Giant

Giant, a human being of considerably more than the ordinary stature. The average height of an adult Englishman is 5 ft. 7J in., but individuals of 6 ft. are not uncommon amongst them; and this is an inch above the average height of the Patagonians, who are admitted to be the tallest living race. Thackeray stood 6 ft. 3 in., and his friend Mr. Higgins - the "Jacob Omnium" of the Times - some 4 or 5 in. more. But height that goes far beyond the average may generally be taken as the result of abnormal development which is associated with feebleness of mind and body, and almost invariably followed by premature decay and early death. There is no doubt, however, that a height of between 8 and 9 ft. has been attained, and it has possibly been exceeded. Patrick Cotter (1761-1804), exhibited under the name of O'Brien, is said to have been 8 ft. 7 in., but his memorial tablet in a Roman Catholic chapel in Bristol gives his height as 8 ft. 3 in. The skeleton of Charles Byrne, the "Famous Irish Giant," in the museum of the College of Surgeons, measures 8 ft. 2 in., so that he probably stood at least 8 ft. 4 in. Winkelmaier, an Austrian, who was exhibited in London, and died in 1887, was probably nearer 9 ft. than 8 ft. The giants of Scripture seem to have been "mighty men" rather than men of extraordinary stature; and the height of Goliath, as given by Josephus, has probably been equalled in our own day. The arguments by which, from the clays of St. Augustine to the beginning of the 19th century, it has been sought to prove from Scripture the gigantic stature of early man will carry little weight now. The giants of legend and mythology were beings far exceeding not only the stature, but also the strength and courage and craft, of ordinary mortals. The origin of the former may certainly be traced to the discovery of huge fossil bones at a time when the real nature of these remains was unknown, and giant-myths were invented to account for them; the latter may, with almost equal certainty, be said to be personifications of the powers of nature.