SECT. I.] HEREDITARY TRANSMISSION. 85 



sense. Instances of hereditary blindness and deafness, and of 

 alternating dumbness, so that every second or third child was 

 di :if, are given by Lucas. Harris 1 communicates a case of 

 hereditary blindness in one eye, and of a double thumb on the 

 riirht hand. The so-called porcupine men of the family Lam T 

 lu-rt, with their excrescences on the hands and feet, have often 

 been quoted. Thomson has endeavoured to prove that the 

 peculiarities of the skin are transmitted in the male line, which 

 he supports by many illustrative cases. 2 In Birmah, remarkably 

 hirsute men have been met with, to whom the peculiarity was 

 transmitted through three generations. 3 There are also in- 

 stn ucesrecordedof six-fingered/six-toed, and of web-footed indivi- 

 duals who transmitted these peculiarities to their offspring. 

 The frequent tendency of succeeding generations to reproduce 

 deviations presents itself also in the hereditary transmission of a 

 number of diseases, such as goitre, cretinism, and mental 

 affections. 



Albinism may also be mentioned, which in some parts, 

 especially in the Isthmus of Darien, is so prevailing that the 

 Albinoes have been considered as a distinct race. Coreal 

 heard them thus described. 4 At a later period Wafer gave an 

 account of these Albinoes. 5 Blumenbach 6 has already shown 

 that it occurs sporadically in man and animals in every part 

 and in every race. Though we cannot altogether agree 

 with Prichard, who denies that there is anything morbid in 

 Albinism, and only ascribes to Albinoes a more delicate organi- 

 zation than that of the white, the supposition of G. Forster, 7 

 that light-complexioned men, when they exist among dark 

 races, have frequently, but erroneously, been described as 

 Albinoes, is probably correct. From the looseness of descrip- 

 tions, this cannot always be decided, which is the less surprising 

 as skin diseases have frequently been mistaken for Albinism. 

 Blumenbach has pointed out that white-spotted Negroes must 



The Highlands of Ethiopia/' 2nd edition, i, p. 286. 

 Edinb. Med. Journal," Dec., p. 501, 1858. 

 Ausland," p. 461, 1858. 

 Voy. aux Indes occ.," ii, 140, Amst., 1772. 



Merkw. E. nach Darien," p. 117, Halle, 1759. 

 De. gen. hum. var. nat.," p. 278. 

 Sammtliche Schriften," iv, 231. 



