of Augustus Caesar,
whose bodies were preserved as curiosities
i'll a museum in the Sallustian Gardens, and
each of whom measured in length 10 feet
8 inches.
The Emperor Ma1imus very much of a
mani was feet high, and was in the habit
of using his wife's bracelet for thumb
ring. His shoe was foot longer than that
of any other man, and his strength SO great
that he could draw a carrirge which two
oxen could not move. He generally ate
forty pounds weight of flesh and drank
six gallons of wine every day. Not at all
4 desirable or profitable guest for the ''St.
Nicholas,' even at the current price of
board; though not so tall as one of whom
Josephus tells, viz: Eleazar, a jew, who
was one Of the hostages whom the King of
Persia sent to Rome after peace. This
giant was over 10 feet high. But these are
pigmles compared with him of whom Kir-
cher writes though this is what Yankee
philosopher would denominate whopper.) J
The skeleton of this giant was dug out of
a stone sepulcre near Rome in the reign of
the Emperor Henry H., and which by an
inscription attached to it, was known to be
that of Pallas, who was slain by Turnus,
and was higher than the walls of the city!
The same author tells us that another skel-
eton was found near Palermo that must
have belonged to a man 400 feet high.
In times more modern 1613,) some ma
sons digging near the ruins of castle in
Dauphine in a field which by tradition had
long been known as "The Giants Field"
at the depth of IS feet discovered brick
tomb 80 feet long, 12 feet wide, and feet
high, on which was gray stone with the
words Theutobochus Rex" cut thereou
When the tomb was opened they found a
human skeleton entire 254 feet long, 10 feet
wide across the shoulders, and feet deep
from the preast to the back. His teeth
were about the size of an ox's foot, and
his shin-bone measured feet in length.
Plot, in his "Oxfordshire," 1876, says
that skeleton II feet high was then to be
seen in the tOwn-hall in Lucerne. 1t had
been found under an oak in Willisau, near
the village of Reyden. He instances nu-
merous gigantic bones which had been dug
up in England, and adds: "It remains that
Notwithstanding their extravagant magni-
tude) they must have been the bones of
men or women; nor does anything hinder
but they may have been so, provided it be
clearly made out that there have been men
and women Of proportionable stature in all
ages of the world, down even to our own
days"
Old Cotton Mather held the belief that
had been in the antediluvian world men of
very prodigious stature, in consequence of
the finding of bones and teeth of great size,
which he judged to be human, in Albany.
He describes one particular grinder weigh
ing A pounds, and a broad, flat, fore-tooth
four fingers in breadth; also a bone, sup
posed to be thigh-bone, II feet long,
which, with the others, crumbled to pieces
as soon as it was exposed to the air.-W.
A. Seaver, in Harper's Magazine for July.