144 On Dwarfs and Giaiits. 



cocious increase of stature. Though works upon giants are 

 very numerous, their history is not so far advanced as that of 

 dwarfs. The reason is, because their existence has been dis- 

 cussed more than studied ; because they were more rare than 

 dwarfs, and been more seldom used as playthings. Antiquity 

 and the middle ages concur in the existence of men of an extra- 

 ordinary height. Many philosophers have even been of the opi- 

 nion that great nations, nay, that the whole of mankind, were 

 originally of a gigantic height, which has gradually diminished 

 down to the present time. According to the calculations of 

 Henrion, the Academician, in 1718, Adam was 123 feet 9 inches 

 high, Noah a little more than 100 feet, Abraham 80, Moses 30, 

 Hercules 10, Alexander 6, and Caesar less than 5. It is well 

 known that the mythologies of almost every nation are founded 

 on this belief. As the principal evidence of these assertions, 

 the discovery of human bones of large dimensions has been 

 quoted : such as those found in Sicily, near Trapani, in the 

 fourteenth century, and which belonged to a Cyclops of 300 feet 

 high, evidently Polyphemus ; those of Teutobochus, King of 

 the Cimbri, found, during the reign of Louis XIII., in Dau- 

 phiny ; besides a great many which are cited by ancient and 

 modern writers. But the researches of Cuvier in ancient zoolo- 

 gy, and the rapid progress of comparative anatomy, have esta- 

 blished beyond doubt, that these gigantic bones are merely 

 those of the elephant, mastodon, rhinoceros, or cetaceous ani- 

 mals, shells of tortoises, or hydrocephalous skulls. 



The Bible has been finally adduced, where it is mentioned 

 that giants were born in consequence of the intercourse of the 

 sons of God with the daughters of men ; many other passages 

 have been brought forward, especially the history of Goliah. 

 The Hebrew word, however, which is rendered giant, also sig- 

 nifies a violent or cruel msiw. As to Goliah who was vanquished 

 by David, he was not, according to calculations which have been 

 made, more than seven or eight feet high, a stature which is 

 sometimes met among men. The other instances do not pre- 

 sent any thing conclusive. It is even the same with those fur- 

 nished by profane writers ; all these are owing to exaggeration, 

 folly, and credulity. 



On the other hand, it seems established that human stature 



