An Irish Giant

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 15, 9 April 1903, Page 20

An Irish Giant

In the Lecture Theatre of the Royal Dublin Society, 1 rofessor I). J. Cunningham gave a very interesting lecture recently on 'Giants,' and referred in particular to the history of Cornelius M'G.r>ath, whose skeleton, lent for illustrative purposes by the Board of Trinity College, was exhibited on the stage. The lecturer showed a fine series of lantei n views, and his lecture throughout was listened to with intense interest by an audience that tilled^ to overcrowding every part of the theatre. liofubsor Cunningham obfc.ei\ed at the outset that the subject of giantism had become one of more general inteiest m recent times owing to the fact that fresh discoveries were being made regarding the growth processes of the body. For close on a century and a half the skeleton of Cornelius M'Grath had been one of the most treasured possessions of the Trinity College Museum, and in every book on anatomy and anthropology in which the human stature was discussed reference was made to the great height of M'Grath. This famous Irish giant, however, did not hold the first place According to Sir George Humphreys, M'Grath was Bft 6in in height, but an Italian physician, who took, MGrath's measurement in Florence, stated that his height was 7ft sin. The latter was probably the correct measurement. The skeleton was 7ft 2*in high but there was evidence that M'Grath, like all other giants sufTered later in his life from the shortening process due to curvature of the spine. M'Grath was born near Silvermines, County Tipperary and grew so rapidly during his boyhood that when 16 years old he was 6ft 9in in height. About that time M'Grath went to Cork, where he was engaged ior exhibition purposes. He was next heard of in London in 1753, and from there he went to Paris, and afterwards appeared to have visited all the more important cities of Europe. In 1760, some months before his death, he returned to Ireland in miserable health, and died in Dublin at the age of 23 The lecturer then went on to compare M'Grath with other giants, and showed portraits of them on the screen. He said that in all probability giantism was due to a morbid process analogous to, if not identical with, the disease known as acrornegaly. He next discussed the part played by what is known as the pituitary organ in the production of giantism and acromegaly, and referred in some detail to the theory that the pituitary gland is a regulator of the growth processes of the animal body. From this the question arose whether it was not possible, by administering the extracted juice of the pituitary glands obtained from growing animals, to influence the growth activities of children. Attempts had 'been made at various periods of history to rear a race of giants and it had been laid to the charge of Bishop Berkeley of Cloyne, that the huge frame of Cornelius M'Grath 'was the direct result of an experiment he had made in giant i earing But there was no ground for this charge. The Bishop simply took care of M'Grath when he saw his pitiable condition.

The lecturer, in conclusion, mentioned that he himself was pursuing a course of interesting experiments with animals, and he hoped on some future occasion to lay the results before the public.