The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1916-06-23
FREAKS OF NATURE
We Know There Are Giants, but
We Do Mot Know Why.
THEY ARE A SORT OF PUZZLE.

LIE HnE n OOnt UT TUZZEEs
Sometimes These Titans Are the Re-
suit of Somewhat Mysterious Dis
ease Called Gganticism-og and
Goliath and the Giant Races of Gath.
Giants and dwarfs abound in the re.
gion Of the Caucasus mountains. Now,
why are some people big and some lit
tle2 In families heredity seems to gov
ern the matter. Where races are con-
cerned it Is not SO easily explained.
We are accustomed, by the way, to
think of the Chinese as Of inferior
height; but that is because our Chinese
immigrants nearly all come from the
south of China. The people of north
China are tall and occasionally ap.
proach the gigantic.
Circus giants are not uncommonly
sufferers from a disease called giganti-
cism, which In the long run is inevita-
bly, fatal 1t appears to be due to
something wrong with a small gland
at the base of the brain, which, In
mysterious way, governs growth. A
strange thing about this afllictlon Is
that the victim may be attacked long
after he has become adult and has
ceased to grow Ia a normal way. a
man over thirty years Of age may sud
denly become a giant, the first warn
ing he gets of the fact being the dis
covery that he needs a larger hat and
bigger boots and gloves.
There are, however, occasional giants
who are simply people Of extraordinary
size, in other respects normal. How to
account for them nobody knows unless
by calling them freaks of nature. Much
more remarkable are the giant families
which are found in the Caucasus re-
gton, though most individuals Of such
families are not big enough to be worth
while for show purposes. For circus ex-
hlbition a giant ought not to be less
than seven feet six inches tail With
that stature, plus boots with thick soles
and high hat, a man may be safely nd
vertised as touching the eight foot mark.
Such giant families are not unknown
In history. Josephus and other profane
historians indorse the statements found
in many places in the Bible in regard
to the giants of Gath, from which To-
cality, It win be remembered, Goliath
hailed. The Bible puts the stature Of
that redoubtable champion at six GU
bits and span'-in other words, about
three inches short of ten feet This
would seem to be the altitude record
for a human being, even allowing that
the measurement was from the ground
to the crest of GoHath's helmet
The most celebrated Of an the giant
breed, not excepting Goliath was Og,
king of Bashan At the time when the
wanderings Of the Israelites ia the will
derness were brought to a close he was
ruler over no fewer than sixty cities
fenced with high walls, gates and
bars" His indeed was a powerful mon
archy, and the conquest Of his realm
by Moses is looked upon to this day as
one Of the greatest events IN Jewish
history
Og, by the way, was accustomed TO
sleep in a remarkable bedstead not Of
wood or metal, but Of basalt.
Whatever tie circumstances under
which the giant breed existed in Pales-
/ tine at the time Of the first arrival of
the Israelites, it is certain that in later
years they We're scattered about among
other peoples IN a political sense some
were Hittites and yet others Amorites.
Coming into contact with other races
they became. 1t would seem. either ex.
tinct or subordinate. From what little
is said of them in history it IS to be
inferred that they were mentally infe-
rior, though formidable fighters by rea-
son of their great size and strength in
an age when mere bodily prowess
counted for much.
If Goliath be supposed to have been
eight and one-half feet high (allowine
for helmet and CREST his stature did
not exceed that Of the celebrated
Winckelmeyer, the tallest man Of mod
ern times, who, born in Bavaria, died
not so many years ago The height OF
many giants has been exaggerated, but
Winckelmeyer was carefully measured
by the anthropologist Doubes.
A man of less than eight and one
half feet could hardly have worn the
enormously heavy armor and accouter
ments described in the first book OF
Samuel as composing Goliath's outfit
The staff of his spear, we are told, was
like a weaver's BEAM, the iron spear
head alone weighing 600 shekels, about
twenty pounds.
The giant breed in Palestine appar
emily died out not very long before the
birth of Christ.
There have been lesser giant breeds
in modern times, but in some instances
they have been the result Of artificial
selection, as, for example, in the case
OF the wrestlers of Nippon, who seer
In crowd, stand head and shoulders
above the ordinary japanese.
In the neighborhood of Potsdam there
are today many very tall people owing
to the fact that King Frederick VIII
ham's famous regiment of giants wa;
long stationed there. The regiment
numbered 2,400 soldiers, and all Eu
rope was searched by the monarch FOL
big men to serve in t,-Philadelphis
Record.