Volume 4

Curiosities of natural history / by Francis T. Buckland.

  • Buckland, Francis T. (Francis Trevelyan), 1826-1880.
Date:
1882-1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Curiosities of natural history / by Francis T. Buckland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/386 (page 3)
    Ilis name is Joseph Brice. He was born at the villago of Ramonchamp, in the Vosges, a chain of mountains bounding the valley of the Rhine on the west, from the neighboirrhood of Muhlhausen, to that of Mayence ; the chain is partly in France, partly in the Rhenish prO' vince of Bavaria. ]\I. Brice was born in that part of the range which belongs to France, and hence he sometimes calls him- self “ The Giant of the Mountains.” He speaks French perfectly, without the least trace of a patois. His parents were hard-working, respectable farm- people : they were by no means gigantic themselves, but about the ordinary size of French peasants. At his birth there was nothing to indicate that he was about to grow to his present stature, and up to the age of six years, his height did not exceed that of most children of his age. After a short illness, he began to assume such gigantic proportions that his parents were much alarmed about him, but still he continued to crow and enjoy perfect health. At the age of thirteen he was equal in height to his father and the generality of the neighbouring farmers. The phenomenon of his being as tall as a man and yet showing all the habits and actions of a child, caused him to be the talk of the neighbourhood, and to suffer at the same time great personal discomfort; for the B 2