ALB 
the cage, but it will also live upon almost 
any food, so that it have once a week a 
fresh tuft of three-leaved grass put into the 
cage with it. The wood-lark is one of the 
sweetest of our singing-birds, and is indeed 
very little inferior to the nightingale, when 
in good health ; but we are not to judge by 
such as are made feeble by improper food, 
or want of cleanliness in their cages, 
ALBINOS, in zoology, a denomination 
given to the white negroes of Africa, who 
have light hair, blue eyes, and a white body, 
resembling that of the Europeans, when 
viewed at a distance; but, upon a nearer 
approach, the whiteness is pale and livid, 
like that of leprous persons, or of a dead 
body. Their eyes are so weak that they 
can hardly see any object in the day, or 
bear the rays of the sun, and yet, when the 
moon shines, they see as well, and run 
through the deepest shades of their forests, 
with as much ease and activity, as other 
men do in the brighest day-light. Their 
complexion is delicate ; they are less robust 
and vigorous than other men; they gene- 
rally sleep in the day, and go abroad in the 
night. The negroes regard them as mon- 
sters, and will not allow them to propagate 
their kind. In Africa this variety of the 
human species very frequently occurs. Wa- 
fer informs us, that there are white Indians 
of the same general character among the 
yellow or copper-coloured Indians of the 
isthmus of Darien. It has been a subject 
of inquiry, whether these men form a pecu- 
liar and distinct race, and a permanent va- 
riety of the human species, or are merely 
individuals who have accidentally degene- 
rated from their original stock. Buffon in- 
clines to the latter opinion, and he alleges 
in proof of it, that in the isthmus of Ame- 
rica a husband and wife, both of a copper 
colour, produced one of these white chil- 
dren ; so that the singular colour and consti- 
tution of these white Indians must be a 
species of disease which they derive from 
their parents ; and the production of whites 
by negro parents, which sometimes happens, 
confirms the same theory. According to 
this author, white appears to be the primi- 
tive colour of nature, which may be varied, 
by climate, food, and manners, to yellow, 
brown, and black ; and which, in certain 
circumstances, returns, but so much altered, 
that it has no resemblance to the original 
whiteness, because it has been adulterated 
by the causes that are assigned. Nature, 
lie says, in her most perfect exertions, made 
men white; and tlie same nature, after suf- 
fering every possible change, still renders 
ALB 
them white: but the natural or specific 
whiteness is very different from the indivi- 
dual or accidental. Of this we have exam- 
ples in vegetables, as well as in men and 
other animals. A white rose is very diffe- 
rent, even in the quality of whiteness, from 
a red rose, which has been rendered white 
by the autumnal frosts. He deduces a far- 
ther proof that these white men are merely 
degenerated individuals, from the compa- 
rative weakness of their constitution, and 
from the extreme feebleness of their eyes. 
This last fact, he says, will appear to be less 
singular, when it is considered that in Eu- 
rope very fair men have generally weak 
eyes ; and he has remarked that their or- 
gans of hearing are often dull : and it has 
been alleged by others, that dogs of a per- 
fectly white colour are deaf. This is a 
subject which demands farther investiga- 
tion. Buffon’s Natural History. 
ALBUCA, in botany, a genus of the Hex- 
andria Monogynia class and order : corolla 
six-petalled ; the inner ones connivent; 
outer ones spreading; style triangular : this 
genus is distinguished into those species, 
three of whose stamina are fertile ; and into 
others in which all the stamina are fertile : 
of the former there are six species ; of the 
latter eight. They are all found at the 
Cape. 
ALBUMEN, in chemistry, a term to 
denote the white of egg, and all glary, taste- 
less substances, which, like it, have the pro- 
perty of coagulating into a white, opaque, 
tough, solid substance, when heated a little 
under the boiling point. This substance 
forms a constituent of many of the fluids of 
animal bodies, and when coagulated, it con- 
stitutes also an important part of their solids. 
Substances analogous to it have been no- 
ticed in the vegetable kifigdom. The essen- 
tial characters of albumen are the following : 
1. In its natural state it is soluble in water, 
and forms a glary, limpid liquid, having very 
little taste : in this state it may be employed 
as a paste and a varnish. 2. The solusion 
is coagulated by acids, in the same way as 
milk is acted upon ; and also by heat of the 
temperature of WO 0 , and by alcohol. 3. Dis- 
solved in water, it is precipitated by the in- 
fusion of tan; and also in the form of white 
powder by the salts of most of the white 
metals, as silver, mercury, lead, and tin. 
4. When burnt it emits ammonia, and when 
treated with nitric acid, yields azotic gas. 
The juice of the papaw tree yields albumen ; 
so also does the juice of the fruit of the hi- 
biscus esculentus : that obtained from the 
latter has been used in the West Indies as a 
