84 ON ALBINOES. 



Mrs. Edmond neither experienced any sensation, which 

 could lead her to distinguish between each kind of foetus; nor 

 was her general health sensibly affected in one case more 

 than in the other. The story of the milk, so much resembles 

 those invented by our own good ladies to explain tut&i matcmi, 

 or those singular marks which are sometimes observable on 

 the bodies of children, that I am not disposed to pay much 

 attention to it. With regard to the supposed internal disease, 

 which Buzzi imagines destroyed the rcte mucmum of the albi- 

 no foetus, it is difficult to conceive any disease of the mother 

 capable of producing so extensive an effect on one of Mrs. 

 Edmond's children, while its twin brother was altogether free 

 from any mark of the existence of such malady. Beside this, 

 the regular alternation of the albinoes with her other chil- 

 dren does not favour the notion of their peculiarities arising 

 Not connected from disease on the system of the mother. De Saussure very 

 ^inous^gion. P ro P er b' rejects the idea of this conformation being produced 

 by the air of mountainous regions. The three albinoes I 

 have just described were born near the sea, on the extensive 

 plains of Lancashire, and the birthplace of the parents is the 

 flat island of Anglesey. Where facts are so few, and the 

 causes seemingly so remote from human investigation, it is 

 better to rest satisfied with having observed them, than to 

 waste time on useless hypothesis. 



THOMAS STEWART TRAILL. 



Liz v pool, Pec. 9, 1807. 



ANNOTATION. 



Instance of an Dr. Traill justly remarks the singularity, that of all the 

 ££ l " cascs °f European albinoes on record not one should be a 



male. Most of my London readers, however, will be aware, 

 that a female of this description has been exhibited in the 

 .metropolis for some years, and is at present at the rooms in 

 Spiing Gardens. She answers exactly to the full and accu- 

 rate description of the boy given above. Her hair, I think, 

 which she suffers to grow very long, has more of a silky 

 appearance than that of the two male albinoes exhibited 



liere 



