The Greeley tribune., 1906-11-22
THE GIANTS OF OLD
ANCIENT RACES MARvELs OF PHYS
lcAL DEVELOPMENT.


Years Ago Were All Remarkably
Proportioncd Men - The Giants OF
Ancient Greece and Rome.
That the human race has degener-
ated in size us well us longevity Is
fact we'll attested by various authori-
ties. a prominent Washington physi-
clan who has. made life study OF
brain and cerebral developments. says
that, on visiting the catncombs of Par
Is, what struck him most in those vast
repositories OF the contents OF the
citys ancient graveyards was the
great size Of the skulls in comparison
with those Of more modern mankind
This superiority Of development In the
the scientist attributes to the open air
life then in vogue and the physical
sports and exercises indulged 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-
manity were by no means rare at one
period Of the worlds history.
Thus 1t Is mentioned that the Emper-
or Maximian 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-
tivated Greece and Rome among the
semibarbarous 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 in one of the sepulchral caverns
of that mountain the head of
Guanche which had eighty teeth and
that the body was not less than fifteen
feet long. The giant Ferragus. slain
by Orlando, nephew Of Charlemagne.
was eighteen feet high.
Revland. celebrated anntomst 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 II stone tomb containing Il
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
a. >l,< <>P xr,hfaI,
was engraved, "In this tomb lies the
noble and puissant lord, the Chevalier
Ruon de Vallemont, and his bones"
There is, indeed. evidence in the pom
derous arinor and two handed swords
which remain to us IN museums to
prove that the knight of the ages of
chivlary was heroic specimen of hu-
man architecture.
Platerins. famous physician. de-
ciared 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 part
of his shin bone. with the articulation
of the knee, and his figure painted in
fresco, with an inscription showing
that this giant was twenty-five and
one-hnlf feet high and that his bones
were found in 1905 near the banks of
the ModerI. n little river at the foot OF
the mountain of Crusol, upon which
tradition says the giant dwelt.
On Jan. IL, 1853, some masons dig
-f,> ,.,,i,, Nf nofl in
Dauphine, In locality which had long
been known as the Giants field, ut the
depth of eighteen feet discovered
brick tomb thirty feet long. twelve
feet wide and eight feet high, on which
was n gray stone, with the words
''Theotobochus Rex" cut thereon.
When the tomb was opened they found
human skeleton, entire, twenty-five
and one-half feet long, ten feet wide
scross the shoulders and five feet deep
from the breastbone to the back. The
teeth We're each about the size of an
ox's foot and his shin bone measured
four feet.
Near Margarine, in Sicily, in 1916,
was found Il giant thirty feet high.
His head was the size of Il hogshcad,
and each of his teeth weighed five
ounces.
Near Palermo, in the valley of Ma
CARA. in Sicily, skeleton of giant
thirty feet long was found in the year
1913 and another thirtythree 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 thirty-four and
another thirty-six feet in height.
At Totic IN Bohemia. in T5S, was
found skeleton the head of which