New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-04-11
GREAT ONES OF THE EARIH.
GIANTS OF STORY AND OF FACT

MEN AND WOMEN OF ENORMOUS STATURE FROM
Po1,YPIIEMUs TO ELLA EWING.
~ Won hare seen Miss Ella Ewing the giantess OF
the Barnum e. Bailey show. you possibly t'oue"'
that she was simply overgrown country woii'"'''
not beautiful or shapely, or particularly ih'ere
ing Yet IL you look at her carefully and are iaii'
a., wit, tho sub,ect II must occur 10 you that sho
70 rather a good example OF giant as giants go
She does not lack much OF being as tall as the pest
giants of history and what makes II moro ieiiA'
able is that she is a woman. For not only IL 'h0
ayeraSe stature Of women less than that Oh men,
but the records show many moro giants hitherto
than giantesses Now. however. women are hndins
their way into almost every station that was Tor
merlv occupied exclusively by men, and perhaps
the coming of Miss Ewing Is to be hailed a. an
other advance.
With Miss Ewing right IN the middle OF tho
Greater New-York. II IS impossible to say just no"
tall she H. To hint at a measurement wouio Dc 10
tmply a doubt of the showman's word, and no ono
would think Of doing that Shs looks about eight
feet, but perhaps seven and half would DO nearer
20 the figure to which would care to make oath
Seven and a half feet-ths figure is only supposi-
ti,ious and tentative.does not sound'
with men who are six. but Il authentic RECORDS
OF gahs are sready set down that Miss Ewing
good example Of a giant, as giants go Inc ooJeIt
Of the present discussion is to show tnat the p,s
neople OF the world have not been so astonishlney
But if is impossible to say here and now Just
how tall Miss Ella Ewing Is. how shall II De posi-
Bile to tell the exact size OF giants VINO ave9 year
ago centuries ago and thousands OF years iur.het OF
hack still? II WILL perhaps be safest 10 assume at
the start that stories of giants have ALMOST always
been exaggerated Everybody VINO .ea us. r.ons
still living who do not hesitate TO 90 So even a. tne
expense Of absolute facts. And in times when peo-
pie were more credulouS than now 'his 'eioeHe'
was even more INDUCED
MISUNDERSTANDING OF BONES
There were other reasons than this why rather
lare. tales Of giants became current There were
the Same reasons for the accounts OF the mytho-
LOGICAL giants that there were for the rest OF tho
mythology and while these beliefs were growing
Of course there was nothing in particular to stop
them. Then, again, knowledge OF comparative
anatomy slender in ancient days ana when
bones were dug up nobody stopped 10 thlnR that
other animals than men had bones and tney , were
nretty much all set down az human unhesitatingy.
In this way the bones Of elephants or even OF mas
todons would be found and supposed TO be human,
and a belief in giants Of tremendous sizo was tho
Inevitable result. a..
Even Button was deceived in this way into the
much as ten or twelve or fifteen feet tall And
a ske!eton-what animal 1t could have belonged to
is hard TO imagne-was dug UP IN SICILY some nye
hundred years ago and at once assigned 70 INC
giant Poiyphemus The mid Sacnao o a SrS sen,
tall The reader is assured that this IS the biggest
story that he viii find in this article and If he Sv can
out fear Many fossil bones have been found in many
places and have been ne e bones Of on
o. all. hut after tho example that has been given,
any OF tho other stories arising In this way would
il was perfeouy easy, too, for people who Pre-,
ferred believing 10 doubling TO be convinced that
things which might not exist In their own times
could have existed in other times. And So IN the
story Of Jack the Giant; Killer which was no doubt
the hssh % of the g geRaxe waS hc
Bu pck n~ed in the days of King Arthur and IT
was common belief that giants were credi
King Arthur himself and many, If not the most, OF
his knights win gTsa rthr was fourteen feet
tai ana tina, GnWa a 9a o. e the account 9
the d;seing up Of Arthurs bones at Glastonbury
Abbey. in the time Of Henry II. says that ms thsn
man But it is likely that the whole story Of the
digging up of ArthuTs bones was a not TOO p loHs
fraud and as for the old Chroncler, he was PROP
ably only trying TO Guido some other chronlcier
GIANTS NOT so BIG. AFTER ALL
Though ell these things are fables. It may be
surprise to some to be told that even Buffons min
imun figure Of nine feet Is not now regarded by
the best authorities as r. possibility. Queteet.
learned writer on the subject, believes that the
largest man who lived was Frederick tho
Great, Scottish giant. who was a trine short OF
feet inches. Probably this opinion cuts down
tho possibilities little far Pliny says that an
Arabian named Gabbaras was feet 5la inches tall.
while Posio and Secundila were each six inches
taller. Pny is no longer believed when he SPEAKS
Of such things AS another example Of oldtime
exaggerat.on. II may be remarked in passing that
certain class or on their fnSs ~
home-declared that the height or the Patagonians
wac such that ordinary men only caIno up 10 their
waists Now the average height Of the Patagonl-
ans is really feet II inches.
Without doubt the most famous giant or history
or story or anything else Goliath IL Is not easy
10 tell exactly how tall he was. because auth0fites
differ as 10 1llst how much Il cubit was, ana IL IS
thought moreover that the height assigned TO him
included his helmet but proDapIy, ior -, h
ures Of the fight Of David and Goliath, which ch
three four times as tall as the former arc
mere fancy sketches There Is a notion peGTha nap
,'le fellow at the tine When h killed , IS1 idas
than giant himself. and the actual difference Q:
stature between him and his antagonist was not
Saul, when David proposed to tight Goliath. Saul
tried to dssuade David from the battle. but no did
the ground OF his youth not OF his size.
Thou art not able" he SAID. 10 80 against this
youth. and he man OF war from his youth
MORE THAN ONE GIANT IN THE STORY.
Not a word does ne say about David being too
small 10 fight with Goliath, and surely, II there had
been any great discrepancy In their sizes he would
have used IL argument when he was trying
to keep David out of the fight. Moreover. when he
had decided TO let David go against Goliath, Saul
armed him with his own armor Now, Saul him
self was a giant. From his shoulders and up
ward he higher than any Of tho people" 1t Is
reasonable to suppose that there were some tall
men among the people, say some over six feet. And
If Saul head and shoulders taller than any Of
these he must have been pretty well over seven
feot And IL David had been person or small or
even medium size. there would never have been
any thought OF his wearing Sauls armor And
when he nj last refused 10 wear SauIS arms. IL
not because they were too large the most nat
ural excuse If they had been SO but because he had
mot proved them" Even Goliath himself, when
he David. disdained him. not because he was
small but because "he was but youth and rudy,
and OF a fair countenance."
So It may be determined that there we're two
giants in this story and perhaps three. Saul was
a giant and David little less, II he was not
actually one. There mentions Of other giants