53 



sequently not surpassing in height some men in 

 modern days. I moreover may observe, that 

 some writers, upon other calculations, assign to 

 Goliath but seven feet. 



With regard to Og, the passage which con- 

 cerns him is still less conclusive ; indeed the text 

 merely says that the dimensions of Og's bed were 

 nine cubits long and four wide ; and we know 

 that one of the greatest proofs of riches, and a 

 necessary concomitant of pomp and parade 

 among the Orientals, was a large and magnifi- 

 cently ornamented bed, without any relation to 

 the size of him who occupied it. 



With respect to profane authority also, it was 

 the custom of the ancients to exhibit in the same 

 sculpture in bass relief, men of very different 

 dimensions making kings and conquerors gi- 

 gantic, while their subjects and vassals were re- 

 presented as only a fourth or fifth part of their 

 size. This must have given origin, among them, 

 to the fables of giants and pigmies ; while a be- 

 lief in such tales has been supported by the dis- 

 covery of gigantic bones, which, through ignor- 

 ance, have been received as human remains. 

 Such bones are now, however, well known not 

 to have belonged to man, but to extinct species 

 of animals, of the elephant and other allied kinds, 

 or whales ; thus, it is not long since the bones 

 of the fore fin of a whale were publicly shewn as 

 those of a giant's hand. 



The same explanation applies to those pre- 

 tended skeletons of giants of twelve, twenty, and 



