80 TRICHOLOGIA MAMMALIUM ; 
to all persons of whatever uation or country who have silky, dirty or reddish-white colored 
pile, a pale reddish-white skin, red pupils and weak sight. The number of these indi- 
viduals is not great; Van Amringe* computes that they do not exceed one in a million of 
the inhabitants of this earth; yet Dr. Prichard treats them as a distinct race. In his 
researches on the physical history of man, he divides the human family into the Melanic 
or black-haired, the Nanthus or yellow-haired, and the Albino or white-haired! 
No. 1. Examination and Description of the Pile of the head of the White Albino, Mary 
McWilhams, aged twenty-five, born in Ireland.—Specimen presented by Dr. Klapp, of the 
Pennsylvania Hospital, in the city of Philadelphia, the 2d of March, 1849. 
Length, (artificial,) 4 inches; shape, oval, compressed, tapering; for example, a young 
filament, one inch long, has for its diameter, at the posterior extremity, 1, by 51,, im the 
centre, ¢$5 by y}z, and at the apex, ;;4)5 of an inch; color, white, with a slight tinge of 
yellow; lustre, considerable ; direction, flowing; inclination, we had no means of ascer- 
taining. 
Ductility, Elasticity and Tenacity.—One inch of filament, (the Barometer being 39, the 
Thermometer being 72, and the Dew-point being 68,) 
With 170 grains stretched ;1) of an inch, and when the weight was removed the elasticity 
was entire. 
“ce 220 oe ee eu “ec oe cc 
270. @ ee ar eS minus ,, of an inch. 
‘cc 820 6c 6c oy “cc be 3 
“ce A770 oe ee 37 oe oe “e 
a bc 520 ce 6c aa 73 6c a 
“ 570 “ c 19 oe «c 2 ‘ 
« 620 ‘ « $4 « & 18 ‘c 
“ 670 te 66 25 ‘ 6c 17 “c 
ee 720 ce ‘ 4t oe 22 oe 
ce T7710 oe ce 44 oe ce 23 oe 
oe 820 cc (73 ar ‘ oe 33 oe 
“ 870 it broke. 
Fracture, abrupt; button, sheath and follicle, we had none to examine; shaft, uneven, 
bulged, flattened and sunken in different places; cortex, transversely striated the whole 
length of the shaft; ribbons of cortex, artificially detached from the body of the shaft, 
exhibit transverse divisions, the largest portion measuring zi; of an inch; intermediate 
fibres, white, lustrous, and with a diameter of from 5,5 to <;45 of an inch; the mass of 
fibres divided into sections or nodes; when the shaft is artificially crushed, these fibres are 
distinctly seen; they are white, lustrous, and partially separated; but no canal or coloring 
matter is to be observed through the interstices+; centre, has a canal for the coloring 
* In Natural History of Man, p. 71. 
7 The same experiment was tried upon the other specimens, and the same results ensued; but when the wool of a pure 
negro, or the black wool of sheep, was similarly treated, the piles were black. 
