The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-02-12

10 the rank Of an important organ OF the
body. and one might now claim. with much
more justice. that il. rather than the
pineal gland is the seat of the soul.
The gland which makes giant is in
healthy persons a small. round sub
stance about the size Of a pea placed at
the base Of the brain, just back of the
nerves OF the eve. as they cross in order
to pass ont OF the skull into the orbits
The first confirmation that giantism was
nervous disorder and not freak the
doctor says, came through an elaborate
anatomical study of the skeleton OF one
Cornelius McGrath, an Irish giant. made
famous by the attentions originally be-
slowed upon him b. Bishop Berkeley. This
benevolent prelate is reported To have
taken Cornelius, who was an orphan boy
Ted him on some gant-making food with
such success that by the time he was Is
years old he measured feet 10 inches in
hight Just as the good bishop had him
fairly started. however. as an example
or ripe nutrition. Cornelius died His skel-
eton, which was preserved in the Trinity
college museum, at Dublin, shows an
enormous cavity at the base Of the skull,
In the place ordinarily occupied by the pi-
tuitary gland. The measurement of the
bones also show all the characteristics OF
a case Of acromegaly. Prof. Cunningham,
who has made an anatomical study Of the
skeleton. pronounces McGrath TO be an
Illustration of this disease"
In one of the museums of this city the
doctor found a man who, he says was
tive-sxths giant and One-siXth acrome-
galst. The doctor also declares that he
has studied the photographs of nearly all
the giants now living, and one-han of
them are evidently cases of that disease.
Here are some interesting things Dr..
Dana relates:
There are hardly any truthful records
OF the giants of the past, though litera-
ture is full of wondrous tales about them.
\ French acadeuician. NJ Henrion, once
estimated the hight of Adam TO be 1913
feet and that OF Eve u.s. proportions that
must have appeared most Formidable to
the serpent. and made the proposition fec
apples seem a somewhat trivial thing. The
same authority brings Abraham down 10
% feet, and makes Moses only IL. Col
iath's recorded hight is, however, only 8
feet inches, which is within the bounds
of possibility.
"Pliny speaks of seeing giantess 10
feet inches in hight, ana a skeleton 20
feet long. There are weird stories of the
Emperor MaXimilian, who was reported TO
be feet high and to have eaten forty
pounds Of meat a day. He was surely
Rabelais' model for Garantua. In the
fifteenth century there are records of
giant skeletons Is and 30 feet long.
i4NtAg II cptdhE VI cttlllE "A NidNltSS ~ 1eeA
inches tall. but feet or thereabouts
seems to have been the fayorite size for
medieval giants"
Through the help of Edward c. Dana
the doctor says he has collected the his
tory of all the giants who have gone on
record as public characters since 1900 A.
D.. and he finds that the total does not
much exceed 100. and only about twenty of
these were advertised as over eight feet
high Men nowadays, he says also. are
larger, as a rule, than were the anclents.
Another fond Illusion has been dissipated
by the doctor. Instead of giants being
powerful he says, they are physically
weak and not healthy. All of them die
comparatively young. The largest woman
that ever lived was Marianne Wehde, who
was born in Germany during the present
century. At the age of 16 and half she
measured feet Az inches. The tallest man
that ever lived was an Austrian, feet az
inches, and Winkelmeyr, feet inches.
Besides much more interesting infOrma-
ton. DR.. Dana's paper gives this:
Giants marry and even have children,
but these children do not become giants.
for their giantism IS an incident. like
fever, and can no more be transmitted than
the measeis. This would not be the case
If giants were born with the giant ten
dency. Their giantism would run through
families like six fingers. cleft-palates,
strabsmus, or clubfOot. There will never
be a race of giants; nor is it desirable"