Giants and dwarfs.

  • Wood, Edward J.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Giants and dwarfs. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    that he could take up and tlu'ow from him with much facility a blacksmith’s hammer which weighed seven- teen pounds. He had all the evidences of puberty in a marked degree. His father was a little man, and a la- bourer; and his mother was a woman of middle stature. Subsequently another communication was made to the Royal Society on the subject of this boy, and subjoined were the affidavits and testimonials of the midwife, minister, churchwardens, and others, stating that this child, Thomas Hall, was born on October 31st, 1741. Between August 28th and November 30th, 1744, he grew two inches and a half: that is, from three feet eight inches and five-tenths to three feet eleven inches. A few years after the latter year Dawkes published separately his Prodigium Willing- liomense, giving memoirs of the boy’s life. The Gentleman's Magazine, under date January 1745, and the heading of Cambridge, says : “ There is to be seen here, from Willingham, a neighbouring village, a son of Thomas Hall, who, though but three years and two months old, is four foot high: his limbs nearly as large and strong as a man’s, and his voice deeper than that of most men; in under- standing not beyond children of that age, tlio’ as to all outward appearances he is nearly arrived to a state of manhood.” He died as of extreme old ago on September 3rd, 1747. He was then four feet six inches in height, and upwards of seven stone in weight. He presented a most piteous spectacle, having several bald places on his head, and his visage
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