tllE StATURE OF MAN AT VARIOUS EPOCnS. 523 



anatomist, said that it was an imposturo to attribute Uic Ijohcs to 

 Teiitoboclius. Other men, like OnillcMneaii, royal sur*jeon, and Nico- 

 las Ilabicot defended the theory, and a controversy rich in incident 

 lasted five years, Tlie belief, which even in the time o^ BufFon seemed 

 to lack the marks of verisimilitude, was not finally dissi])ated until 

 De Blainville, in May, 1835, declared to the Academy of Sciences tliat 

 the bones attributed to Teutobochus were those of a mastodon iden- 

 tical Avith mastodons previously found in Ohio. 



For lack of populaticms of real i^iants, that is, men whose enormous 

 stature separated them by a sort of hiatus from the tallest men one 

 ordinarily sees, modern explorers have brought to our knowledge two 

 races of men who are very tall without being inordinately so. They 

 are called pseudo-giants. The two groups, representing the type of 

 the tallest men on the globe, are the Patagonians of America and the 

 Polynesians. 



The Patagonians are especially interesting. Magellan was the first 

 to see them, in 1519, on the strait called by his name, between Terra 

 del Fuego and the American continent. Once during the five months 

 of winter that he was forced to pass in this region, wdiich he thought 

 uninhabited, the Spaniards Avere visited by a native, come without 

 doubt from some distance. He was gay, vigorous, confident, and he 

 did not hesitate to go on board the vessel. In the written account of 

 the voyage, the height of this savage is described as having been so 

 great that the head of an average-sized man in the crew reached only 

 to his w'aist. He was stout in proportion, his strength was consider- 

 able, and his appetite commensurate with his size. Having been well 

 treated, he soon brought some of his companions of his own propor- 

 tions. Magellan gave them the name of Patagonians. 



If this description were to be taken absolutely literally, the Pata- 

 gonians must have been about 8^ feet tall. Elsewhere, it is true, the 

 author of the narrative ascribes to the natives only 7 feet inches. 

 It is interesting and instructive to note the variety of estimates made 

 of their height by voyagers who have seen them. Magellan accords 

 them Ti feet; Commodore Byron 7 feet; the Dutchman Sebald de 

 Noort 10 to 11 feet. Smaller size, however, is attributed to them by 

 Commerson, traveling companion to INI. de Bougainville and the 

 Prince of Nassau. He says their height is not much greater than that 

 of the average-sized Frenchman, usually from 5 feet 8 inches to (5 

 feet; none exceeded 6 feet 4 inches. This is far from being gigantic, 

 as Commerson remarks, and he comes out very strongly against the 

 fables and lies related concerning these pretended Titans. He is 

 right. The Patagonians are men of great size, but they are by no 

 means giants. Topinard, Avho forty years ago measured a fairly 

 large number of their skeletons, assigns to them a height of 1.78m. 



The general run of anthropologists admit the division of races or 



