The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1888-03-21
GIANTS.



The existence Of . race Of giants far
exceeding those exhibited in modern
times was fully believed in up to the
commencement of the eighteenth cent
ury. This belief was founded partly
upon the Old Testament, partly on the
discovery of huge bones supposed to
be those of human beings, and partly
upon the accounts handed down by
medieval writer's The Old Testament
says: aThere were giants in those
days, and giant is applied to several
races of men, as the Anakim, Rephaim.
Emim, the Zonyenim and others. There
are several instances in the Old Testa-
ment Of individual giants, such as Og
(who slept on q bedstead of iron) and
Goliath. The height of Og is not men
toned, but Goliath, at most, did not
exceed eight and half feet in stature.
Other historians sometimes called pro-
fane) also mention giants, but some of
their accounts are not worthy of belief
Plu.srch states that when the grave of
Antaus was opened by Serbonius the
body was found to be sixty cubits long.
Plfney also relates that at an earth
quake In Crete the bones of giant
forty-six cubits in length were dis
closed. Giants play a part in the my
tnology of almost all nations of Ayran
descent. The Greeks, who repre-
sented them as being of monstrous
size, with hideous countenances, and
having the tails of dragons, placed
their abode in volcanic districts, with
er they we're tabled to have been BAN
ished after three unsuccessful attempts
upon heaven, when the gods, with the
assistance of Hercules, imprisoned
them under Ktna and other volcanoes.
The body of Orestes, according to
Greek history, was eleven and one-half
feet high. The giant Galbara, brought
from Arabia to Rome under Claudius
Caesar, was about ten feet, and the
bones of Secendilla and Pufo, keepers
of the gardens of Salius, were but six
inches shorter. We read that the
giant Ferragus, slain by Orlando,
nephew of the celebrated Charlcmagne,
was eighteen feet high. Funnum,
Scotchman, who lived at the time of
Eugene IL, King of Scotland, meas
ured eleven and half feet; and La
Mare, in his voyage to the Straits of
Magellan, reports that on December
18th he found at Fort Desire several
graves covered with stones, and, hav-
ing the curiosity to remove them, he
found human skeletons ten and eleven
feet long. Coming to more reliable
evidence, it seems certain that height
of even more then nine feet has been
attained. In the museum of Trinity
College, Dublin, there is q skeleton
eight feet six inches in height. In the
museum of the Royal College of Sur
geons of England is another eight feet
two inches in height, and another at
Bonn eight feet. The giant who was
shown at Rouen 1885 measured eight
feet four and half inches. The Em-
peror Maximinus was one inch shorter.
Skenkins and Platerus, physicians of
that stature, and Goropins saw girl
nineteen years of age who was ten
feet high. In 1913 the remains
of a supposed giant were found on the
Rhone. 1t was stated that the skeleton
had been in tomb thirty feet long,
bearing the inscription "Teuetobochus
Rex" The Parisians crowded to see
the bones of King Teuetobochus; but it
was afterwards found that the remains
were not those of man, but of mas
todon. DR.. Mather, in 1712, an
nounced the discovery Of the bones and
teeth of giant in the province of New
York. The statement was published in
the Philosophical Transactions" but
twas subsequently ascertained that the
bones in this case were also those of a
mastodon. 1t appears that attempts
have been made to manufacture giants,
According to Godfrey Saint Hilaire,
Bishop Berkeley attempted to manufac-
ture one. He reared an orphan boy
named Magrath on certain hygienic
principles, and succeeded so far that
at the age of seventeen years he was
seven feet in height. He died with all
the symptoms of old age when he had
completed his twentieth year, at which
time he was seven feet eight inches
high. Great diversity as to height pre-
walls among the human race. Men
rarely exceed six feet. In northern
ATTITUDES men are below the ordinary
standard. In temperate climates the
height varies from four and half to
six feet.