Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1906-05-05
THE GIANTS OF OLD
ANCIENT RACES MARvELs OF PHYS
ICAL DEVELOPMENT.

The Semibar bn rians of One Thousand
Years A-o Were All Remarkably
ProDortioncd Mcn- The Giants OF
Ancieut Greece and Rome.
That the human race has degener-
ated i'll size as we'll as longevity is a
fact well attested by various authori-
ties. A prominent Washington physi-
cian who has made life study of
brain and cerebral developments, says
that, Oh visiting the catucolnbs Of Par
Is, what struck him most III those vast
repositories of the contents Of the
citys ancient graveynrds, was the
great size Of the skulls in comparison
with those Of more modern mankind.
This superiority Of development in,the
men who lived 1000 years OF 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 i'll the Bible, and the Greek
and Roman historians have recorded
many examples which serve to show
that these specimens Of elongated hui
manity were by no means rare, at one
period of the worlds history.
Thus 1t Is mentioned TINT the Emper-
or Maximian was eight feet some inch.
es high. The body OF Orestes, accord.
Ing to the Greeks, WINS 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 pnrt Of
present day European nations physical
development reached often to more
wondrous proportions.
The Cheyaler Scory IN his voyage to
the peak Of Tenerife says that they
found In one of the sepulchral caYerns
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 anatomist who
wrote IN 1914, snys that some years
before that time there was to be seen
III the suburbs of St. Germane the
tomb of the giant Isoret, who was
twenty feet high.
AT Rouen IN 1909, In digging in the
bitches near the DominIcamo, there
was found stone tomb containing
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 Bev-
enteen OF eighteen feet high Upon the
tomb was plate Of copper upon which
was engraved. "ln this tomb lies the
noble and puissant lord, the Chevalier
Ruoni de Valiemont. and his bones"
There Is indeed, evidence. In the pom!
derous arlnor and two handed swords
which remain 10 us In museums to
prove that the knight Of the ages OF
chivlary was heroic specimen of hui
han architecture. H
Platerins. famous physician. de
clared that he saw at Lucnrne the trus
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 ali arrow by the Count de Cabillon,
his yassal. The Dominicans had part
OF his shin bone, with the articulation
OF the knee. and his figure painted IN
fresco. with al inscription showing
that this giant was twenty-five and
one.hulf feet high and that his bones
were found in 1TO5 near the banks of
the Moderi; little river ut the foot Of
the mountain Of Crusol, upon which
tradition says the giant dwelt.
On JAN, II. 1888. some masons dig.
ging near the ruins Of O castle in
Danphine. In locality which had long
Ieen known, as the Giants field, at the
depth of eighteen feet discovered a
brick tomb thirty feet long, twelve
feet wide and eight feet high, on which
was u gray stone. with the words
"rheotobochus Rex" cut {. thereon.
When the tomb was opened they found
human skeleton. entire. twenty-five
and one-half feet long. ten feet wide
across 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 1915,
was found a giant thirty feet high.
His head was the size of hogshead,
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 thirty-three feet high
IN 1860. Several of the gigantic bones
of the latter subject are still preserved
by private persons in Italy.