The Irish standard., 1895-09-28
sy1RyTyAL OF pIGMIFs

r i
One or the papers read before the Amer
lean Association for the advancement Of
Science at Springfield was that ON
Dwarf Survivals and Traditions aus to
the Pignny Races by DR.. r. 8. Halihur-
ton. In August, 1894, he read q paper
vivals Of Dwarf Races in America. T"
Since then new confrmatory facts had
come to light, leaving no doubt that there
were racial dwa.rfs now existing III Amer
lea and Europe. An important paper
was written some years ago by g Spanish
professor on the dwarfs of the Eastern
Pyrenees; but until last year neither the
paper nor the author could be found. He
had at last succeeded in getting g. copy in
Spanish, which ne had translated. Prof.
Moravta describes these dwarfs as about
four feet high with broad, square faces,
flat noses slightly Monaghan eyes, heavy
jaws, reddish hair, and a reddish brown
complexion. Many Of them were lately
carried off by smallpox, and they We're
evidently dying out. They were called
Nanos. Many of them, when they APP
proach adolescence, show signs of gottre,
and in time the swelling on the throat be-
comes as large as a. a1Eaall melon. This;
hastily assumed that the thousand of
dwarfs In the Pyrenees and the Alps owe
their small size and peculiar appearance
to 1t. At last years meeting he contend
ed that cretinisrn was not a disease, but
g. symptom of degeneration. All dwarf
races are born hunters, and are there
have flesh food they lose their vitality
and gradually die out. This view was
confirmed by his finding in the French
Acadian settlements in Louisiana that in
their old fashioned French the word
"cretin" has no reference to a disease.
1t means simply ga dwarf" but it is used
fnvo Ivy, NS~ ~
renee of+goitre among the dwarfs Of the
Alps and the Pyrenees led to its being
called "the dwarf disease rCretin may
be a very ancient name for dwarfs. The
Dactyls, the dwarf smiths of Crete, were
Igcretins.
In October last the correspondent Of the
Chicago Tribune" casually, in a descrip~
ton Of the different races to be seen in
the City of Mexico, mentioned Indians
from the hills and queer dwartish saw
ages" who live In settlements in their
adobe huts within the city walls, chose
strange dwarfs, who glide in and out Of
the crowd like gnomes," Robert Clarke,
er Americans who have visited Mexico,
have confirmed these statements. The
people of Vosges in Alsace, believe that
there are survivalS of race of dwarfs in
that country. The herdsmen who pas
ture their cattle on the high pastures in
summer say thaI When they descend to
the valleys in the autumn, well-disposed
dwarfs take possession of the higher
meadows and feed their little breed Of
cattle there. A very small breed Of do
nestle animals is possessed, by African
dwarfs. There is q race Of cliff-dweIlers
in Abyssinia called vosges or vose; and
also in the Centf-Atlas. G
DR.. Halliburton believes that dwarf
races were once widely spread all over
the world and had a primitive system Of
initiation or Freemasonry. This would
tend to diffuse light, to stereotype print
tive ideas as to star lore, healing by in
carnations, etc. In America there is still
a belief that dwarfs teach medicine men
the secrets Of the medicine lodge. "The
child ancestors" Of the Zuni were inter-
cessors for rain. Over so years the Choc-
taws asked the Indian agent for the loan
Of his two young sons, whom they wished
to pray for rain. The nearest approach
to dwarf intercessors were two boys. The
little Atlas dwarfs drive good business
in the BALKAN way, and are addressed as
Sidi Barakery (t'Our Blessed Lord'). In
comment Prof. Gushing gave some inter
esting facts as to the child ancestors" 81
the Zuni. &e