WK D167g 1895 GIaHTS iUJD GIANTISM. by Dr.Chas.L.Dana. in Scribners Mag. Set.1895. NLM DOlSbQbT fi U.S. NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE RETURN TO NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDIQNE BEFORE LAST DATE SHOWN ') ?L NLM001560698 GIANTS AND GIANTISM By Qjarles L. Dana, M.D. IT is now about two years since a band He died, after a short illness, from the of Peruvian Indians came to this effects of his disease, and in the brain country for the purpose of amusing there was found a little gland known as the American public. They were not the pituitary body, enlarged to many sufficiently interesting to attract atten- times its original size. tion, so they became stranded and were Now, it has been suspected, and by brought to New York. One of the many believed, that the enlargement of members of the tribe was known as the this gland was the cause of the gigantic Peruvian Giant. He was soon taken ill, growth of the extremities in acrome- and came under my observation at the galy. It occurred to me that it might hospital. I saw at once that he was also be the cause of giantism in gen- not only a giant, but a victim of a eral, and the further legitimate infer- peculiar disease known as acromegaly ence was that all giants were simply (aKpov, extremely; peyakos, great). In peculiar types of acromegaly, and that persons who have this disorder, the giantism was only a form of nervous head, and particularly the face, the disease. The idea that big men are hands, feet, and the chest grow to enor- not simply freaks, as has been pre- mous proportions, the total height, in viously supposed, but victims of a neu- most cases, not being greatly increased, rosis or nervous disorder, was one of HoAvever, the Peruvian Giant had not sufficient interest to justify me in fol- only enormous feet, hands, and head, lowing up the subject of giants from but he measured six feet nine inches in the neurologist's standpoint, and my height, and in stature and weight was results, I think, have justified the ex- genuinely gigantic. He was, in fact, penditure of some little time on the both an " acromegalic" and a giant, matter, as well as furnished, perhaps, The Variations in Human Stature. The giant Winckelmeyr, measuring 8 ft. 6 in., at the left; a new-born child to the right. V^ 180 GIANTS AND GIANTISM some conclusions of interest to the gen- eral reader. Let me return for a moment to my own giant, who was certainly an ex- traordinary specimen of humanity. His advertised height was seven feet six inches, and his weight three hundred and fifty pounds. Purveyors of freaks, hoAvever, consider it legitimate by tak- ing thought to add a little to the stat- ure, in order to complete the allur- ing phraseology of their announcements. As a matter of fact, his height was a little short of seven feet, while his weight was cer- tainly over three hundred pounds; his jaws and the bones of his fore- head were great- ly projected, giv- ing to his face an elongated and gruesome ap- pearance. His hands and feet were also very large, but the growth, as in the disease acrome- galy, was more in circumference than in length. The character of this growth is very well shown in the picture of the giant's hand, as compared with that of an aver- age man [p. 181]. His chest was also of astonishing dimensions, measur- ing fully fifty inches without distention. When it is remembered that the aver- age man measures only about thirty- four inches about the chest, and that powerful athletes rarely get a chest measurement above forty-two or forty- three inches, this enlargement can be appreciated. I learned that in life he was quiet in manner, apathetic, not over - intelligent, and very good - nat- ured, seeming little interested, how- ever, in his surroundings. The brain was only of average size, weighing fif- ty ounces, the ordinary brain weighing Old cut used in advertis'ng the Irish Giant, Cornelius McGrath, date 1737 A.D. forty-eight. It showed some peculiar- ities of structure which I have de- scribed in detail in a technical journal, and they need not be dwelt upon here. The disease acromegaly is a very rare one. It was described first by a French physician, Marie, about eight years ago, and since then less than one hundred cases have been observed. In all those cases in which death occurred and an au- topsy was made, the enlargement of the pituitary gland was found. No other change so striking or unique Avas dis- covered, hence the inference that this enlargement had something to do with the disease, was made. Fur- t h e r investiga- tions have shown that this modest organ, to Avhich, heretofore, little