So6 



NA TURE 



[April 2, 1885 



hair, but having in other respects the characteristics of natives 

 attacked by leprosy. Making inquiries from one of the prin- 

 cipal native revenue officials at the place, it was ascertained that 

 there was a family living hardly a mile away, of which more 

 than one of the members had been born, and continued, white 

 all their lives. That this did not result from their being lepers, 

 and that none of their neighbours were in the least afraid of 

 them, though opinion was not quite clear as to the whiteness not 

 being disease. 



Losing no time, it did not take long to reach the hut in which 

 this family of albinos were to be found. They are of the Hindu 

 blacksmith caste. The father and mother are stated to be of 

 the ordinary blackness of natives of India, but were not seen on 

 this occasion. A son, aged twenty-two, was there working at 

 his trade, with the white colour, features, and light flaxen hair 

 of a European, the only difference being a coarseness of the 

 texture of the skin, and a slightly vacant expression. There was, 

 beside him, an apparently elder brother, quite dark, and a native 

 Hindu in every respect. It was said that albinos had occasion- 

 ally appeared in the family, one of the uncles, for instance, 

 having been white. 



On being questioned as to whether there was any difference 

 between the albinos and ordinary natives, it was at once said 

 that the former could not stand being in the sun, which reddened 

 and inflamed the skin, upon which the remark fell from the 

 writer that it would be worth while to transport such individuals 

 to a cold climate, where they would he exposed to no incon- 

 venience. And so it would, because there can be no doubt that 

 one of these white Hindus, early taken, and educated in a 

 European climate, would from palpable observation of the speci- 

 men now described be absolutely indistinguishable as a native 

 of India. 



Evidently some cause has interfered with the production of 

 pigment in the cells of the skin, with the effect of rendering the 

 albinos highly sensitive, and more so than a European, to the 

 invisible heat rays of the spectrum, which are so injurious to the 

 constitution in India. 



The contrast between the faces of the brothers was peculiarly 

 striking, for there was sufficient resemblance, in the lower part 

 of the lace especially, to show there was a distinct relationship 

 — that of the one who was dark wore the ordinary mild com- 

 posure ; but the other, by the mere change of colour, had com- 

 pletely and inadvertently thrown off the Oriental mask ; and it 

 would be almost impossible to convey to any one, not seeing it 

 exemplified, how vast a change could be made by so simple an 

 alteration, displaying the way the real individuality of race is 

 lurking in an extraordinary manner beneath .1 tropical blackness. 



India, February 24 A. T. Fkasj R 



Far-sightedness 



THOUGH I have already published a note on the subject in a 

 Dutch paper (Tijdschrift van hct AarJrijkskiinJi^ Gcihvtschtip, 

 February, 18S5), perhaps you will kindly allow the following 

 lines to have a place in Nature, because those who are 

 occupied in the trigonometrical survey of British India may take 

 an interest in the matter, and be able to give more particulars 

 about it. 



In a paper on Mr. Whymper's travels in Greenland, which 

 appeared in Ausland, t. \ii., 1884, I found in a foot-note the 

 following remark :— " The reader might be astonished on hear- 

 ing that I [Mr. Whymper] could see a mountain at such a gn ,11 

 distance (about 100 English miles) ; but I may add that the day 

 before I saw two other mountains 40 and 150 English mill - 

 distant ; with one exception this was the greatest distance at 

 which I have ever been able to make out objects." 



Since I have not found any other reports in which it is ex- 

 pressly stated that objects were seen at a greater distance, I 

 presume I may allege my own experience. While occupied with 

 the trigonometrical survey of Western Java I sometimes had an 

 opportunity of seeing objects at a very great distance, though, 

 under the circumstances I was in, I had no time to look for them 

 on par; 



The greatest distance at which the angular points of triangles 

 of the first order were from each other was about 105 kilo- 

 metres ; no difficulty ever arose from the distance, and no difl 1 

 ence was made whether signals or heliostats (square mirn 1 of 

 about 3 inches side) were observed. 



