246 
NATURE 
_ Dian. ae 1883 
regard this specimen merely as a “sport” or /usus nature, 
possessed rather of a pathological than of a strictly an- 
thropological interest. Certainly isolated cases of hairy 
persons, and even of hairy families, are not unknown to 
science. Several were figured in a recent number of the 
Berlin Zectschrift fiir Ethnologie, and, if I remember, 
both Crawfur1 (“Journal of an Embassy to Ava”) and 
Col. Yule (“* Mission to the Court of Ava”) speak of a 
hairy family resident for two or three generations at the 
Burmese capital. This family is reported to have come 
originally from the interior of the Lao country, and in the 
same region we are now told that little Krao and her 
parents, also hairy people, were found last year by the 
well-known eastern explorer, Mr. Carl Bock. Soon after 
their capture, the father appears to have died of cholera, 
while the mother was detained at Bangkok by the Siamese 
Government, so that Krao alone could be brought to 
England. But before his death a photograph of the 
father was taken by Mr. Bock, who describes him as 
“completely covered with a thick hairy coat, exactly like 
that of the anthropoid apes. On his face not only had he 
a heavy, bushy beard and whiskers, similar in every 
respect to the hairy family at the court of the King 
of Burmah, who also came from the same region 
as that in which Krao and her father were found ; 
but every part was thoroughly enveloped in hair. The 
long arms and the rounded stomach also proclaimed 
his close alliance to the monkey-form, while his power of 
speech and his intelligence were so far developed that 
before his death he was able to utter a few words in 
Malay.” 
Assuming the accuracy of these statements, and of 
this description, little Krao, of course, at once acquires 
exceptional scientific importance. She would at all 
events be a living proof of the presence of a hairy race in 
Further India, a region at present mainly occupied by 
almost hairless Mongoloid peoples. From these races 
the large straight eyes would also detach the Krao type, 
and point toa possible connection with the hairy, straight- 
eyed Aino tribes still surviving in Yesso and Sakhalin, 
and formerly widely diffused over Japan and the opposite 
mainland.} A. H. KEANE 
IGURE OF THE NUCLEUS OF THE BRIGHT 
COMET OF 1882 (GOULD)* 
LTHOUGH this comet presented a beautiful spec- 
tacle, when seen with the naked eye, I have been dis- 
appointed at the small amount of work which I have 
been able to do in the way of accurate observation. I 
give herewith the only two good sketches which I have 
been able to make. The aperture employed was 15 inches, 
and the power was 145 diameters. 
82, October 13 
188 2; October 13.—(See the fi 
curved as in the drawing. It consists of three masses. 
I am sure of a break at a, tolerably sure of the break 
ae 6, and I suspect a break at ¢, but I am not certain 
of it. 
figure.) The nucleus is 
* See my paper on ‘' Aino Ethnology”’ in NaTuRE, vol. xxvi. p. 524. 
? Paper by Prof. Edward S, Holden, in the Asieriran Woot Sctenice 
and Arts. 
1882, October 14.—The night is very poor. (In genera 
the z appearances of last night are confirmed.) The nucleus 
is about 1’ long. # 
1882, October 17 —(See the figure.) There are three 
masses, plainly separated. J is farther north than the 
line A—C by 3—4”. There is a dark division between 
each pair of masses. & and C are nearly in the parallel. 
1882, October 17. 
The brush of light from the mass 4 toward the east, 
comes from the south side of A, as it is drawn. From 
the W. end of 4 to the E. end of the brush of light, is 
about 15”. 
1882, October 18.—The dark space between 4 and JZ is 
about 10” ; it is as wide as 4 itself, and wider than on 
October 17. C is certainly seen as a separate mass ; 
A and # are bright and stellar in appearance, more so 
than on October 17. C is, however, fainter than then. 
The dark axis of the tail extends quite up to the coma. 
1882, October 19.—Cloudy. The nucleus is seen as 
before. A and Z are s-en, as also the dark space between 
them. C is not seen, but this is probably on account of 
the unsteady air. 
I regret that my opportunity did not allow me to make 
any further sketches of value. 
Washburn Observatory, University of Wisconsin, 
Madison, November 3, 1882 
NOTES 
THE office of Director of the Geological Survey of Scotland, 
vacant by the promotion of Mr. Geikie to be Director-General, 
has been filled up by the appointment of Mr. H. H. Howell, 
District Surveyor of the Geological Survey of Scotland during 
the earlier years of its progress, but who since the separation of the 
Scottish branch of the establishment in 1867, has been con- 
tinuously employed in England, where he has personally sur- 
veyed large tracts of the northern counties, and where for some 
years past he has had the direct personal supervision of the 
whole of the field-work in that district. He will not be able to 
enter fully on his duties in Scotland until the area now under 
his charge in the north of England has been completely sur- 
veyed. The promotion of Mr. Howell having caused a vacancy 
in the rank of District Surveyor, Mr. W. Whitaker has been 
appointed to the post. This geologist is well known for his 
detailed surveys of the Tertiary deposits of the London basin. 
He is at present engaged in the survey of Norf sk. 
THE United States Transit of Venus expedition, under Prof. 
Newcomb, arrived at Plymouth on Sunday as passengers by the 
Union Steamship Company’s steamer Moor, from Cape Town. 
They report that their observations were made at Wellington, 
fifty-eight miles from Cape Town, under extremely favourable 
conditions, two good observations of internal contact and 236 
photographs being obtained, of which more than 200 can be 
measured. 
THE annual general meeting of the Association for the 
Improvement of Geometrical Teaching will be held, through 
the kindness of the Council, at University College, Gower Street, 
on Wednesday, the 17th instant, at 11 a.m. In addition to the 
usual routine business, the president (R. B, Hayward, F.R.S.) 