attention had been paid, has a most curious zo- ological history, and apparently exercises a very profound influ- ence upon the nutrition of the body. In sever- al cases in which the gland Avas diseased it was observed that the patients wasted away; that the temperature of their bodies fell, and that they showed other and progressive disturb- ances in nutrition. Experiments upon animals still further proved that its in- jury or destruction led to emaciation, disturbance in breathing, and various evidences of impaired bodily health, ending finally in death. The pituitary gland has thus, by rea- son of these various discoveries, been raised to the rank of an important or- gan of the body, and one might now claim, with much more justice, that it, rather than the pineal gland, is the seat of the soul. I may, therefore, be fore going further in my giant story, GIANTS AND GIANTISM 181 say a word about it It is, in healthy persons, a small round substance, about as large as a pea, placed at the base of the brain, just back of the nerves of Brain of a Giant showing at X the Pituitary Gland. the eye as they cross in order to pass out of the skull into the orbits. It is securely protected in a little depres- sion in the skull, just above the roof of the throat (pharynx). This part of the throat is often diseased in children, and Avhen such trouble occurs to a large ex- tent, the health of the child is much af- fected. Whether the close proximity of the pituitary gland has something to do with this, is a subject of legitimate speculation. Nowadays, in determining the size of some special part of the body, Ave often gain a great deal of light by following back the history of it throughout the animal series, and it is through ana- tomical studies of this kind that our ideas of the functions of this gland are best obtained. In the very lowest types of our vertebrate ancestors, there is an opening betAveen the throat or the mouth-cavity and the brain-cavity, at the point where the pituitary gland lies. This opening leads into a passage Avhich extends through the centre of the brain and spinal cord, and by means of it Avater and air are carried into the nerve-centres. The pituitary gland, in these loAver animals, stands at this orifice and there exercises a two- fold duty. One part of the gland, con- sisting of nervous matter, acts as a sort Vol. XVII.-17 of sense-organ and aids in selecting the right kind of Avatery nutriment. The other part, which is a glandular organ, discharges into the opening in the ner- vous system a fluid which has a ma- terial importance in nourishing the nerves. In other words, this pituitary gland, in the lower animals, acts as a kind of nostril for controlling and help- ing the nutrition of the nerve-centres. As the vertebrates develop and their structure becomes more complex, the necessity for the nervous part of the gland ceases, and the orifice between the mouth and brain becomes closed up. The glandular part proper, however, Avhich furnishes some material that has an important use to the proper growth and action of the nerve - tissues, re- mains, and throughout the AA-hole of the vertebrate series, up to man him- self, it has not materially changed in proportionate size, though undoubted- ly its relative importance has become very much less. The pituitary gland, therefore, we believe to be still an or- gan which separates from the blood some substance that has an important use in the economy. "When destroyed, the body Avastes and growth stops; Avhen enlarged and over-active, exces- sive groAvth occurs. The first confirmation that giantism was a nervous disorder and not a freak, came through an elaborate anatomical study of the skeleton of one Cornelius McGrath, an Irish giant, made famous by the attentions originally bestowed upon him by Bishop Berkeley. This benevolent prelate is reported to have taken Cornelius, who Avas an orphan boy, fed him on some giant-making The Hand of a Giant (with Acromegaly) and that of a Man of Average Size. 182 GIANTS AND GIANTISM food with such success, that by the time he was sixteen years old he measured seven feet ten inches in height. Just as the good bishop had got him fairly started, however, as an example of ripe nutrition, Cornelius died. His skeleton, Avhich Avas preserved in the Trinity College Museum, at Dublin, shows an enormous cavity at the base of the skull, in the place ordinarily oc- cupied by the pituitary gland. The measurements of the bones also show all the characteristics of a case of acromegaly. Profes- sor Cunningham, who has made an anatomical study of the skeleton, pronounces McGrath to be an