ALBINOS. 177 



has been acquired by long exposure to the action of in- 

 tense heat and light. 



Dr. B. The change which you allude to, is precisely 

 like that called tanning. Its effects are quite superfi- 

 cial and temporary, and disappear when the part that 

 experiences the change is renewed. The Moors have 

 lived in Africa ever since the seventh century, and still 

 their children are born as fair as those of Europeans. 

 The Negroes have lived in the New World more than 

 two hundred years, and their color is as black as ever. 

 The farther we go into the examination of facts on this 

 point, the stronger will be the confirmation of the fact, 

 that the human complexion is independent of climate, or 

 in truth of any other known physical cause. 



Emily. I acknowledge myself convinced by your 

 proofs, and will cheerfully give up my theory. But if 

 the rete mucosum as you call it, has never been found in 

 white people, what proof is there that it does really exist r 



Dr. B. -The white races are not destitute of colour 

 by any means ; some indeed, are quite brown, as the 

 Spaniards, Greeks, &c. Now if the rete mucosum is 

 the seat of colour in blacks, there is good reason to be- 

 lieve that it is also, in the whites. Besides, there are 

 sometimes born among the blacks and other dark-coloured 

 people, individuals who are entirely white, but it is a col- 

 our very different from that of the white races. It is a 

 dirty white or cream colour, and the skin has sometimes 

 a remarkable roughness. 



Emily. You refer now to the Albinos, do you not ? 

 I had the pleasure of seeing one a few years ago, and 

 not only was the complexion unnaturally white, but the 

 hair was white, or rather silvery, and the eye-brows and 

 eye-lashes were of the same tint. The iris was of a light 

 rose colour, and the pupil red. What is the cause of this 

 strange phenomenon ? I have understood that it is not 

 unfrequent among the negroes. Humboldt has obser- 

 ved it among the South American Indians, and Dubois 

 says it occurs in India. 



