The native Virginian. [volume] (Orange Court House, Va.) 1867-187?, 1869-09-10
NUMBER A.
SOME GIANTS

IN lTlS q Erencn acauemlclan named
Henrion endeavOred to show o great
decrease in the height of men between
tie periods of the Creation and the
Christian Era. Adam, he says, was
1913 feet inches high; Eve, 11S feet 9
inches; Noah, 81 feet; Abraham, 20 feet
Mosesl 13 feet. The allegation about
Adam is moderate compared with that
made by early Rabbinical writer's, who
affirm that his head overtopped the at
mosphere, and that he touched the
Arctic Pole with one hand and the
Antarctic with the other. Traditional
ry memorials of the primeval giants
still. exist IN Palestine in the forms of
graves of enormous dimensions; as the
grave of Able near Damascus, which is
80 feet long, that OF Seth about the
same size; and that of Noah, in Lcba-
non. which is yards in length
Pliny says that by an earthquake in
Crete mountain was opened, and in
it was discovered a skeleton standing
upright, 46 cubits long, which was sup
posed to be that cf Orion or Otus. The
same author relates that in the time of
Claudius Caesar there was man, nam
ed Gabbaras, brought by that Emperor
from Arabia to Rome, who was feet 4
inches high, "the tailest man that has
been seen in OUR times But this
giant was not so tall as Posio and Sc
cundilla, in the reigh of Augustus Cesar
whose bodies were preserved as curios-
tiles i'll museum in the Sallustian
Gardens, each of whom measured IN
length 10 feet 3 inches. -
The Emperor Maximus very much
of a man) was 0 ieet high, and was in
the habl. OF useing his wlfe's bracelet
for thumb ring. His shoe was foot
longer than that of any other man, and
his strt myth so great that he could draw
carriage which two oxen could net
move. He generally ate forty pounds
weight of flesh and drank six gallons
of wine every day. Not at all desi-
rable or profitable guest for the "St.
Nicholas even at the current price OF
board; though not so tall as one of
whom Josephus tells, wis.,: EleaZar, a
Jew, who was one OF the hostages whom
the King of Persia sent to Rome after
peace. The giant was over 10 feet high
But these are pigies compared with him
of whom Kircher writes Though this is
what Yankee philosopher would de.
nominate whopper). The skeleton
OF this giant was dug ont OF stone
sepulchre 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 skeleton was found near
Palermo that must have belonged to
man 400 feet high,
In times more modern (1613), some
masons digging near the ruins of a cas-
tie in Danphine, in a field which by
tradition had long been called "The
Giants Field,' at the deph of Is feet
discovered brick tomb 80 feet long,
II feet wide, and feet high, on which
was gray stone with the words "The-
utobochus Rex" cut there on. When
the tomb was opened they found hui
man skeleton entire 2515 feet long, 10
feet wide across the shoulders, and
feet deep. from the breast to the back.
His teeth were about the size of an ox's
foot. and bis shin-bone measured feet
in length.
Plot, in his "Oxfordshre, )" 1916, says
that a skeleton IL feet high was then to
be seen in the town-ball III Lucerne.
1t had been found under an oak in
Willisau, near the village of Reyden.
He instances numerous gigantic bones
which had been dug up in England,
duu dudS II biidb liiObMlbtl-
standing their eXtravagant magnitude)
they must have been the bones of men
or women; nor does any thing hinder
but they may have been so, provided it
be clearly made olt that there have
been men and women of proportionable
stature in all ages of the world, down
even to our own days"
Old Gotten Mather held the belief
that there 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 judg-
ed to be human, in Albany. He des-
cribes one particular grinder weighing
AZ pounds, and broad, fiat, fore-tooth
four fingers in breadth; also bone,
supposed to be a thigh-bone, IL 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.