The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-12-02
THE PETRIFIED GIANT.
Prom the NJ Y. Tribune.

From the ~ y. Tribune
The great stone fellow found at Cardiff con-
tinues to stimulate the minds of the savants.
Some will have it that he once walked and
breathed in all his huge proportions; and if
we do not keep too strict a rein upon the
Imagination, we may onjecture anything
that he was the identical Goliath; that he was
one of the large and cruel villains DESTROYED
by nimble little Jack; that he figured in the
Trojan wars; that he was distinguished in the
old fights with the immortal gods; that if we
had but eyes to find it, his whole biography
in his pre- -petrifed state is to be found in some
nursery volume of fairy tales-his life in his
enchanted castle, his keen scent for the blood
of Englishmen, his mysterious ''fe-fo-f-fum'
dialect, his enormous doings and his colossal
darings in general! Unfortunately, the men
of science who will allow us good, comfort
able belief in nothing marvellous, and who, for
all their microscopic eyes, see nothing uncom-
mon in the most uncommon things, have been
scrutinizing the giant of Cardiff with remorse-
less precision, and have come to the conclusion
that as a giant he never roared, fought,
stalked killed, and devoured, being no more
than counterfeit presentment or sia1lttncrum
of giant, and a confoundedly modern char
acter even at that. The petrifaction theory,
under this cool manipulation, has pretty COM
pletely exhaled. Mr.. Palmer, the sculptor,
has taken professional view of the monster,
and Mr.. Palmer does not think that the stone
was ever warm and living flesh. lie knows
what the tools of his craft will do, and the
marks which their use leaves behind them,
and these marks he finds as plain as can be,
and some Of them, where the legs ioin ex-
ceedingly fresh. As for the little pin-holes,
out of which the bristles of the giant have
been supposed to have spreated, Mr.. Palmer
refers them ''to the action of some chemical
in the earth. In some parts of the statue
are signs of the employment of tools in com
mon use at this time among soulptors. "a
veritable statue, says this eminent statuary,
''but clearly no petrifed giant
The news Of the discovery of this lapide-
ous enigma, this Columbian male sphinx, of
course reached in time the Smithsonian Insti-
tute, and occasioned a mild and regulated
curiosity in that dignifed seat of science.
Professor Baird was moved to write for in
formation to DIR. Boynton, of Syracuse, stat
ing that he had been exceedingly bothered
by conflicting statements. ''Of course,
says the Professor, "the petrifaction theory
is too absurd to talk about A careless re-
mark which demolishes all our fine romances,
and raises the deuce with our historical reye-
ries and pre-Adamite spec llations. DIR. Boyn-
| ton makes hot haste TO reply with cruel dis
| tinctness 1.-The absurdity of the existence
of petrifed human hosh, or giants of stone
| that once lived is such that DIR. Boynton
would not speak of it, were not "the commu-
nifty agitated to the core. But he
does speak of it, and he knocks the
Titan into pebbles The big creature
is merely "a reclining statue, carved
| from gypsum" Not an ancient statue either.
If it had been petrifactien gypsum giant,
| it would have been washed away long ago.
At first, DIR. Boynton was disposed to be rove
rent and liberal, and to admit that the image
was at least about 800 years old; now he
thinks that it may have been buried about
! ah what coming down l-about three