illustration of this disease. In one of the museums of this city I found an American giant seven feet four inches high, who amiably consented to let me examine him. I discovered that, in ad- dition to his admirably gigantic proportions, he had a most curious de- velopment of the bones of one side of his face and head, so that he had, besides some of the gen- eral signs of acromegaly, a real manifestation of it on one-half of one ex- tremity. He was five- sixths giant and one- sixth acromegaly, at least. Several other cases of acromegaly in giants have since been reported, but not to weary my readers, I will add that I have procured photographs of nearly all the living giants now on ex- hibition, together Avith some illustra- tions in the works of Ranke and others, and a study of their features sIioavs that about one-half of them are evidently cases of that disease. For the rest, many seem to haAre normal proportions, yet it is quite possible that eventually the genuine symptoms of the neurosis will supervene, or have already done so. A Minnesota Giant with Partial Acrome- galy. It might perhaps be inferred that, if the enlargement of the pituitary gland makes people giants, Ave could artifi- cially increase the stature by feeding persons of stunted groAvth upon the extract of the gland. This, hoAvever, does not, by any means, follow. It is probable that the gland exercises its in- fluence through some modification of the activities of its living cells, or by abstracting and destroying some con- stituent of the blood, and not simply by pouring its product in unusual amount into the system. Hence, feeding one Avith the actual gland - sub- stance would be quite ineffective. Still, wr e know that it is possible, by certain kinds of gland- feeding, to increase the stature of dwarfed per- sons very rapidly. There is, for example, a gland called the "thyroid body," lying in the neck, the juice of which, when fed to certain kinds of dwarfs (cretins) causes them rapidly to grow. Experiments in feeding animals and men Avith the pituitary body are, however, now in prog- ress. Aside from the special interest Avhich I take in the relation of giantism to nervous disorder, there are many curious facts about giants as a class that are worth no- tice. There are hardly any truthful records of the giants of the past, though literature is full of wondrous tales about them. A French academician, M. Henrion, once estimated the height of Adam to be one hundred and tAventy - three feet, and that of Eve, one hundred and eighteen, proportions that must have appeared most formidable to the ser- pent, and made the proposition for ap- ples seem a somewhat trivial thing. The same authority brings Abraham doAvn to tAventy - eight feet, and makes Mo- GIANTS AND GIANTISM 183 ses only thirteen. Goliath's recorded height is, however, only nine feet nine inches, which is within the bounds of possibility. Pliny speaks of seeing a giantess ten feet two inches in height, and a skel- eton seventy feet long. There are weird stories of the Emperor Maximil- Chang and the Midget. ian, Avho was reputed to be nine feet high and to have eaten forty pounds of meat a day. He Avas surely Rabelais's model for Gargantua. In the fifteenth century there are records of giant skel- etons eighteen and thirty feet long. Evelyn speaks of seeing a giantess ten feet six inches tall, but nine feet or thereabouts seems to have been the favorite size for mediaeval giants. As one gets nearer the nineteenth cen- tury, the height of the big men gets gradually lower. There are still some stories of nine-feet monsters, but no au- thentic record is given of a human be- ing reaching that height. The heights of the giant only become authentic in the eighteenth century. At that time he developed commercial value as a freak, and as an appendage to persons of smaller dimensions but greater so cial importance. Descriptions become more numerous in literature and fig- ures more trustAvorthy. An obliging and candid dealer in freaks has sug- gested to me that, if one takes from three to five inches from the advertised height of a professional giant, he can reach a fair conclusion as to the facts in the case. Applying this rule, I find that in historic times, giants have aver- aged from six feet ten inches to eight feet six inches, and the weight from three hundred to four hundred and eighty pounds. Through the help of Mr. EdAvard C. Dana, avIio has most industriously searched the literature of this subject, I have been able to collect the history of all the giants who have gone on record as public characters since 1700 A.r>., and I find that the total does not much exceed one hun- -gKv dred. About tAventy 7'\ v!