276 



Emerson, Dr. J. C. Dalton, and Mr. Charles G. Brewster, 

 of Boston, and Dr. J. R. Webster of Milton, Resident 

 Members. 



April 18, 1860. 



The President in the Chair. 



Dr. Kneeland, on the occasion of the exhibition of two 

 albino children, gave an account of their appearance, and 

 a sketch of albinism in general. 



The children are both girls, of the ages of four and seven 

 years, born of parents both black. The parents have had several 

 other children, and one black child between these two. The hair 

 is milk-white, possessing all the characters of negro hair except 

 color ; the skin is soft and white ; the iris is colorless, and with 

 the pupil has the ordinary pink tint of albinos from the color of 

 the vessels of the choroid ; the eyebrows, eyelashes, and down 

 on the body, are pure white. The nose is flattened, the lips pro- 

 tuberant, the heels prominent, as in the black race ; and from the 

 external appearance (except in color), the voice, attitudes, and 

 expression, they would pass for common children of black parents. 

 They are active, intelligent, good-natured, and healthy ; the 

 parents are also healthy. The eyes are very sensitive to light, 

 and near-sightedness is quite pronounced. 



Mr. Du Chaillu gave an account of the habits and the 

 distribution of the Gorilla and other anthropoid apes, 

 from personal observation on the west coast of Africa. 



Thouo-h a few are found on the left bank of the Gaboon River 

 and about Cape Lopez, the gorillas and the nschego are most 

 numerous in the table-lands of the interior. He never saw more 

 than five gorillas together ; the females and young always run off 

 at the sight of man, but the males, if encountered in their re- 

 treats, invariably offer battle, approaching the hunter, loudly 

 roaring and beating the breast with their hands, with an ungainly 



