Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1906-05-31
THE GIANTS OF OLD
ANCIENT RACES MARvELS OF PHYS
ICAL DEVELOPMENT
fenrs Ago Were All Remarkably
PrOpOrtiOned Men - The Giants of


Proportioned Men - The Giants of
Ancient Grcecc and Home.
That the human race has degener-
atcd in size as well rs longevity is a
fact well attested by various -authori-
ties. 4 prominent Washington physi-
clan who has made a life study Of
brain and cerebral developments, says
that, on visiting the catacombs of Par
is, what struck him most In those vast
repositories OF the contents of the
city's ancient graveyards was the
great size Of the skulls IN comparison
with those of more modern mankind.
Thi. superiority Of development in the
men who lived 1000 years or more ago
the scientist attributes to the open air
life then In vogue and the physical
sports and exercises INDUCED in.
There are several races Of giants
mentioned IN the Bible, and the Greek
and Roman historians have recorded
many examples which serve to show
that these specimens of elongated hu-
mainly were by no means rare at one
y.
Thus it is mentioned that the Emper-
or Maxmian was eight feet some inch
es high The body of Orestes. accord
ing to the Greeks, was eleven and
half feet in height, the giant Galbora,
brought from Arabia to Rome under
Claudius Caesar, measured near ten
feet, and the bones of Secondilla and
Pusio, keepers of the gardens of Sal
lust, were but six inches shorter.
The probability is that outside of cul-
tiyated Greece and Rome among the
scmibarbarous of the greater part OF
present day European nations physical
development reached often to more
wondrous proportions.
The Chevalier Scory in his voyage to
the peak of Tenerife says that they
found I'm one of the sepulchral caverns
of that mountain the head Of a
Guanche which had eighty teeth and
that the body was not less than fifteen
feet long The giant Ferragus, slain
by Orlando, nephew of Charlemugne.
was eighteen feet high
Revland, a celebrated anatomist who
wrote in 1914, says that some years
before that time there was to be seen
In the suburbs of St Germane the
tomb of the giant Isoret, who was
twenty feet high.
AT Rouen in 1900, in digging in the
bitches near the Dominicamo, there
was found stone tomb containing q |
skeleton whose shin bone reached up |
to the girdle of the tallest man there |
being about four feet long, and conse
quently the body must have been sew |
enteen or eighteen feet high. Upon the
tomb was plate of copper upon which
was engraved 'In this tomb lies the |
noble and puissant lord, the Chevalier |
Ruon dc Vallemont, and his bones"
There Is, indeed, evidence In the pom |
derous armor and two handed swords |
which remain to us In museums to
prove that the knight of the ages of |
chivlary was heroic specimen of hui
man architecture.
Patterns, Il famous physician, de-
clared that he saw at Lucarne the true
human bones of subject who must
have been at least nineteen feet high.
Valance, in Dauphine, boasts of pos
sessing the bones of the giant Bucart,
tyrant Of the Vivarais. who was slain
by an arrow by the Count de Cabillon,
his vassal. The Dominicans had a part
of his shin bone with the articulation
of the knee. and his figure painted In
.resco, with an inscription showing
that this giant was twenty-five and
one-half feet high and that his bones
were found in 1905 near the banks of
the Moderl. n little river at the foot Of
the mountain of Crusol. upon which
tradition says the giant dwelt.
On Jan. H. 1888, some masons dig
ging near the ruins of castle In
Dauphine In locality which had long
been known rs the Giants field, at the
depth of eighteen feet discovered a
brick tomb thirty feet long. twelve
feet wide and eight feet high OH which
was q gray stone, with the words
"TheotvHochus Rex" cut thereon.
When the tomb was opened they found
u human skeleton, entire twenty-five
and one-half feet long. ten feet wide
across the shoulders and five feet deep
from the breastbonc TO the back. The
teeth were each about the size of an
ox's foot, and his shin bone measured
four feet.
Near Margarine in Sicily. in 1916.
was found a giant thirty feet high
His head WIS the size of a hogshead
and each of his teeth weighed five
ounces.
Near Palermo, in the valley of Ma
CARA. in Sicily, Il skeleton Of a giant
thirty feet long was found in the year
1913 and another thirty-three feet high
in 1850. Several of the gigantic bones
OF the latter subject are still preserved
by private persons in Italy.
The Athenians found thirty-two ia
nous skeletons. one thirtyfour and
another thirty six feet in height
At Totic IN Bohemia, in Tos, was
found >Seltol l,a head af Vliclt |
could scarcely be encompassed hy the
arms OF two men together and whose |
legs, which are sim preserved in the
castle of the city. were twcnty-six feet
long
The celebrated English scientist, Sir |
Hans SloHuc who treated the matter |
ypl., lpnruplly 1npS not In1Nf the |