&W of these have been ad- i-*&/wf:~te, vertised as over eight I |L~ If one confines him- jfl WT\ self entirely to the ^BBB^ giants that haAre been I ■ accurately measured 1 ■ . and described by sci- **-Jk entists of acknowl- edged repute (Top- hi ard, Banke, V i r - chow, Langer), the list becomes very small. Professor Cunningham collects only twelve, but to this list I can add seAr- eral more. Four of these measured over eight feet, and the tallest Avas eight feet four and a quarter inches. The largest Avoman that ever lived is beyond doubt Marianne Wehde, Avho was born in Germany during the pres- ent century. According to Ranke (" Der Mensch " ), at the age of sixteen and a half, she measured eight feet 181 GIANTS AND GIANTISM four and a quarter inches. The tall- est men who have ever lived Avere an Austrian, measured by Topinard, and said to be eight feet four and a half inches, and Winckelmeyr, measured by Doubes, and said to be eight feet six inches. Buffon refers to a Swedish giant of the same height. The num- ber of authentic eight-footers does not exceed four. The giant Chang, of pleasant memory to those avIio visited the sIioavs of Bar- num, was massive as well as truly gi- gantic, but his height was only eight feet, and Ranke makes it less. At the opposite extreme is the dwarf BoruloAvsky, who was two feet four inches high. Nearly every race has contributed to giantism, but the English has fur- nished far the larger proportion, partly, perhaps, because the English have ahvays been fond of seeing giants and paying for the privilege, thereby draw- ing the merit of physical bigness, Avhich has always been modest, out of its undeserved obscurity. Next to the English, the Irish have supplied the largest number, but the Irish giant is rarely grown nowaday, since that stock has been drawn upon so heavily by America. Germany and the United States have supplied, each, eight or nine men who have won publicity and fame by their exuberant physique. It seems to be the Central and Western States that sup- ply the American giants, and our Avar records show that in these regions, together Avith Maine and Vermont, the aver- age stature is the highest. There have been French and Italian, Negro and Arab giants, but the number is few, and it is evident that the temperate zones and the large races supply the most cases of gigantism. It is a curious fact that since biblical days there have been no giants among the JeAvs. St. Hilaire thought that giants were more frequent in the southern hemisphere, but my rec- ords do not show this, and the stories of Patagonian giants have not been confirmed. There are a good many giantesses, but the giants outnumber them many times, nor has the giantess ever, except in one instance, reached such propor- tions as the male. Ethnologists tell us that in small races the female equals the male, but in large races the male shoots ahead. Students should explain to us why it is that all the giants of our nursery times Avere strong, bold, cruel, and vo- racious, creating terror and deArasta- tion in their neighborhood among sheep and bad little boys. As a matter of fact, the giant is physically Aveak, person- ally amiable, and not over-intelligent. We say this Avith due respect to all, and with the admission that there are ex- ceptions to the rule. It is true that in his early years, AAhile getting his growth, the giant sometimes performs A Russian Giantess. GIANTS AND GIANTISM 185 feats of prodigious strength, but the matured giant is inactive, often feeble, and never evil-minded. A man may be big or bad, but he is never both. Per- haps the cultivation of giantism might pro- mote higher ethical standards, and in so far increase the social efficiency of the race. The giant. I am sure, dies young. One never sees an old giant, and rarely a middle - aged one. In all my records there is but one old giant, and he is only six feet ten, while gi- antism can hardly be said to begin in the male short of seven feet. These facts are quite in accordance with my theory, that extraordinary size is a disease, a neurosis of nutrition, rather than a chance disturbance of development. Giants marry and even have children, but these children do not become giants, for their giantism is an incident, like a fever, and can no more be transmitted than the measles. This Avould not be the case if giants were born with the giant tendency. Then giantism would run through families like six fin- gers, cleft-palates, strabismus, or club- foot. There will never be a race of giants ; nor is it desirable. The most An American Giant efficient