THE HAIRY-FACED PEOPLE.

Evening Star, Issue 3560, 21 July 1874, Page 3

THE HAIRY-FACED PEOPLE.

Mr Frank Buckland having been requested to examine and describe some remarkable people who have lately arrived in London, and who are now on exhibition there, sent the following account of them to ‘ Land and Water’;—

By the kindness of the manager I was allowed, in company with my friend Mr Bartlett, of the Zoological Gardens, to have a private interview with them. The hairy-faced people

. ---j t w r w i consist of a man in the prime of life, supposed to be about fifty, and a little boy, apparently about four years of age. The man stands about five feet four or five, and is a burly, powerful, broad - shouldered fellow. The haad and face are perfectly astonishing, the hair of the head is not confined to the scalp, but is extended all over the face, chin, ears, and a portion of the neck. When the man looked at me I could only see his two brilliant eyes, the lips, and a slight trace of the skin of the nose. Mr Bartlett and myself being allowed to make a close examination, found that there was no attempt at deception or humbug about the hirsute appearance of the beard and face. The hair of the head is brushed backwards, and the hair takes the place of the eyebrows ; the hair upon the cheeks and sides of the nose is from two to three inches long, and it is very curious to remark that the longest tufts of hair grow from inside the ears; the hair upon the chin does not in the least approach to a beard, but is soft and

silky, like the hair upon the scalp. The teeth are defective in the mouth ; the lower jaw contains four teeth only, and the upper jaw one, and these seem in a state of decay. The child’s teeth are more easy to examine, and I found that he has only four teeth in the lower jaw, and not a trace of tooth in the upper. As it is difficult to describe a countenance of this remarkable kind in writing, I can simply say that the face of this hairy man is exactly like that of a long-haired Skye-terrier dog. In fact the French people call him “ L'homme chien ,” or the mad-dog. The name given to him is Adrian, and the

boy Feder. The following particulars as to their history have been given me. Adrian and his son were discovered in the forest of Kostroma, in Russia. This forest is situated to the north-east of Moscow, between St. Petersburg and Nijm Novgorod. Some hunters, named Woljensky, NaoumofF, and Jaroslav, were in search of bears and wolves, when they saw this hairy man running away from them, with something in his arms. The creature the hunters thought at first was a bear, but afterwards, finding that it was like a man, fired their guns in the air. The creature then fell down, and the hunters, on reaching the spot, tound this hairy man and the child, then a baby.

I am of opinion that Adrian, the “hairy man” (Vhomme chien), who is certainly a Russian, is probably some hard-working, semi-civilised forester, more or less savage in his habits, whose face for some reason is entirely covered

with hair. The general appearance, and big, hard, horny hands of Adrian show that he has been accustomed to hard work. His intelligence is, I should say, not very great. He does not talk much, but is very fond of music. The fact of the child being hairy-faced like bis father indicates that this pysical peculiarity has been transferred from father to son. Of the mother, little or nothing is reported. As regards the reason why the hair should cover the face and chin, I think physiologists will agree with me that a hairy Nsevus has overspread the whole of the face. Most of our readers must have heard of “ a mouse” on a child’s cheek. This “ mouse,” of which I have seen four or five specimens when at St. George’s Hospital, consists of a patch of long delicate hair, which grows out of the “cheek.” We have only to imagine the whole of the face covered by one large mouse, and we have the exact appearance of Adrian, the hairy-faced man from the forest of Kostroma. Whatever may be the previous history or scientific explanation of this marvellous hairy-faced man and child, I consider them to be a great physiological curiosity, and I trust they may be well patronised by the public, who should look upon them not so much as a sensational exhibition, as an exceedingly rare case of human beings having the face entirely covered with silk-like hair—hair like that of the head—not the least like that of a beard.