62 RIDGWAY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



follows: " These persons, whether Indian, negro or white, appear 

 of a uniformly dead, milky hue, with hair of the same shade, and 

 eyes with the iris deficient in the black, or blue, or hazel pigment, 

 which in others conceals the delicate network of blood-vessels; and 

 the intense redness they diffuse over the surface. In the albino, 

 both the pupil and iris lacking this colored curtain, the former, from 

 the concentration within it of fine blood-vessels, is of a deep red, 

 and the circle around it is of a pink color." 



Speaking of the negroes of Africa, the same authority says: 

 " With the features of the negro and the peculiarly woolly form of 

 the hair, the jet black hue, which seems given to the inhabitants of 

 the tropics to enable them to bear the intense glare of the sun, was 

 like that of the white rabbit and ferret, and, like this, better suited 

 for use in the moonlight and in places sheltered from the light of 

 day. From this inability to bear the light, which, however, is said 

 to be much exaggerated, Linnaeus called the albinos ' nocturnal 

 men.' They generally lack the strength of other men; and a 

 peculiar harshness of the skin, such as is noticed in leprosy, 

 would seem to indicate that the phenomenon might result from a 

 diseased organization." 



Another account * says " the skin is perfectly pigmentless and 

 white, excepting where the blood-vessels coursing beneath it give it a 

 rose tint. The general condition of the skin is normal otherwise 

 than as regards the absence of pigment. The hair is white or 

 flaxen (in one case reported it was red), of a fine texture, and 

 peculiarly silky sheen. The eye partakes of the anomaly; the 

 iris is colorless', so that its blood-vessels give it a red hue, excepting 

 when viewed obliquely the interference of light-rays give it a blue 

 color. As a result of a want of pigments in the iris, albinos suffer 

 from photophobia and nystagmus, and are seen constantly blinking 

 the eyelids and rolling the eyes involuntarily from side to side. 

 They see best in the twilight. 



" Albinos are usually of a weak constitution, and are apt to be 

 intellectually deficient. Exceptions are known, however, to both 

 of these conditions, and one of the best papers extant on albinism, 

 so it is said, was written by a German albino named Sachs." 



Still another authorityf says " all coloring of the outer cover- 



* Arthur Van Harling-en in Buck's Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences, Vol. I, 

 p. IOI. 



t Baron Richard von Konig-Warthausen, in Journal fur Ornithologie, Cab. II, 1854, 

 pp. »49-2S3- 



