Show simple explanation F of origin of giant myths A recent dispatch from india re porting that natives have found bones of a giants giant s skeleton no less than 31 feet high has torn up all records of this particular myth not even the imaginative doctor ma wh fabricated in 1613 the circumstantial tale of a brick tomb not only containing his giant but provided with equally gigantic i swords and other weapons and even labeled with the name and titles which the giant had borne dared to make his imagined relic more than 25 26 feet tall the famous giant of lucerne who involved scores of swiss and german scientists in acri conlous controversies from 1577 un til III after 1600 was credited with only 19 feet england En glands a giant of thorne way in cumberland said to have been found in armor which has con disappeared measured but 14 feet by contemporary accounts no doubt the new 31 toot foot marvel of calcutta belongs with these oth ers among the long list of confusions between human bones and those of fossil animals mostly elephants A few thousand bears ears ago several types of elephants such as the mam main moths and mastodons were much more numerous and widespread than any kind of elephant Is today being comparatively recent in geologic history their bones he ile close to the ground and frequently are found by diggers or plowed up by farmers something which ignot Is not true of bones of still larger animals of earlier ages such as the gigantic dinosaurs some elephants leg bones look su not unlike human bones b on it ey Is small wonder that they an and bu iu man giants have been confused al though even in the famous william harvey remarked of the supposed giant of gloucester that his big bones evidently belonged in real ity to some exceedingly great beast such as an elephant there Is less excuse for doctor Mazur lers manu facture out of whole cloth of the brick tomb weapons and inscriptions which he said he found with the 26 foot previous holder of the giant record to students of folklore these mis conceptions concept lone about elephant bones supply one possible explanation of the virtually worldwide belief that giants once existed but not the only one another suggestion Is the recollection by primitive people of other human beings able to walk on stilts as fen dwellers still do in eastern england or dune dwellers in southwestern france thus probably originated the tale of the fast moving seven league boots still an other possible origin of giant myths Is garbled tales of men standing on towers or platforms like the amov able siege towers used in ancient warfare and perhaps some giant myths date from days when relatively short races such as the celts were tn in conflict with relatively tall ones like the danes or saxons but not even folklore has recorded giants 31 feet high new york her aid ald tribune |