A CONTRIBUTION TO OUR KNOWLEDGE OF ALBINISM. 



BY GEO. L. TOPPAN. 



Albinism is a subject, althoug'n probably more of a physiolog- 

 ical than an ornithological one, which, I think, will prove interesting 

 to the majority of ornithologists as well as to the zoologists gener- 

 ally. It is one of those little known phases of animal life which 

 we have been content to let remain in a state of almost pristine 

 obscurity. The ornithological literature on the subject may almost 

 be described as nothing, what little we have being merely a few 

 lists of those species of birds in which albinism has been known to 

 to occur. 



The object of the present paper is not only to give a mere list, 

 but to give such physiological facts as I have been able to obtain. 

 Further, it is not confined to ornithology alone, but will treat of the 

 other divisions of the animal kingdom as well, especial attention 

 being paid to the human race. 



In this connection I take pleasure in acknowledging valuable 

 aid received from Dr. Geo. Henry Fox, of New York, Mr. 

 Robert Ridgway, of Washington, D. C, and several other gentle- 

 men to whom due credit is given in the following pages. 



The term " albino " was first used by the Portugese sailors, 

 who applied it to the white negroes that they met with on the coast 

 of Africa. 



Albinism is a congenital absence of pigment. It is of two 

 varieties; universal and partial. 



Dr. Fox * says " an albino of the Caucasian race has a milk- 

 white but otherwise normal skin, a growth of white, fine silkv 

 hair upon the head, and an absence of pigment in the choroid coat 

 of the eye, which gives the iris and pupil a red appearance, such as 

 is often noticed in the white rabbit. In other respects the physical 

 condition of an albino is normal, and the assertion that mental 

 weakness is associated with a general loss of pigment fails to be 

 verified in a large proportion of cases." 



The subject is further treated in the American Cyclopcedia\ as 



* Photographic Illustrations of Skin Diseases, by Geo. Henry Fox, M.D., Chap, v., p. 140. 

 t Vol. I, pp. 253 & 254. 



