FE^iALE ALBINO, 203 



X. 



Earl^ Accouut of an Albiness. In a Letter from Jonif 

 BoSTOCK, 1\L D. 



To Mr. NICHOLSON. 

 SIR, 



I 



N examining lately one of the eariier volumes of tne i'^lii- Early accoiant 

 loso; hical Transactions, I meet with the following account *f '"* ^^'^''■^'^^* 

 of an albino, which, as the subject has lately engaged your 

 attention, I have transcribed for insertion in your Journal. 

 It may be thought curious, both as being perhaps the ear- 

 liest acco\int on record of this peculiar variety of the hu- 

 man species, and also as furnishing another example of its 

 occurrence in a female. It is taken from a paper on mon- 

 eters, in the 25th volume of the Transactions, for the years 

 1706, and 1707, bearing the following title, " De mon- 

 *' stris, quasi monstris, & monstrosis; item de serpentibus, 

 " & Phillippensibus, ex M. S. R. P. Geo. Jos. Camelli, 

 *' Communicavit D. Jac. Petiver, Pharraacop. Lond. & 

 " S. R. S." It is divided into sixty-nine sections, each of 

 which contains a narrative of some uncommon or monstrous 

 production. The account of the albino is placed under the 

 head of •* Monstra quae existebant, A. D. 1700 in insula 

 Catanduen." " Albinam, Plispanis Albinno, vidi Manil- 

 " lae; erat puella decennis, (proles Morenorum parentum, 

 *' qui colons sunt fuliginosi, sed capillitio protenso) albedi- 

 " nis extraordinariae & insolitge in admirationem trahentis, 

 " & monstruosffi, capilli aureoli, solem ac lucem invstjE 

 *' ferens. Causam vulgus non phantasiae sed lunjE inffuxui 

 *• tribuit*." 



• " Monsters existing in the year 1700, in the island of Catandu- 

 anes. 



'* I saw at Manilla an albiness, called by the Spaniards an albinno. She 

 was a girl ten years of age, the daughter of negrello parents, who are of a 

 sooty complexion, with rery long hair. She had an extraordinary, tin- 

 common, wonderful, and unnatural white skin, golden hair, and was im- 

 patient of sunshine or light. The common people ascribe this not to the 

 imagination of the mother, but to the influence of the moon." C . 



If 



