The evening world., 1894-03-23
THEY BELIEVED IN GIANTS.
but RESEARCH HAS PROVED THE
ANCIENTs WE'RE CREDULOUs.
Men of superhumnn Stature Proba-
bly, Never Existed.

The idea conveyed by the word giant
In classical mythology is that OF being
more or less man-like, but enormous in
strength. Figures like the Titans and
the giants, whose birth from HEAVIER and
earth is SUM by IIesiod in the Theog-
ony, such rs heap up mountains TO
scale the sky, and war besides or against
the gods, must be treated with other
like monstrous figures of the wonder
tales of the world as belonging alto
gethcr to the realms of mythology.
But there also appear in the legends
OF giants some with historic significance.
To the ancient Greeks it was a familiar
idea that the giants were earth-born or
indigenous races. When reading in
Homer Of the Cyclones. or the wild
tribes of SAINTS, or Of The adventures
OF Odysseus in the Cave of Polyphcmus,
We seem 10 come into view of dim ira
diu'on5, exaggerated through the mist of
ages, Of pre-Helirnic barbarians, god
les, canniDal, skin-clothel, hurting huge
stones In their rude warfare.
Giant legends Of this class are com
mon in Europe and Asia, where the big
~ Of u ]tl'I s'a na,l VeNe b St rba r, eysry token
sCtatrl into monsters in the legends of
the latc tribes who dispossessed and
slew them, says the Philadelphia Times.
Besides the conception of giants as
special races distinct from mankind, 1t
was a common opinion Of the ancieuts
that the, human race had Itself de-
having been of 50 far greater stature
and strength as to be in fact gigantic.
Yet 50 far as can be Judged by actual
remains, it does not appear hat giants.
S~upcrhuman stature, ever existed, or
that the men of ancient times were on
the whole taller than those now liv7
Ing. II is now usual to apply the word
slant to beings not ~slperhuman in
their height, but merely the tallcst men
and women of our nations.
Until the beginning of the present CEN
tury it was universally believed that
giants. of "A size very far exceeding
those which are exhibited in our times,
formerly existed, either as nations or as
individual specimens. This belief was
based. first, on an asserted discovery Of
colossal human bones; second. on sup
posed scriptural evidence; third, on the
evidence OF various ancient and medi-
aeval authors.
A reference to the first volume Of
Cuvier's easements Fossiles' will show
that the bones of elephants, rhinoceroses.
mastodons, &c, have been exhibited and
accepted as evidence of prehistoric
giants. Even so good a 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 rOr-
ganiSatiUn,' notices several of the most
famous of these cases.
A gigantic skeleton which was found
at Trapani, in Sicily, in the, fourteenth
of the classical giant, Polyhemus, 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 a
man, but this objection was easily met
by the question: Why, II his height was
sixty times as great as that OF an ordi-
nary man, should not his form also be
were subsequently eXhumed In Sicily,
and the existence OF the "Oseneous Cane
rus" described by De Quatrefages in his
"Rambles of a Naturalist" fully ac-
counts for such discoveries az an epoch
when few could recognize the differences
in form between the bones of al ele-
plant and those Of a man.
Passing over the giant whose bones
We're exposed to the action of the Rhone
in lE6, and whose height was estimated
at thirty feet. and another whose skele-
ton was discovered near Lucerne in
1577, and who, according to the calcula-
tion of the learned physician, Platter,
did not exceed nineteen feet, we come
to the case of King Teutobocus, whose
remains were discovered near the Rhone
in 1913 by a surgeon named Masurier,
whose "Historie Veritable du Teuto-
bochus' Q6lO gave rise to a warm con-
troversy: The anatomistt, Riolan, en-
deavored to expose the imposture. but
the Parisians rushed in crowds to see
the mastodon's bones which were re-
thirty feet long bearing the inscription
"Teutobochus Rex"
Nor have our c~ountrymen been less
%credulous than their neighbors. In Up
DIR. Increase Mather, in the " Philosoph-
ical Transactions" ~nounc the dis
covery of enormous bones and teeth,
New York. and which he regarded as az
fording evidence of the existence of
giants of enormous size in ancient times.
The bones were in reality those of a
The Scripture evidence, when carefully
examined, does not amount to much.
The Hebrew words nephilim and gi6orim,
which occur several times in the book OF
Genesis. and which are translated
giants might as well be Translated man I!
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 a,
most did not exceed eight feet and a
half in stature. and. consequently, was
not taller than some giants of modern
The classical evidence is abundant. but
obviously Enthusiastically. Thus, Plutarcf
relates that Serbonius had the grave OF
Antalus, in the city OF Tungis, opened
cubits long. was infinitely astonished
ordered the tomb to be closed, gave his
confirmation to the story, and adde's
Pliny gives to one Gabbaras, an Ara
bian, the stature of nine feet nine inches
Gaping this with the mention, of Posic
ana Secunullla, VINO were nai d 100
higher.
Piiny reports also that an earthquake
in Crete disclosed the bones of a giant
f~orty-six cubits In length, who was he'd
: by Dornc to be Orion and by others Otus
What eXaggeration can do In this way
! may be Judged from the fact that thu
, ~PataGonians, who's, average height IL
, FIVE feet eleven inches, are described Il
! Pigafetta's Voyage Round the World
, as so monstrous that the Spaniards
E heads hardly reached their waists. De.
{ scending to more certain evidence, ther,
can be nc doubt that a height Of eight
, and nine feet, and probably of more
than nine feet. has been attained.
{ There is n skeleton in the museum Of
e Trinity College, Dublin, eight feet sly
? inches in height; that Of O'Br!en (ol
2 Ry-ne) in the museum of the College o.
{ Surgeons, Of England. is eight feet two
e inches, and that of a giant in the mu
I scum at Bonn is eight feet, and thC
actual body, with the soft parts attache t
= was probably two or three inches Longer
: than the skeleton. For example we f1nC
4, 1t recorded that O'Bricn measured eigh'
S feet four inches after his death.
> ~Brotherly Love.
r From Texas Siftings.)
I Nz-.~a. .J,,,t Nyul w-,r h-1ALo. -.