The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1917-06-14
Modern Explanations of
Giants and DWarfs
By Walter B. Cannon, Professor of
Physiology, Harvard University

ample of phenomenon, said, ga COW ism 4
a phenomenon, tree isn't phenomenon,
but COW up tree is a phenomenon" H.
Illustrated the common human interest in the
unusual. Perhaps because we quickly be-
come accustomed to the objects that are al
ways round US, we are ready to pay attention
TO strange and exceptional occurrences.
Among the most striking of the unusual
appearances in nature are marked variations
in the size of human beings. From child
hood our wonder has boon awakened by
tales of immensely large or remarkably
small individuals and of their marvellous
deeds. Indeed the fascination that giants
and dwarfs have always held for ordinary
mortals as reflected in the legends of myth
cal beings of great size and power, or small
of size and unusual cunning, that have come
races.
Whenever phenomenal persons of that
kind have been willing to appear in public
they have aroused great popular interest.
The Irish giant, Patrick Cotter, was more
than eight feet high. His thumb was as
large as an average mans wrist; his shoes
were seventeen inches long. He once
terrified Waterman by reaching out to
a street lamp and taking off the top to light
his pipe!
Charles Byrne, another Irish giant, was
even taller than Cotter: and Finlander,
studied by the anthropologist Topinard,
was nine feet and four inches in height.
Dwarfs have been quite as much the OBJ
jects of interest and attention as giants.
From very early times, as shown in ancient
Egyptian sculptures, it was a custom of
princes to have dwarfs among their retainers.
In the Roman court they were regularly a
part of the retinue; the Emperor Domitian
had band of dwarf gladiators, whoses an
tics in mimic gladiatorial exhibitions en-
chanted his courtiers. Later, dwarfs were
sought for the royal households of European
states.
The dwarf, Godfrey Hudson. who lived
in England in the time of Charles I, was
only eighteen inches tall, and on one oc
casion was served in a cold pie, from which
at the proper moment he stepped out fully
armed and accoutred. Many persons to-
day can remember seeing performances in
which General Tom Thumb, the American
carving off the gates of GAIA, the fighting
gladiator, Hercules with the Nemean lion.
| The family records of dwarfs and giants
show that they are the offspring of parents
of normal stature. They are, therefore, iso-
lated departures from the ordinary size of
man. They do not leave descendants.
Scientific examinations and studies carried
on in comparatively recent period have
given us an interesting glimpse into the con-
ditions that determine these curiosities of
growth.
The size of a person depends chiefly on
the bony framework of his body. If the
bones are thick and long, he is large; if
slender and short, he is small. At birth, of
course, the bones of all persons are very
small, but they have remarkable arrange
ments for increasing in size. Surrounding
each bone is sheath in which there is a
continuous layer of minute active bodies, or
cells, that lay down on the surface that they
face deposits of new bone. Thus the struc-
ture gradually changes.
The long bones of the limbs would be
heavy if that action alone occurred. But
something else happens: the middle part of
the shaft, which is originally solid, begins
to be absorbed until the shaft is followed
out; and thereafter, as the outside of the
bone grows the inside is taken away, until
a strong, hard cylinder filled with soft
material has been formed. The ends of
those long bones are in contact with one an
other, of course, at the joints.
In all probability the pressures and motions
in the joints are unfavorable to the deposit
of fresh bone Immediately under the joint
membranes. At any rate, the long bones
of the limbs are not heightened at the sur
face. Instead there is, during the period of
growth, a cap at either end of the shaft that
acts as sort of buffer between the shaft and
the joint surface, and between the caps and
the ends of the shaft there is region that re-
mains softer than the rest and that is made
in part of the cells that lay down bone. 1t
is there that the shaft elongates. AS the
shaft thus increases in length the caps con-
tinue to serve as buffers at the joints And
when full maturity is reached, the soft
regions between the shaft and the caps be-
come ossihed with the rest of the bone, all
distinction of these parts disappear, and the
entire structure then has its completed size
} and form.
After this explanation of the process of
growth in bone, the reader can see that any
condition that interferes with the work of
the bone making cells will stunt the person
in whom such change occurs. On the other
hand, any condition that delays the union
between the caps and the shaft permits the