Avork can be got from a me- dium-sized human machine, as physics and physiology show. Well-fed races, living in good climatic conditions, tend to become a little larger as the genera- tions pass by, but this increase is slight and has, in most races, ceased to exist. Prehistoric man Avas slightly smaller than the average man of to- day, but not very much. There were no prehis- toric giants. The hu- man brain is perhaps a little larger and is cer- tainly more efficient, but the bodily stature is much the same as in the days when men lived in caves and clubbed the bear. (T. Wilson.) It follows from my view of the case that giantism is not a de- sirable thing, and may be considered even un- sanitary and a legiti- mate object of attack on the part of students of preventive medicine. They should discour- age giants and try to find a way of stopping the terrific imjDetus to nutrition which the boy of thirteen to sixteen experiences when giantism sets in. Very likely this can be done, but a study of the matter would take me into technical fields, Avhither I am requested not to go. AMERICAN WOOD-ENGRAVERS —GUSTAV KRUELL yO GUSTAV KRUELL, a German 1 by birth, but an American in all that pertains to the groAvth of his art, the American school of Avood-engraving owes to-day much of its distinction. Mr. Kruell was born in Dusseldorf, Germany, fifty-one years ago. After serving an apprenticeship to a die-sinker and general engraver he Avent to Leip- sic, and later established himself as an engraver in Stuttgart. In 1873 he came to America, Avhere his skill at once found employment Avith some of the leading illustrated periodicals. In 1881 he organized, Avith his friend Frederick Juengling, one of the most distinguished engravers America has known, the So- ciety of American Wood-Engravers. In Germany, in the time of his youth, the art that he represented Avas dull and lifeless and its followers mostly fac- similists. His first real sense of Avhat might be accomplished in the Avood came through a study of AV. J. Linton's masterly blocks. In them he saw and felt the freedom, the impulses of the artist; they Avere, as he expresses it, "alive." «** Three of the illustrations are typical bits of engrav- ing from blocks by Gustav Kruell. In Linton's use of the graver Kruell found the inspiration he had been striving for. It alloAved him some of the freedom of the painter ; he felt that he could now express himself in the Avood almost as the painter does with the brush. He has ahvays avoided so- called new methods and novel effects in technique for the sake of temporary and eccentric notoriety, well knoAving that such things usually indicate the want of appreciation and thorough com- mand of legitimate means. Honesty of intention and vigorous, uncompromis- ing devotion to the best in his art are the dominating notes in Kruell's char- acter and Avork. Feeling his subject Avith a rare poAATer of concentration, he believes that a sympathetic rendering of his original is the result to strive for. To give full expression to his Avork he says the engraver must be first of all an artist in temperament. No amount of technique unallied with the subtle quality that lies deeper than the line, that guides and fills it Avith the quality Ave call " artistic," can ever completely satisfy us. Command of the manual niceties of his art, delicacy and sureness in the handling of the graver, has become a minor consideration with him. His hand, thoroughly trained, iiistincth^ely responds to the gOAreriiiiig ideas back of it. An intense feeling for the result and perhaps a certain impatience at the necessary slowness of the medium in Avhich he Avorks account, no doubt, for the extremely varied quality of his line. This very diversity, however, this free- dom from the bondage of any formal method, enables him to absorb himself in the personality of his subject, and to feel its lh-ing influence in his work. In the result no detail is lost, textures are carefully discriminated, peculiarities of attitude, of expression, of dress, are given Avith fidelity and appreciation of their relative value. To get " inside" is always Kruell's purpose. He is per- haps most successful in reproducing portraits from his OAvn drawings and in combining the best qualities of several TYSON'S BOOK SHOP 319 Caesar Mitch Bldg. 51 EMPIRE ST. PROVIDENCE. R. I. mi NA'IONA. UBRARY OF ME NLfl DDlSbDbT fl ;*•> i$k <& t. ; "W, 'S^PJ w *Z: V >- ->i > ■'»* •: ' i-4 ,•- " • ' >"-' i "' ^ ,:;<> ;.W- fe, v.-'•■■■• -'r^-.^ci^s^-SsSi 1 . ■ V!-wY.\ -\^f%. j **Wf™ ■ f '''■'"'■'■■ :;'' V :>^:'~--i^™&£\^ ___' ::-■••__•■ ■ -. - ^ • vuk 'Hv-;-»->-%■£?? NLM001560698