When on Gng Karang (Bantam) I made out K 

 (Sumatra) at a distance of more than no English miles, though 

 not quite easily, the top just peeping out from the slopes of 



Sebesic ; if there had been a signal on Keizerspick at that time 

 I think I could have observed it. 



The greatest distance at which I remember ever to have seen 

 an object was noted during my stay on Gng Tjikoraij (Preanger 

 Regentsch), when I made out Gng Merapi (Java) most distinctly 

 at a distance of about I So English miles 1 and I suppose that 

 Gng Lawu was also visible (225 English miles distant), but I 

 could not quite distinguish it from the group of mountains of 

 which it is one. It is, of course, from high summits that ob- 

 jects are seen at the greatest distances, and objects which are 

 more elevated at a greater distance than such as are close to the 

 ground. 



I think it would be interesting to gather experiences referring 

 to the subject made in different climates and under different 

 circumstances. Emil Metzger 



Stuttgart, March 23 



Krakatoa 



Supposing that the underground noises heard at Caiman-Brae 

 on Sunday, August 26, 1S83, were not only synchronous with, 

 but actually the same as, those caused by the great eruption in 

 the Straits of Sunda, it does not seem to follow that the sound- 

 waves were propagated through tile whole diameter of the earth. 

 On the contrary, the question is at once raised, at what depth 

 below the surface did the disturbances occur which found such 

 destructive vent at Krakatoa? And if only the time-record east 

 and west were accurate and satisfactory, there would seem to be 

 some datum supplied for approximately estimating this depth. 

 The centie of disturbance may have receded from and become 

 inaudible at the Caimans in proportion as, on the 27th, it found 

 final vent at Krakatoa. Henry Cecil 



Breener, Bournemouth, March 30 



The Recent Aurora 



The "Sunk" lightship is in electrical communication with 

 tile Essex coast, being connected thereto by a telegraphic cable 

 S'g84 nautical miles in length, laid from Walton-on-the-Naze in 

 an easterly direction. The electrical condition of this cable is 

 ascertained daily at 10 a.m., by means of tests applied at the 

 shore ends. Until the 15th inst. these tests were very regular 

 and satisfactory, but on the morning of that day it was found to 

 be impossible to obtain any satisfactory results, owing to 

 electrical disturbances produced in the cable by some external 

 influence. The electrician on board reported that the weather 

 was very fine and summer-like, sea perfectly smooth, with 

 variable light airs, and he could in no away account for the effects 

 the electrician was observing on shore. Between 9 and 10 p.m. 

 those on board the lightship observed in the northern sky a very 

 brilliant aurora, from which at intervals two very bright columns 

 extended upwards to the zenith, and there apparently joined. 



I send you these particulars as they may be worth recording 

 in connection with the aurora seen at Christiania on the same 

 evening, and described by Mr. Sophus Tromholt in his letter to 

 Nature, published on the 26th inst. (p. 479). There can be 

 no doubt but that the aurora seen at Christiania was identical 

 with that noticed by the men on the lightship off Walton-on-the- 

 Naze, and, although it was not visible until the evening, it was 

 evidently affecting the electrical condition of the earth on the 

 morning of that day, and was the direct cause of the electrical 

 disturbance in the cable. Since that date the tests have been as 

 satisfactory and regular as before. Willoughbv Smith 



March 30 



THE COSMOGONIC TIIEOR \ ' OF M. FA YE - 



MFAYE has expounded his theoretical views on 

 • cosmogony in the several publications named 

 above, and in his book he has also treated of the historical 

 development of cosmogonic theories. We shall in the 

 present article confine our attention to that which is 

 original in his speculation ; and we recommend the 



1 In the junction of triangulations of Spain and Algiers the greatest side 

 is about 270 kilometres. 



' "Comptes Rendus," i3So, vol. xc. pp. 6,7 and 1246. 



" Sur l'Origine du Monde." Pp. 257. (Paris : Gauthier-Villai 



' \ ■, i', 1111885, Bureau des Longitudes." Pp. 757-804. (Gauthiea 



Villars ) 



