The Worthington advance., 1901-03-01
MAGE Ian s GlAN' rs
l,r. Cook Gives Some Information Regard
Ina This II nee, ss

sl1rssCOOk Glvoe SOIn0s 0sAnIOFlnaGS0nS4NrSas
lnE This sace.
Myth and ssuperstit ition are long lived.
But they are distinct foes TO human 1
progress. Therefore we may hope that
the voyage ofthe Belgica, as chronicled
by DR.. Frederick A Cook, the only AM
|ericanS Saboaraa, may result In perman-
emily exploding one especially vigOr-
GUS myth. The Belgica did not succeed
in discovering the South Pole, butSit
practically rediscovered the Straits Of
Magellan, which run between Patago-
MIA and Terra del Fuego. DR.. Cook
has given us q fund Of Information
about these territories that border on
the Straits. He has met the inhabit-
ants face to face He has told us pos
itively that they are not giants, al
though they are, perhaps; the tallest
races on earth. Their average height
he places at six feet. A few fall below
that. "A few rise to six or seven inches
above. Now, the legend that these
races were Of an almost superhuman
stature, though repeatedly denied BY
occasional travellers. has persistently
survived in the minds of the vulgar
ever since Magellan himself, the dis
coverer Of the Straits, gave it birth.
Magellan, it will be remembered, de-
scribes the. Patagonians as so tall that
the tallest OF us came up only to their
waists" It is true that the rortugese
are not tall race Nevertheless, Ma
gellan's words would indicate that the
average height Of the Patagonians
must have been some nine feet. Later
travellers of the Middle Ages improved
upon Magellan. Sebald de Wolf, who
visited Patagonia in 1898, :desc-ines the
inhabitants as being ten or eleven feet
high, and so strong that they could
easily tear up by the roots trees soi a
span in diameter. -- IT,.
| Then came more moderate statisti'
clans. Byron, in 1854, says that he saw
q chief not less than seven feet high
and others nearly as tall. Byron was
merely guessing. It was Captain Wal
lis in 1766, who first put the Patago-
mans to the test of actual measurement
He found a few who were six feet sew.
en- inches in height, but the average
stature was only from five feet ten In
ches to six feet. Captain Wallis and
DR.. Cook are in SUBSTANTIAL agreement.
The belief that giants formerly inhab'
tied this globe and that they still sur.
vive in remote and inaccessible regions
has been fostered in Christendom by
the statement in Genesis, There were
| giants on the earth in those days.
But many Biblical students are in
| clined to accept the Interpretation Of
St. Chrysosfom:-.I think that those
| in Scripture called giants are not OF
any unusual kind Of men for shape OF
feature. but such as were heroical
strong and warlike.'
| Deuteronomy describes the bedstead
Of Og, King of Bashan, as nine cubits
in length and four in breadth. A cubit
! was about eighteen inches. Hence thu
bedstead was thirteen and half feet
| long. But It is quite possible that Oe
| used bedstead not in proportion tt
his actual size, but in proportion to his
fancied Importance.
In which connection one may recall
the story Of Alexander the Great. Ii
one of his Asian expeditions he caused
to be made and left behind him sui
of armor of huge proportions, in orde
to induce belief among the people h
had conquered that he was of immens'
size. -
An explanation of this sort woult
not, however, have suited the ancien
rabbinical and Arabian writer's. The!
tell delightful stories Of how Og sur
vived the Deluge by wading, the water!
reaching no higher than his knees. Th'
oily Inconvenience he experienced dur
ing the flood was that he was reduced
to fish diet, his staple food consisting
of whales, which he roasted on tht
disc Of the sun.
Legend aside, it is more than prob
able that the men of today are equal
and probably superior, in stature to tn
ancients. r:
The Greeks and Romans were un
| doubtedly of small size. The helmet!
and sword hilts that have come dowl
to us from the heroic ages could not b.
used by the majority Of soldiers of tn
present European nations. Ancien
rings also are generally too small TO
modern fingers.
But the classic writer's give testimo-
nv enough on this point. Caesar
speaking of the Gauls, says:-"Ou,
shortness Of stature, in comparison
with the great size Of their bodies, i
generally subject Of such contemp
| to the men Of Gaul.' Tacitus also de-
scrifed the Germans as Of robust form
and of great stature, and Strabo says
that he had seen Britons at Rome wht
were half a foot taller than the TALES
Italians. Yet there is no proof that tht
! men of these nations were any larger
in ancient times than they are now
I On the contrary, the graves and bar
rows tell a different: story. The re-
mains are usually. under the average
height of men OF the present day. Il
is the same with the Egyptian mum
mics. -i -
=; Ancient Postal Service.