ji'ants, people of extraordinary stature. History both sacred and profane, makes mention of giants, and even of races of giants, but these tales are usually found only in the records of an early stage of civilization, when the mind is apt to exaggerate anything unusual. The average height of men is about five feet five inches; but it may be said that each race has an average heights of its own, which changes little from generation to generation and which often varies considerably from the general average of all men. Thus, the difference between the extremes, the Scotch (sixty-nine and five-tenths inches) and the Batwas of Africa (fifty-one inches) is over eighteen inches. Notable deviations from the medium height are not at all uncommon, especially among the Teutonic peoples. The following are among authentic instances, ancient and modern, of persons who attained to the stature of giants: the Roman emperor Maximinus, a Thracian, nearly nine feet in height; Patrick Cotter (1761-1804), ninety-nine inches; Anna Swan, a native of Nova Scotia, above eight feet high; her husband, Captain Bates, a native of Kentucky, of the same height; Chang-wu-gon, the Chinese giant, seven feet nine inches high. Probably the tallest man whose size is definitely recorded is a certain Finlander who reached the height of nine feet four inches. As a rule giants are comparatively feeble in body and mind, and they are usually short-lived. Gigantic stature is generally accompanied by a want of proportion in parts, some parts growing too quickly for others or continuing to grow after the others have ceased. The relation between the upper and lower half of the body is not disturbed, but the skull, brain and forehead are relatively small the jaws very large, the shoulders breast and haunches very broad and the muscular system comparatively weak. The giants of Greek and Norse mythology were, of course, merely symbols, representing benignant or hostile forces of nature. Sometimes by the Greeks the term giant was applied to a man of great strength, even if he was not of gigantic size.