Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1896-05-06
THE GIANTS OF OLD.
PREVIOUS AGES SUPPLY US WITH
ENORMOUS FOSSIL BONES.

Looked Like a Hut-Marine Giants and
the Remarkable Plated Lizard.
The belief in q 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-
tific world of the time into great excite
ment. 1t was said that the body Of Pal
las, the son Of Evander. had been dis
covered beneath the tomb of the emper-
or Henry Ill. The bones were enor-
nous, and it is unnecessary to state,
proved to have belonged to huge fossil
elephant. As late as the fifteenth CEN
fury war of words was waged over a
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 a 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 Luoerne I'm
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-glants 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
upon government work when they
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 a shelter for several
men, and at first, before its 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, it's
horizontal circumference % feet, and its
girth Is 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
8 or 8 feet high, giving a 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 4 or feet and is con-
sidered large lizard, but it was a pyg-
my when compared to an ancestor that
once wandered over England and yari-
GUS portions of the world. A number of
years ago some workingmen were exca-
waiting and blasting in a quarry near
England, when some bones
were uncovered that caused profound
establishment 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
haVa fNf IL Al. I.
were placed in their proper position,
they We're found to be the skeleton OF n
gigantic lizard that when alive must |
nave been three times as bulky as the |
largest living elephant and stood upon
is hind legs like a kangaroo. tearing
Town branches from the highest trees. |
Such an animal was slow mover and |
Iluggish and must have fallen an easy
,rey to the human hunters, if they ex-
sted.
The marine giants were even more
bizarre and remarkable than the land
orms. If we can imagine the little igu-
ma heightened out to 80 feet, its back
pines changed to broad finlike objects,
ye form some idea of the appearance of
me of the small dinosaurs. Stegosaurus
one of the most uncanny and
creatures ever found. 1t is
allied the plated lizard, and the best
keleton was found on the eastern flank
4 the Rocky Mountains. Some of the
'lates with which this armored lizard
we're protected were two or three feet
u diameter and the spines over two
eet in length. From the fact that the
ind limbs were the largest, it is evil
emit that this strange creature could lift
tsef up aud sit like kangaroo, rest
ng upon its powerful tail, which, with
IS enormous spines. must have been a
srrible weapon.
A giant from America had a skull
nat measured eight feet in length. Al
lost over the eyes were two large horns,
third placed over the nose. The great
myth of the skull was given by huge
'est that was protected by ridge of
ing plates. The mouth of the tricera-
'ps was protected by horny beak. In
fe it must have presented a formid- {
Die appearance, with body clumsy
Id low like that of a hippopotamus, a
ng tail like an alligator s. its head I
Hing to mind the rhinoceros. This I
onster was 30 feot in length and must {
I've been one of tho strangest animals |
its time. -Philadelphia Press.