, 1896-03-24
THE GIANTS OF OLD.
PREVIOUS AGES SUPPLY US WITH
ENORMOUS FOSSIL BONES.
Lizards Three Times the Size of the Lar
rest Elephant aud . Turtle Whose Shell
Looked Like . Hut-Marins Giants and
the Remarkable Plated Lizard.

the Remarkable Plated 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 a most amazing discovery
was reported, which threw the scien-
tifo world Of the time into great excite
ment. 1t wus said that the body of Pal
las, the son of Evander. had been dis
covered beneath tbs tomb of the emrer-
or Henry Ill. The bones We're enor-
nous, and it is unnecessary to state.
proved to have belonged to II huge fossil!
elephant. As late as the fifteenth GEN.
fury a war Of words WAS waged over IL
find of large Sunes, party claiming
that they belonged to the giant Teuto-
bochus. In 1857 Il giant was discovered
in Switzerland. The council of Lucarno
requested u learned scientific man. Pro
fessor Felix Platter of Basel, to report
upon it, and he not only announced the
bones as part Of u human giant. but
made a complete restoration, showing
the man go 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 CT Jesuits at Lucerne. I'M
fortunately for the theory and much to
the discontinue of the people who had
raised to u high pinnacle this mighty
nnn,ctnr - xvnS f,r,ul IN ha ,l,n ra,,.i,,,
Of an elephant.
Nearly all the mastodon finds in this
country were attributed to giants. hut
there il no evidence that q human giant
ever existed over 8 feet in height. and il
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 il
theSenalik hills Of India were engaged
upon u government work when they
came upon tho remains of a turtle that
proved beyond question that these ami
mails had their giants i'll the days of old.
The shell which the men exposed might
have been used as u shelter for several
men, and ut first, before its bony nature
was observed, it was thought by the na-
tives to be a Int Of some kind. Fortu.
nately the bones We're uninjured, and
they were taken out and removed to the
British museum, where IL complete res
toration of the animal may be seen. The
length Of the turtle was 10 feet. its
horizontal circumference 25 feet, and its
girth 10 feet, but it was estimated by
scientists that this was not an adult,
and that whom fully grown this huge
creature would display u domelike back
8 or Q feet high, giving a total length of
20 feet.
One Of the common animals in aqua
torial South America and in Central
America il the lizard, iguaua, which ut
tains q length Of 4 or 8 feet and is con-
sidered a large lizard. hut it was a pyg-
my when compared to an ancestor that
n c wandered over England and vari-
Gus portions Of the world. A number of
years ago some workingmen were exca-
waiting and blasting in u 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 largo
numbers Of people. When the bones
were placed in their proper position.
they were found to be the skeleton of u
gigantic lizard that when alive must
have been three times US balky as the
largest living elephant aud stood upon
its hind legs like u kangaroo. tearing
down branches from the highest trees.
Such an animal was q slow mover and
sluggish and must have fallen an easy
prey to the human hunters, if they ex-
listed.
The marine giants were even more
bizarre and remarkable than tho land
forms. II we can imagine the little igu-
ma heightened out to 80 feet, its back
spines changed to broad finlike objects.
we form some idea Of the appearance of
n Of the small dinosaurs, Stegosaurus
ungulatus, one OF the most uncanny and
remarkable creatures ever found. 1t is
called the plated lizard, and the best
skeleton was found OH the eastern flank
Of the Rocky Mountains. Some Of the
plates with which this armorsd lizard
were protected were two or three feet
in diameter and the spines over two
feet in length. From the fact that the
hind limbs were the largest. it is evil
dent that this strange creature could lift
itself up and sit like u kangaroo. rest
ing upon its powerful tail, which, with
its enormous spines, must have been =
terrible weapon.
A giant from America had n skull
that measured eight feet in length. AL
most over the eyes were two large horns,
. third placed over the nose. The great
length of tho skull was given by q huge
crest that WIS protected by = ridge Of
long plateA The mouth OF the tricera-
tops was protected by a horny beak. In
life 1t must have presented q formid-
able appearance, with y body clumsy
and low like that Of a hippopotamus, u
long tail like an alligntor's. its head
calling 10 mind the rhinoceros. This
monster Was rs fest in length and must
have been one Of the strangest animals
At IL timA-Philadelphia Press.
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That's what Dswit4's Witch Hazel
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