Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-08-15

LIVED LoNa.
From the New York Tiuea
Why DO we attain a certain size and weight OF
BODY and then cease TO grow7 Why is one per-
con limited in stature 10 few inches while an
other stretches mp several feet? Why is i; that
one at maturity Weighs not above fifty pounds
ana another attains a weight ten times as great?
These are all questions of growth, and some
marvellous examples are recorded.
Nearly every nation has produced its ce,e-
eTs'ed giant, and most nations more than one.
James Toller, born at St. Neots. Huntington,
England, lat tAe age of ten years had attained
the surprising height of five feet and upward:
at the age OF eighteen years he had reached the
height of upward of eight feet aad one and
one-half inches, and was still in progress Of
growth" There is no record of his having at
tanned greater height. however, though he
was exhibited for a considerable period in
giant"
Two separate men. each Of whom was eight
ieet IN height. claimed the cocnomen of ''lhe
Itlsh olaat oBrien" at the same time. The
skeleton OF one OF these is 10 be found in the
museum OF the College of Surgeons London.
~ was bought by the celebrated surgeon, John
hunter. who paid $500 For the body for the
purpose OF dissection. This o Brien died from
aeoauch al the age Of twenty-five. The other
" bFlen, whose real name was Patrick Cot,cr,
earned fortune by exhibiting himself and at
tained the extreme limits of a giants life
forty-six years. He took the precaution TO
nave his grave chiseled out Of the solid rock
Twelve feet deep ana provided that il should be
Kept locked and constantly watched. This
" brien used TO smuse himself by lighting his
pipe at the street lamps, and he quite terrified
hlghwayman who on one occasion had stopped
BEiens carriage by simply putting his head
out OF tue window and stretching himself up to
his full height.
The skeleton Of another Irish giant TO be
found In the anatomical room OF Trinity Col
lege. Dublin, is feet 9 inches in height and
constituted the framework of McGrath born In
i.Ipperary, who made the tour of Europe as the
Prodigious Irish Giant" His enormous
growth was said TO have been the result of an
experiment made by the celebrated Bishop
Berkeley, who put the boy-an unfortunate
orphan through a fattening process with this
result. Drs. Musgrave and Molyneux have
given accounts OF still another Irish giant-Ed-
wara Malone-who measured z feet incnes IN
has stockings when he was nineteen.
bernardo Gigli, an italian, attained the
height OF eight feet when only eighteen years
OF age. Big sam, the Prince of Wales porter.
VINO was nearly eight feet in height is tile tall
est Scotchman, unless We credit the account
gwen by NJ. Le Cat, who tells of the Scotch
giant "Funnum, who lived in the time of
Eugene III, King of Scotland, and who
measured eleven and one-half feet in height.
The giant Of Utrecht, Holland. described by
Or. Dlemerbrock, the anatomist, stood eight
ana one-half feet in height. The king of giants
however, was Christoff Munster. born at
Erlosen, near MUnden, in June, 1880, who, ac-
cordlng TO authentic records. attained a height
OF nine and one-half feet. three inches taller
| than Goliath of Gath. He served in the body
guards Of the Elector and lived forty-four NCars.
John Laws Milton, an English writer and
author. states that in his youthful aays lao
wanted TO be giant, ''and several times
| thought ne had discovered an infallible method
| OF attaining the object of his ambition, such
as overlooking stretching by dint Of violent
| jerks from beams, &c., to the great amazement
| OF his relatives and friends" Mr. Milton may
| well congratulate himself that he did not sue
coed. as giants are seldom bright in intellect,
| rarely IN good health and universally short
| lived. Rapid decay seems to naturally follow
| rapid and excessive development.
| a remarkable illustration of this IL shown in
an account given by DIR. Dawkes, a surgeon of
st. Ives, who published, in l7i4, An Account
| of the Gigantic Boy of WiIlingham." This bow
was Thomas Hall, who. when two years and
eleven months old, was 3 feet 8 inches in
| height, and at the age Of four years, one month
/ was feet inches in height. So had be grown
| TO manhood at this rate. he would have at
tanned or 10 feet. When he died in his fifth
year he had a thick pair of whiskers and
| weighed about eighty-fye pounds.
That the period of growth is not limited to
the legal age of maturity is true. A gentle
man thirty years Of age connected with lit
erary journal OF this city two years ago was 6
feet 2 inches in height. and is now feet 4.
He is In perfect health ana presents 4 remark
| ably youthful appearance.
The immediate factor in the stoppage of
growth seems TO be the hardening of the bones.
particularly the long bones, through the secre-
| tion of lime. But this is probably a mere
| incident resulting from the influence of food.
| excessive physical exercise cold or some other
| force affecting the general system. Among the
recipes given for checking the growth of chill
| dren is that OF amounting the backbone with
| the fat of bats and moles. This is said to have
| the effect of hardening the cartilage and thus
preventing growth. Sweating" the process
used for reducing the weight of jockeys, is
| another means employed for checking develop
ment. 1t is said that dwarfs have been arti-
| ncialiy produced by the horrible practice of
| feeding infants on sour cider instead of milk.
| As III the case of giants, the stature of these
little people has, in most cases probably, been
| the result Of accident Contrary TO their huge
rivals in interest, dwarfs frequently attain great
age. hichebourg, who died In Paris in 1855 WAS
| ninety years old. lie was only twenty-three
| inches high, something less than the stature of
our own most celebrated dwarf, Gen. Tom
Thumb. The first English dwarf OF whom
| there is authentic record, was only one and a
half feet high till thirteen years of age, though
he afterward attained the height of three feet
nine inches This jeffrey Hudson, who
| was presented to Queen Henrietta by the
Duchess of Buckingham. Hudson on that oc-
| casion surprised the company by stepping out
OF pie. He is said to have fought two duels,
one with turkey cock and one with a Mr.
Crofts, whom he shot and killed.. Hudson died
in his sixty-third year in the Gate House
prison, having been accused as . conspirator in
the popish plot.
Nine. Teresia, known as the Corsican fairy.
was thirty-four inches high and weighed only
thirty six pounds. She lived to good old age,
though the exact period is unknown.
When growth is attained. the skeleton having
reached its proportions, any adverse influence
affecting the Emphatic system or nutritiye sup
ply in any way tends to produce leanness. A
weil-developed man, having drunk lys by acct
dent. after prolonged illness and recovery
found himself q living skeleton. A dissection
Of this man after death disclosed the fact that
the thoracic duct had been nearly closed up.
The earliest recorded example Of this class was
Claude Ambrose Seurat, born at Troyes,
France, April 10, 1871. According to the nc
count at his birth there was nothing in his ap-
pearance that indicated disease but in proper
ton as he grew in size his flesh gradually wasted
away.
On the other hand, any influence which slim
ulates the nutritiye mechanism unduly de-
grades the secretiye and assimiiative functions
and tends to produce abnormal fat The liv-
ing skeleton, with his limited capacity for food
and assured income O freak, enjoys some de-
gree of happiness, but the fat person deserves
commiSeratlon. Tho statistics of this class are