196 
EXTINCT MONSTERS. 
In the year 1613 some workmen in a sand-pit near the castle 
of Chaumont, not far from St. Antoine, found some bones 
(probably of the Mammoth or Mastodon) of the nature of which 
they were entirely ignorant, and many of them they broke up. 
But a certain surgeon named Mazuyer, hearing of the discovery, 
bought the bones, and announced that he had himself discovered 
them in a tomb thirty feet long, bearing in Gothic characters 
the inscription, “Teutobochus Rex.” This was a barbarian king 
who invaded Gaul at the head of the Cimbri, and was defeated 
near Aix, in Provence, by Marius, who brought him to Rome to 
grace his triumphal procession. Mazuyer reminded his credulous 
readers that, according to the testimony of Roman authors, the 
head of this king was larger than any of the trophies borne upon 
the lances in triumph, and for a time his marvellous story was 
accepted. The skeleton of this pretended giant-king was ex- 
hibited in many cities of France and Germany, and also before 
Louis XII., who took great interest in it. The imposture was 
detected and exposed by Riolan, and thus a great controversy 
arose, and numerous pamphlets were written on both sides. The 
skeleton remained at Bordeaux till the year 1832, when it was 
sent to the Museum of Natural History at Paris, where it may 
still be seen. It is needless to say that, on its arrival there, 
M. Blainville at once recognised it as being that of an elephant 
— a Mastodon, in fact. 
Another giant-story may be narrated as follows. In the year 
1577 some large bones were discovered, through the uprooting of 
an oak by a storm, in the Canton of Lucerne, in Switzerland. 
These bones were afterwards declared by the celebrated physician 
and professor at Basle, Felix Plater, to be those of a giant. This 
learned man estimated the height of the giant at nineteen feet ! 
and made a drawing thereof, which he sent to Lucerne. The 
bones have since nearly all vanished, but Blumenbach, at the 
beginning of this century, saw enough of them to prove their 
elephantine nature. The good people of Lucerne, however. 
