ALBINO. 



87 



This conjecture was shortly after verified by 

 Buzzi of Milan, who took advantage of an 

 opportunity which presented itself, of dissecting 

 the eye of an Albino, in which the pigmentum 

 nigrum could not be detected.* He also ex- 

 amined the structure of the skin, which appeared 

 to be deprived of the rete mucosum, that part 

 of it in which its specific colour is supposed to 

 reside ; the hair was also found to be deficient 

 in its central coloured part.f Whether, in 

 these cases, the pigmenttim nigrum of the eye 

 and the rete mucosum of the skin are absolutely 

 deficient, or are only deprived of their colouring 

 matter, so as not to be detected by the eye, is a 

 point on which different opinions have been 

 formed by anatomists ; J perhaps, upon the 

 whole, we may be induced to consider the lat- 

 ter opinion as the most probable. 



What are the circumstances in the consti- 

 tution of the parents which should lead to this 

 peculiarity in their offspring is entirely un- 

 known, nor have any conjectures been formed 

 on the subject which can be considered as even 

 plausible. The hypothesis of Buffon, which 

 at one time obtained a considerable degree of 

 credit, that white is, as it were, the primitive 

 colour of nature, which, by various external 

 causes, is changed to brown or black, but which 

 the body lias always a tendency to resume 

 under favorable circumstances,|| is completely 

 without foundation : nor does it appear that 

 we can explain it upon the principle, that do- 

 mestication and the habits of civilized life have 

 a tendency to produce a lighter shade of the 

 complexion, because we trace no connexion 

 between the supposed cause and the effect, 



' For some remarks " on the colour of the pigment 

 of the eye," and its effect on vision, as applicable 

 to the eye of the Albino, see Hunter, p. 243 . . 253 ; 

 also Blumenbach, $. 51. " Capillorum cum cute 

 consensus," and $. 53, " Irides oculorum cum capil- 

 lorum colore consentientes." 



t Sachs gives us a minute account of the analysis 

 of the hair of the Albino, compared with Vauquelin's 

 analysis of hair in its ordinary state, from which it 

 appears that no iron could be detected in it. 



t Blandin, Diet. Med. Chir. Prat. " Albinee ;" 

 Rayer, . 630. 



Mansfeldt is disposed to ascribe the production 

 of the Albino state to some shock given to the 

 foetus, by an impression made upon the mother ; it 

 is characterized as a " cessation totale, momentanee 

 d'action cerebrale ; " Journ. Compl. t. xv. p. 250 et 

 seq. Is. St. Hilaire essentially adopts this hypo- 

 thesis, ascribing the peculiar state of the skin to an 

 " arret de developpement," in consequence of which 

 the colouring matter is not formed at the requisite 

 period, p. 319,0. The idea, that it depends upon 

 something peculiar in the seminal matter of the 

 parent, which was maintained by Herodotus, Thalia, 

 . 101, and was controverted by Aristotle, Hist* 

 Animal, lib. 3. cap. 22, has been revived by Mau- 

 pertuis, Diss. 2, and by Pauw, t. i. p. 179, and t. ii. 

 p. 21. Le Cat refers the colour of the negro to a pecu- 

 liar substance, which he names " ^Ethiope animal," 

 which he supposes is contained in their fluids, ana- 

 logous to the black inky matter of the cuttle fish ; 

 par. 2. art. 1 ; the absence of this substance con- 

 verts the negro into an Albino. 



|| T. iii. p. 502,3. ; Wood's trans, t. iii. p. 422. 

 We may remark that this speculation of Buffon's is 

 precisely the reverse of that of Hunter, p. 243 et 

 seq. 



and because the production of the Albino is 

 complete in the first instance, and not brought 

 about by any gradual or progressive alteration. 

 It appears that we must come to the con- 

 clusion, that although the anatomical or phy- 

 sical cause of the peculiarity is ascertained, yet 

 that we are entirely ignorant of its remote 

 cause, or of that train of circumstances which 

 leads to its production.* 



* " The following cases have not been referred 

 to in the body of the article ; De la Nux, Hist. 

 Acad. Scien. 1744, p. 13; Camelli, Phil. Trans. 

 v. xxv, p. 2268 ; Duddell on the Eye, Suppl. to, 

 sect. iii. $.30 et seq. ; Percival, Irish Trans, v. iv. 

 p. 97, 8 ; Hunter, Anim. (Econ. p. 250, 1 ; Traill, 

 in Nich. Journ. v. xix, with an Add. by the editor ; 

 Mansfeldt, Journ. Compl. t. xv ; Ansieux, in Journ. 

 Med. de Corvisart, t. xiv, p. 263, 4. 



For the following epitaph, which appears to have 

 been written on an Albino child, we are indebted 

 to a literary friend, the Rev. Jos. Hunter. 



* Upon Thomas, son of Ric. Elmhurst by Mar- 

 garet his wife, daughter to Ric. Micklethwaite : 

 whose promising parts, were interrupted by an early 

 death. 



"... This boy no Albian was, yet gray hair'd 



borne 



Who saw old age and night as soon as morne. 

 His grave's a cradle ; there his God him lay'd 

 Betimes to sleep lest he the wanton play'd. 

 Bid him good night ! i'th bed of dust sleep on 

 Until the morne of Resurrection. 



" Anagram. 



" Lo Earth misseth me, 1632." 

 From the Church of Worsborough, Com. York. 



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