THE TRUTH ABOUT GIANTS EXPLODES

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 6, 20 February 1952, Page 5

THE TRUTH ABOUT GIANTS EXPLODES

Until quite a recent date it was generally accepted that a woman had one more rib thap a man. The idea persisted, in fact, until some ^enius thou^t hard and tried counting them. Much the same goes for giants. It was about the middle of the last century before anyone got down to making any accurate measurements.. Thus *it is hardly surprising to hear 'that Adam was reckoned to be 123: feet tall, while Eve was a mere five feet shorter. The Cingalese, who« are chief claimants to the site of the Garden of Eden, still venerate Adam's footprint — which is about the size of a large bath. The Middle Ages saw a little less [fanciful calculation in the matter of giant. The overgrown Europeans of those days were said to touch' bctween 20 and 30 feet. There was, it seemed, considerable evidence to prove this. There was, for instance, the monstrous shinbone of the "noble and puissant lord, the Chevalier Ricon de Vallemont.,v It was four feet long, making the chevalier about 17 feet tall. The giant Bucart measured rather more than 22 feet aceording to a similar calculation. Even better was Theutabochus Rex, a skeleton disinterred in 1613 and measuring 25 feet.

It must have come as a severe blow to historians when comparative anatomists took another Jook at the bones and said that they belonged not to men, but to whales, elephants, mastadons and' other animals. A large tooth which had been proudly exhibited for years as that of a giant proved to be the property originally of a sperm whale.A giant's skeleton shown in London early in the 18th. century had been artfully rigged up from the fin-bones of a porpoise. Barnum used to exhibit an ossified giant made of first quality cement. The unexciting truth seems to be that it is improbable that anyone has attained a height of more than ten feet, and that nine feet is the more likely figure. Brasenose College has a portrait of one of the earliest accredited giants, John Middleton Hale, born in 1578, who stood Sft. 3in. in his socks. The Scottish giant, at 8ft. 3 in., and the tallest of the Regiments of Giants raised by Fred- • erick the Great, is generally accepted by connoisseurs. Marianne Wehide, who astonished 19th. century Germany by reaching 8ft. 4Jin. at thfe age of 16, still holds the elongation record of her sex. Coming down the scale there was Big* Sam, a mere eight-footer. who was porter at Carlton Palace while George IV. was Prince of Wales. Whenever they needed a giant at Drury Lane, Big Sam obliged| Some families have a hereditary tendancy to lengthiness. Boys and girls of each succeeding generation , in such families are inclined to j tower over their fellows, but they | rarely reach more than 6ft. 8in. and1 are usually even proportioned. The type of giant who sprouts up over 8ft. does so as a result of disease of the anterior lobe or the pituitary gland. This small gland at the base of the brain secretes- what is known as the "growth hormone.,, When too much of this hormone is produced during the growing period, the youth shoots 'up a.nd his tiands, feet ahd jaw are out of pro— portion to the rest of his anatomy. Some giants are the children of. normal people /and often stdrt as perfectly ordiniary babies. Their own children, if they have any, are usually normal. This fact was brought home to a French baron some years ago when he attemptedi to raise a breed of supermen by inter-marrying giants and giantesses. It was a dismal failure. Giants have always had a great fascination for the public. Giants stride through literature, mythology and fairy stories. The short shift given by Jack to the Giant on the beanstalk has fascinated every childish mind. So has David's disposal of Goliath.