The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1896-03-19
THE GIANTS OF OLD.
PREVIOUS ACES SUPPLY us WITH
ENORMOUS FOSSIL BONES.

[isards Three Times the Size Of the Ear
gsst Elephant aud Turtle whose Shell
Looked Like Hut--Marins 0iants and
the Remarkable Plsted Lizard.
The belief in a race Of giants was |
once almost universal and held until |
recent years. Even today large skeletons
when found are sometimes reported as |
being those of giant human beings. This |
was especially true of the period about |
the tenth and eleventh centuries, and |
in the latter most amazing discovery |
was reported, which threw the scien- |
tiHc world of the time into great excite |
ment. It was said that the body Of Pal
las, the son Of Evander, had been dis 4,
covered beneath the tomb Of the emper-
or Henry III. The bones were enor-
nous, and it is unnecessary to state,
proved to have belonged to huge fossil
elephant. As late as the fifteenth GEN.
tury war Of words was waged over
find Of large bones. one party claiming
that they belonged to the giant Teuto-
bochus. In 1857 giant was discovered
in Switzerland. The council Of Lucerne
requested a learned scientific man, Pro.
fessor Felix Platter Of Basel, to report
upon it, and he not only announced the
bones as part Of human giant, but
made complete restoration, showing
the man 30 feet high, which the proud
city adopted as an ancestor in the arms
of the commonwealth. The design and
some of the bones can still be seen in
the college Of Jesuits at Lucerne. Un-
fortunately for the theory and much to
the discontinue of the people who had
raised to high pinnacle this mighty
ancestor, it was found to be the remains
Of an elephant.
Nearly all the mastodon finds in this
country were attributed to giants, but
there is no evidence that human giant
ever existed over feet in height, and it
is extremely doubtful If this height was
ever attained.
Giants other than human are very COM
mon in all branches of the animal king
dom-giants in every sense when COM
pared to their pygmy representatives Of
today. Some years ago some laborers in
the Senalik hills Of India were engaged
came upon the remains of turtle that
proved beyond question that these ami
mails had their giants in the days Of old.
The she'll which the men exposed might
have been used as shelter for several
men, and at first, before it's bony nature
was observed, it was thought by the ma
tives to be hut of some kind. Fortu-
nately the bones were uninjured, and
they were taken out and removed to the
British museum, where complete res
toration Of the animal may be seen. The
length Of the turtle was 10 feet, its
horizontal circumference % feet, and its
girth 15 feet but it was estimated by
scientists that this was not an adult,
and that when fully grown this huge
creature would display domelike back
or feet high, giving total length OF
30 feet.
One of the common animals in equa-
torial South America and in Central
America is the lizard, iguana, which at
tains length Of or 8 feet and is con-
sidered large lizard, but it was pyg-
my when compared to an ancestor that
once wandered over England and vari-
ous portions of the world. A number Of
years ago some workingmen were exca-
waiting and blasting in quarry near
Maidstone, England, when some bones
were uncovered that caused profound
astonishment ON the part Of the finders.
The skeleton was perfect. and as it was
lifted out, bone by bone, their amaze.
ment increased, and the news was spread
all over the country, attracting large
numbers of people. When the bones
were placed in their proper position,
they were found to be the skeleton Of q
| gigantic lizard that when alive must
have been three times as bulky as the
largest living elephant and stood upon
its hind legs like a kangaroo. tearing
down branches from the highest trees.
Such an animal was slow mover and
sluggish and must have fallen an easy
prey to the human hanters, if they ex
listed.
The marine giants were even more
bizarre and remarkable than the LAND
forms. If we can imagine the little ign
ana heightened out to 80 feet, it's bacl
spines changed to broad finlike objects
we form some idea Of the appearance Of
one of the small dinosaurs, Stegosaurul
ungulatus, one of the most uncanny and
remarkable creatures ever found. It il
called the plated lizard, and the bes
skeleton was found on the eastern f1anl
Of the Rocky Mountains. Some Of thu
plates with which this armored lzart
were protected were two or three fee
in diameter and the spines over two
feet in length. From the fact that th'
hind limbs were the largest, it is evi
dent that this strange creature could lif
itself up and sit like a kangaroo. rest
ing upon its powerful tail, which, will
it's enormous spines. must have been I
terrible weapon.
A giant from America had q skull
that measured eight feet in length. AL
most over the eyes were two large horns
4 third placed over the noee. The grea
length Of the skull was given by hug
crest that was protected by ridge O