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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



and a half feet ; small races, which are less than five and one fourth feet; 

 and large races, which are more than five and a half feet in height. 



From time to time there are found in different populations indi- 

 viduals whose stature departs much from the mean, either in excess 

 "giants" or in deficiency "dwarfs" ; and teratology has failed to 

 find adequate explanations of the causes of such variations. 



If we may believe the ancient authors, a large number of giants* 

 and giantesses attained extraordinary stature, even for persons of that 

 class. Pliny mentions the giant Gabbara, who was nine feet nine 

 inches tall, and two other giants, Poison and Secundilla, who were 

 half a foot taller ; Garopius tells of a young giantess who was ten 

 feet high ; and Lecat, of a Scotch giant, eleven and a half feet in 

 height. But we may take it for granted that these figures are greatly 



