86 



ALBINO. 



bright light or to a high temperature, and there- 

 fore render the individuals less able to bear 

 exposure to the weather, or to perform the 

 ordinary occupations of life. To the same 

 cause may be ascribed the morbid condition of 

 the skin, which, as was remarked above, occurs 

 not unfrequently in hot climates, and which is 

 not observed in the European Albino. Partly 

 from the circumstances stated above, and partly 

 from the idea of imperfection or defect, which 

 is connected with their appearance, the tropical 

 Albino is generally regarded by his country- 

 men with a degree of compassion or even of 

 contempt ;* and hence is derived one of their 

 popular denominations, chacrelas, which is a 

 corruption of kakkerlakken, the Dutch name 

 for the cock-roach, as being, like those animals, 

 able to leave their haunts only in the evening.-]- 

 Besides the complete Albino, which we have 

 now described, there are occasional examples 

 of individuals, where the whiteness of the skin 

 exists in certain parts of the surface only, while 

 the remainder of the body is of its ordinary 

 colour. J In the majority of cases the peculi- 

 arities which constitute the Albino are connate, 

 and continue during life without any change. 

 There are, however, some instances, where the 

 whiteness of the skin does not exist at birth, 

 but makes its appearance at a subsequent pe- 

 riod, generally by slow degrees, until the com- 

 plete Albino character is induced. When 



' Vossius, p. 68, informs us that they are avoided 

 by the other negroes, as supposed to be diseased. 

 De la Croix says the negroes regard them as mon- 

 sters, and do not permit them to multiply, ut supra. 

 Dubois, p. 199 et seq. observes that they are named 

 lepers by birth, and that when they die their bodies 

 are not buried or burnt, but cast on dunghills. See 

 also Firmin, ubi supra. 



t Blumcnbach, p. 277 ; Lawrence, p. 287 : St. 

 Hilaire, p. 296. 



J Phil. Trans, vol. xix. p. 781, and Lowthorpe's 

 Abridg. vol. iii. p. 8 ; Buffon, t. iv. p. 565. tab. 2, et 

 p. 571, tab. 3 ; Arthaud, in Journ. Phys. 1789.'pt. 2. 

 p. 277,8 ; Rush, in Amer. Trans, vol. ii. p. 392 et 

 seq. ; Gumilla, El Oron. Ilus. t. i. p. 109 et seq. ; 

 Ditto, Hist. del'Oronoque, trad. t. i. p. 150 et seq. ; 

 Jefferson, p. 105; Blumenbach, $48; Rayer, ut 

 supra ; Is. St. Hilaire, p. 309 et seq. ; Isert, p. 156. 

 Bell, in Travels in Asiatic Russia, p. 217,8, saw 

 a number of persons with white spots on the skin, 

 but it seems probable that this was the effect of 

 some cutaneous disease. The partial Albino appears 

 to have been noticed by the ancients: Lucian, 

 Prometh, t. i. p. 15. 



$ Blumenbach, p. 276, says it is *< semper con- 

 natus ; see, also, Lawrence, p. 285. There are, 

 however, certain well authenticated cases, where 

 the skin of the negro has gradually changed its co- 

 lour from black to. white ; sometimes the change 

 has been general, sometimes only partial ; Bates 

 in Phil. Trans, vol. li. p. 175 et seq. ; Gualtier, in 

 Journ. Phys. t. Ixx. p. 248 et seq. ; Le Cat, sur le 

 Peau, p. 112 et seq. ; Rayer, ut supra ; Fisher, in 

 Manch. Mem. vol. v. p. 314 et seq. ; Rush's Re- 

 marks on the same, Amer. Trans, vol. iv. p. 289 

 et seq. In one of the four cases which are men- 

 tioned by Le Cat, the change of colour appears to 

 have been the consequence of a severe burn or scald. 

 Besides the partial Albino, we have what has been 

 termed the imperfect Albino, where the peculiarity 

 exists in a certain degree only - } Is. St. Hilaire, . 4. 

 p. 312 et seq. 



once formed it does not seem that it ever dis- 

 appears, or is even in any degree diminished, 

 nor have we any authentic accounts of its being 

 removed by any constitutional change, either 

 natural or morbid, or by external applications. 



Although, as has been stated above, this 

 peculiarity occurs in individuals, who did not 

 derive it from their parents, yet, like all those 

 deviations from the ordinary structure of the 

 body, which have been styled accidental varie- 

 ties, when once produced, it is disposed to 

 propagate itself by hereditary descent. There 

 are also certain individuals, who have a ten- 

 dency to produce it; so that even among the 

 few European Albinos, of which we have a 

 minute account, we have cases of its occurrence 

 in two or more members of the same family, 

 either as connected by parental descent, or by 

 collateral relationship.* We have no instance 

 on record of the offspring of a male and female 

 Albino. 



The whiteness of the skin and hair, both 

 general and partial, is not confined to the hu- 

 man race ; it is found in most, if not in all the 

 species of the mammalia, and in some of these, 

 as in the dog, the horse, and the rabbit, is the 

 subject of daily observation ;f in most of them, 

 however, the peculiar state of the eye does not 

 exist. These white varieties, like other analogous 

 cases among the lower animals, when once 

 produced, are strictly hereditary, in which re- 

 spect they differ somewhat from the human 

 Albino. 



Various opinions have been entertained by 

 physiologists respecting the nature of this pecu- 

 liarity, whether it should be considered as a 

 morbid affection, J depending upon a diseased 

 state of the constitution, and also respecting 

 its immediate or efficient cause. The first of 

 these points may be regarded as a verbal con- 

 troversy, depending altogether upon our defi- 

 nition of morbid action ; but we conceive, that 

 according to the ordinary definition of the term, 

 we should not consider it as a disease, but as a 

 connate deviation from the perfect structure of 

 the animal frame, not produced by an external 

 cause, and not removable by a remedial agent. 

 For a correct knowledge of its physical cause, 

 we are indebted, in the first instance, to an in- 

 genious conjecture of Blumenbach's, who ac- 

 counted for the red colour of the eye, and its 

 extreme sensibility to light, by the absence of 

 the pigmentum nigrum. 



* See particularly Saussure's account of the two 

 boys of Chamouni and Sachs's Narrative ; also Blu- 

 menbach, p. 276 and 279, note ; Firmin and Jeffer- 

 son ut supra ; Pauw, t. ii. p. 25 ; Bory St. Vincent, 

 L'Homme, 'p. 144, mentions an Albino of the third 

 generation; Is. St. Hilaire, passim. 



t Blumenbach, p. 281, 2; Is. St. Hilaire, p. 

 297 . . 9. 



| " Ad cachexias referenda videtur affectio," 

 Blumenbach, p. 274 ; Is. St. Hilaire, $. 6, supposes 

 that there are two species of Albinism, one the effect 

 of disease, the other a true anomaly ; but we con- 

 ceive that the term is not correctly applied to the 

 former state. 



Comment, de Oculis Leucasthiopum, et De 

 Gen. Hum. var. . 78. 



