MAN, PHYSICALLY CONSIDERED. 461 



It will be perceived that the varieties of form, color, 

 stature, &.c, are by no means small. The dwarfish Es- 

 quimaux, and the gigantic Patagonian, the jet black Af- 

 rican and the lair faced European, seem widely separa- 

 ted from each other. But there are intervening links ; 

 these widely different hues mingle and blend. Many 

 exaggerated stories have been told of the human stature 

 reaching ten and even eighteen feet. There is a very 

 common belief that the human stature in remote ages, 

 was greater than at the present time, and this belief 

 ha? been grounded upon accounts which have been given 

 of gigantic bones dug up. We are not warranted, how- 

 ever, in believing in the general degeneracy of the hu- 

 man frame. No well authenticated example can be ad- 

 duced of man's stature exceeding eight or nine feet. 

 We must however except Goliath of Gath. He was in 

 height six cubits and a span. The scripture cubit is said 

 to have been twentyone inches. This makes this vaunt- 

 ing Philistine to have had the enormous stature of eleven 

 feet and four inches. This computation cannot however 

 be relied upon as perfectly accurate, for we cannot as- 

 certain the precise measurement of the scripture cubit. 

 It is however undoubtedly very near the truth. Habicut, 

 a celebrated anatomist, describes some huge bones found 

 in a sepulchre, near the ruins of a castle, which he says 

 composed a skeleton twentyfive feet and a half high and 

 ten feet broad at the shoulders. This statement gave 

 rise to along and warm controversy, at the close of which 

 it remained undecided whether these bones were the re- 

 mains of a man, or an elephant. The latter is altogeth- 

 er the most probable. There are, however, several well 

 authenticated accounts of very great stature. 



One of the king of Prussia's guards measured 

 eight feet and a half. J. H. Reichardt was eight feet, 

 and three inches. There is now in England, in one of 

 the college museums, the skeleton of an individual who 

 was eight feet and four inches. Several Irishmen have 

 also been exhibited in London rising of eight feet. Gen- 

 erally these giants have not possessed symmetry of form, 

 or strength proportioned to their size. And it is a very 

 VOL. i. NO. xix. 41 



