Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

ariel · 25th May 2019, 06:24 PM

For those of you who do not know me well, in addition to studying swords I also have to make a living:-). My job consists mainly of research in pituitary hormones in humans, especially growth hormone (GH).
A good chunk of my time is occupied by taking care of patients with a disease called acromegaly: they have pituitary tumors producing a lot of GH and, as a result, growing excessively and uncontrollably. If a tumor appears in childhood, when the bones can still get longer, they become giants. But even if the disease starts in adulthood and they cannot grow taller, they still can grow "wider", developing coarse facial features and enormous hands and feet.
Here are pics of the most famous giant acromegalic, Andre the Giant, showing his overall height and the size of his hands ( vs. Mohammed Ali's)

OK, that's the introduction.

This was why I bought this Khyber: here are pics of it in comparison with two " standard " ones.
Blades of standard khybers are ~ 20-23 "
The " giant" one sports a blade that is 34 1/2 " long.

Well, one can say that the owner ordered such a monster simply because he had " penis envy"

However, let's measure the grip, as a reflection of the size of his hands.

Those of standard khybers are 3 1/2 and 3 3/4" in length
The " giant" one's is full 5". He must have had rather enormous hands.

Thus, I would guess that this khyber belonged to an Afghani man who suffered from gigantism/acromegaly. If so, he would have been very impressive as a ceremonial guardsman, but not very useful as a fighter: usually, these patients have very big pituitary tumors compressing their eye nerves and causing loss of vision, their high GH causes awful damage to the joints and the mobility is grossly diminished, and they also often have damage to the pituitary and lack cortisol, thyroid hormone and testosterone, making them very tired, fatigued and weak. if untreated, they also die very young as a result of even minor infection. Virtually all circus giants of the 19th- early 20th century died before 40 y.o. "The Irish Giant" Charles Byrne and " The Alton Giant" Robert Wadlow both died at 22.

Now you understand why I got this monster: it blends my job ( study of swords) with my side hobby ( endocrinology) :-)

25th May 2019, 06:24 PM	#1
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Sword of a Giant ( hormonal) For those of you who do not know me well, in addition to studying swords I also have to make a living:-). My job consists mainly of research in pituitary hormones in humans, especially growth hormone (GH). A good chunk of my time is occupied by taking care of patients with a disease called acromegaly: they have pituitary tumors producing a lot of GH and, as a result, growing excessively and uncontrollably. If a tumor appears in childhood, when the bones can still get longer, they become giants. But even if the disease starts in adulthood and they cannot grow taller, they still can grow "wider", developing coarse facial features and enormous hands and feet. Here are pics of the most famous giant acromegalic, Andre the Giant, showing his overall height and the size of his hands ( vs. Mohammed Ali's) OK, that's the introduction. This was why I bought this Khyber: here are pics of it in comparison with two " standard " ones. Blades of standard khybers are ~ 20-23 " The " giant" one sports a blade that is 34 1/2 " long. Well, one can say that the owner ordered such a monster simply because he had " penis envy" However, let's measure the grip, as a reflection of the size of his hands. Those of standard khybers are 3 1/2 and 3 3/4" in length The " giant" one's is full 5". He must have had rather enormous hands. Thus, I would guess that this khyber belonged to an Afghani man who suffered from gigantism/acromegaly. If so, he would have been very impressive as a ceremonial guardsman, but not very useful as a fighter: usually, these patients have very big pituitary tumors compressing their eye nerves and causing loss of vision, their high GH causes awful damage to the joints and the mobility is grossly diminished, and they also often have damage to the pituitary and lack cortisol, thyroid hormone and testosterone, making them very tired, fatigued and weak. if untreated, they also die very young as a result of even minor infection. Virtually all circus giants of the 19th- early 20th century died before 40 y.o. "The Irish Giant" Charles Byrne and " The Alton Giant" Robert Wadlow both died at 22. Now you understand why I got this monster: it blends my job ( study of swords) with my side hobby ( endocrinology) :-) Attached Images Last edited by ariel; 25th May 2019 at 06:40 PM.