From all th.: has hitherto been explained, the solitary in stances of gigantic stature occurring in Europe, as well as uncommon diminution of the human size, ought to be assi milated to that species of monstrosity, where the aberrations of nature tend either to excess or defect. Symmetrical giants are seen, it is true, though very rarely, and also symmetrical dwarfs ; but more generally there is some disordered organization in their persons, particularly in the head and extremities. These are small in giants in propor tion to their other members ; but the head of dwarfs is al most invariably very large. Giants are seldom endowed with physical power or mental energy : the period of life is, for the most part, abridged in dwarfs. Nature seems to languish in the preservation of both, but more conspicuously in regard to the former : They want strength, and are defi eient in courage: nay, it is said, that on sonic extraordinary occasion, when several dwarfs and giants were assembled at Vienna, a quarrel ensued, and one of the dwarfs fought a giant to considerable advantage. Did we not view these beings as mere exceptions, the scale of disparity in the human sta ture would not be so limited as is wont to be supposed. The difference between a person of two feet four inches, said to be the shortest dwarf, and another of eight feet, whom we shall here esteem the tallest man, being five feet eight inches, is enormous. But, in Great Britain, the scale of size does not, at an average, range through five inches, nor probably in the rest of the world. That gigantic and pigmy stature is a simple accident, is proved from nume rous facts. They are alike the children of ordinary pa rents ; and their descendants, instead of resembling them selves, resemble their forefathers. Besides, all the other members of their own generation are usually of the com mon size. Nevertheless, with proper precautions, the hu man race, as that of other animated beings, may be im proved ; of which a notable instance is said to exist at Berlin, in the posterity of a very fine grenadier regiment formed by Frederic. Thus the stature of an entire tribe may be preserved, as in South America. In Europe, it is observed that men of the largest dimensions are generally of fair complexion, but that their muscles are soft, and their pulse slow and languid.
There are several reasons why mankind have been prone to believe in gigantic nations. First, among the Jews, from its being recorded in scripture ; secondly, from the mythologies and fabulous histories of the Greeks and Romans ; thirdly, from the discovery of enormous bones in the earth, belonging to no existing race of animals in the place where they were found. This last has been deem ed one of the strongest confirmations; and unquestionably, without due consideration, it might stagger the most in credulous. Suetonius tells us, that in the time of Augus tus, huge bones were shewn as those of former races of men; and St Augustine reasons on the existence of giants before the deluge, from observing a tooth an hundred times exceeding the common size on the shores of Cilicia. At the present times, bones of immoderate dimensions are fre quently dug out of the earth, which it has been reserved for modern anatomists to prove are those of extinct ani mals, instead of gigantic men. But it is not surprising, if, in the ages of ignorance, they were supposed to be such ; and even now, osteology is so little understood by the vulgar, that few can tell, on the first discovery of a bone or a fragment of it, whether it has belonged to a man or an animal. Those enormous skulls or leg-bones, which would have created a race of giants sixteen or twenty feet high, have therefore been the relics of ele phants, or of some of those extinct animals, whose di mensions surpassed those of any which at present inhabit the known world.
There is no evidence whatever, that thz. modern tribes of mankind have degenerated in size. The catacombs of ancient Egypt and Palestine; the cenotaph, if it be truly uch, in the great pyramid ; the tomb of Alexander the Great ; are all calculated for bodies of ordinary dimension-. The truth is still more satisfactorily established from the mummies which are yet withdrawn from their subterra nean receptacles in Egypt, and the caverns of the Canary Islands. In the most ancient sepulchres of Britain, those apparently anterior to the introduction of Christianity, no remains are discovered which indicate the larger stature of the inhabitants than our own. In every part of the world, domestic implements and personal ornaments, ma ny centuries old, are obtained front tombs, from bogs and mosses, or those cities overwhelmed by volcanic eruptions, which would be ill adapted to a gigantic race of ancestors. See Philosophical Transactions, vol. xxxiv. and lx. ; Jour nal de Physique, 1778 ; Hawksworth's Voyages, vol. i. ii.; Kircher, Mumlus Subterraneus, lib. viii. Cu vier, Osse mens Fossiles ; Ilicronimus Magius, Miscellanea; Florus, lib. iii. cap. 3. ; Pliny, lib. viii. cap. 16.; Augustine, De Civitate Uri. (c) GIANT's CAUSEWAY. To traditionary ignorance we may safely attribute a name, by which a basaltic portion of the coast of Antrim has been distinguished. Fin or, as he is classically denominated, Fion Mac Cumhal, desirous to punish the daring inroads of the Scots, resolved to "Bridge the ocean fur the march of war." And as all the heroes of his standing were either gods, demigods, or giants, we cannot be surprised, that an ap pearance bearing such close resemblance to artificial com bination, should have been attributed to one or other of these agents.
The Giant's Causeway must not he limited to the par ticular mole or quay to which the traveller is conducted, when he approaches the coast from Bush Mills, the usual testing-place. It extends, as we have already observed tin der the article FAIRIIEAD, throughout the whole of Ben gorehead, from Port Moon on the east, to Port na Ganye on the west ; a district of coast extending to more than a mile and a half in a direct line ; and in every part of it deeply indented with the most beautifully diversified bays.
Upon approaching the Causeway, the tourist is sure to be assailed by a host of ragged natives, whose attentions it is utterly impossible to get rid of: he must therefore quietly submit to take a few of them into his pay in the character of guides, in order to defend him from the im portunities of the rest. Accompanied by these unwelcome guests, he is conducted down a steep path, which was form ed at a great ex pence by the late Earl of Bristol, Bishop of Londonderry, to a natural mole which projects consider ably into the sea; and here lie is told, that this is the Gi ant's Causeway. The impression which generally follows is something like disappointment, so much has been heard, and consequently so much expected of the place. This feeling, however, is only of a momentary nature ; for the mind has no sooner time to reflect on the admirable sym metry of an object with which nature seems purposely to have sported, in order to baffle the feeble intellect of man kind, than wonder and delight replace the apathetic feel ing, which had nearly produced an ejaculation of discontent.