The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1892-03-25
GIANTS ON THE EARTH.
A GOOD DEAL OF FICTION WRITTEN
ABOUT THEM.

Has neen Recorded by Actual Oh.
servers.
The idea conveyed by the word gian,
In classical mythology is that of beings
more or less man-like, but enormous in
size and strength. Figures like the Titans
and the Giants, whose birth from heaven
and earth is sung by Hesiod in the The.
ognomy, such rs heap up mountains to
scale the sky, and war beside or against
the gods, must be treated with other like
monstrous figures OF the wonder tales of
the world rs belonging altogether to the
realms Of mythology.
Besides the conception of giants as
special races distinct from mankind, it
was common opinion of the ancients
that the human race had itself degenera-
ted, the men of primeval ages having
been OF so far greater stature and strength
as to be in fact gigantic. Yet 30 far as
can be judged by actual remains it does
not appear that giants, in the sense of
tribes of altogether superhuman stature,
ever existed, or that the men Of ancient
time were, on the whole taller than those
now living. 1t is now usual to apply the
word giant" to beings not superhuman
IN their height. but merely the tallest
men and women of our nations.
Until the beginning OF the present GEN.
tury, it was universally believed that
giants, of size far exceeding those
which are exhibited in our times, form.
erly existed, either as nations or as indi-
vidual specimens. This belief was based.
first, on the asserted discovery of colossal
human bones; second, on supposed scrip
tural evidence; third on the evidence of
various ancient and medieval authors.
A reference to the first volume of Cul-
ver's easements Fossiles" will show that
the bones of elephants. rhinosceroses.
mastodons, ETC., have been exhibited and
accepted as evidence of prehistoric
giants. Even so good naturalist as
Button fell into this popular delusion
and figured the bones of an elephant as
the remains of human giants. Saint
Hilaire, in his Historic des Anomalies
de rOrgainsation. notices several of the
most famous Of these cases. A gigantic
skeleton which was found at Trapani, in
Sicily, in the fourteenth century, was at
once pronounced to be that of the CLASH
cal giant, Polyphemns, and his height
was calculated at 800 feet. 1t was
pointed out that the bones differed in
form as well as in size from those
Of man, but this objection was easily
met by the question, Why, if his
height was sixty times as great as that
Of an ordinary man, should not his form
also be different? Many less celebrated
giants were subsequently exumed in
Sicily, and the existence of the "Osseous
Canerus" described by De Quatrefages in
his "Rambles Of a Naturalist" fully ac-
count for such discoveries at an epoch
when few could recognize the differences
in form between the bones of an elephant
and those of man.
Nor have our own countrymen been
less credulous than their neighbors. In
El2 DR.. Increase Mather, in the "Philo.
sophical Transactions, announced the
discovery Of enormous bones and teeth,
which had been found in the State of
New York, and which he regarded as af-
sording evidence Of the existence of gi- |
ants Of enormous size in ancient times.
The bones were in reality those Of a mas
todon.
The Scripture evidence, when carefully
examined, does not amount to much. |
Tho Hebrew words nephirim and gibo.
rim, which occur several times in the |
book Of Genesis, and which are trans.
lated giants, might as we'll be trans
lated bearded" "cruel" or "violent
men," The height Of Og, King of Ba-
shan, is not given-we are only told the
length of his bed. And including his |
helmet, which was probably taken into
account in the recorded measurement,
Goliath at most did not exceed eight feet
and half in stature and consequently |
was not taller than some giants Of mod |
ern days.
The classical evidence is abundant, but |
obviously untrustworthy. Thus, Plutarch
relates that Serboeins had the grave Of
Antalus, in the city of Tungis, opened
and, "inding there his body full so cubts
long was infinitely astonished, ordered
the tomb to be closed, gave his confirma-
tion to the story and added new honors
to the memory of the giant" Pliny
gives to one, Gabbaras, an Arabian, the
stature of nine feet nine inches, Gaping
this with the mention Of Posio and Sc
cundilly, who were half foot higher.
Pliny reports also that an earthquake
in Crete disclosed the bones of giant
forty-six cubits in length, who was held
by Dorne to be Orion and by others Otus.
What exaggeration can do in this way
may be judged from the fact that the
Patagonians, whose average height is five
feet eleven inches, are described in Piga-
fetta's Voyage Round the World" as so
monstrous that the Spanards' heads
hardly reached their waists. Descending
10 more certain evidence, there can be no
loubt that height Of eight and nine
feet, and probably Of more than nine
feet, has been attained. There is a skel-
eton in the museum Of Trinity College,
Dublin, eight feet six inches in height;
that of O'Bren (or Byrne) in the museum
Of the College of Surgeons of England is
eight feet two inches, and that of giant
in the museum at Bonn is eight feet, and
the actual body, with the soft parts at