ALB 
being darted'with that variety of the human fpeciesdeno¬ 
minated Albinos". 
“ When nature preftnts the fame appearance often, and 
with circumftances varied, we may at laft difcover fome 
general law, or fome relation which that appearance has 
with known caufes: but, when a fa£l is lb lingular and fo 
rare, it gives but little fcope to conjectures: and it is ve¬ 
ry difficult to verify thofe by which we attempt to explain 
it. I at firlt imagined that this difeafe might be referred 
to a particular fort of organic debility; that a relaxation 
of the lymphatic veffiels within the eye might fuffer the 
globules of the blood to enter too abundantly into the iris, 
the uvea, and even into the retina, which might occafion 
the rednefs of the iris and of the pupil. The fame debi¬ 
lity feemed alfo to account for the intolerance of the light, 
and for the whitenefs of the hair. But a learned phylio- 
lbgift, M. Blumenbach, profeffior in the univerlity at Got¬ 
tingen, who has made many profound obfervations on the 
organs of fight, and has conlidercd with great attention 
the Albinos of Chamouni, attributes their infirmity to a 
different caufe. 
“ The lludy of comparative anatomy has furniffied him 
with frequent opportunities of obferving this phenome¬ 
non; he'has found it in brutes, in white dogs, and in owls; 
lie fays, it is generally to be feen in the warm-blooded ani¬ 
mals ; but that he has never met with it in thofe with cold 
blood. 
“ From his obfervations, he is of opinion, that the red¬ 
nefs of the iris, and of the other internal parts of the eye, 
as well as the extreme fenfibility that accompanies this 
rednefs, is owing to the total privation of that brown or 
blackifh mucus, that, about the fifth week after concep¬ 
tion, covers all the interior parts of the eye in its found 
ftate. Fie obferves, that Simon Pontius, in his Treatife 
de Coloribus Oculorum, long ago remarked, that in blue eyes 
theinterior membranes were lefsabundantly provided with 
this black mucus, and were therefore more fenlible to the 
attion of light. This fallibility of blue eyes agrees very 
well, fays M. Blumenbach, with northern people, during 
their long twilight; while, on the contrary, the deep black 
in the eyes of negroes enables them to fupport the fplen- 
dor of tlie fun’s beam in the torrid zone. 
“ As to the connection between this red colour of the 
eyes and the whitenefs of the (kin and hair, the fame learn¬ 
ed phyfiologifl fays, that it is owing to a fimilarity of 
ftpuCture, confevfus exJhnilitudinc fabricie. He affects, that 
this black mucus is formed only in the delicate cellular 
fubftance, which has numerous blood-veffels contiguous 
to it, but contains no fat; like the infide of the eye, the 
fkin of negroes, the fpotted palate of feveral domeftic ani¬ 
mals, &c. And, laftly, he fays, that the colour of the hair 
generally correfponds with that of the iris. 
“ At the very time that M. Blumenbach was reading 
this memoir to the Royal Society of Gottingen, M. Buz- 
zi, furgeon to the hofpital at Milan, an eleve of the cele¬ 
brated anatomift Mofcati, published, in the Opufculi Scclti 
de Milan, 1784, a very interefting memoir, in which he 
demonftrates by diifeclion what Blumenbach had only fup- 
pofed. 
“ A peafant of about thirty years of age died at the ho¬ 
fpital of Milan of a pulmonary diforder. His body, be¬ 
ing expofed to view, was exceedingly remarkable by the 
uncommon whitenefs of the fkin, of the hair, of the beard, 
and of all the other covered parts of the body. M. Buz- 
zi, who had long defired an opportunity of diffeding inch 
a fubjeft, immediately feized upon this. He found the 
iris of the byes perfectly white, and the pupil of a rofe- 
colour. The eyes were differed with the greateft poffible 
care, and were found entirely deftitute of that black mem¬ 
brane which anatomifts call the uvea: it was not to be feen 
either behind the iris or under the retina. Within the 
eye there was only found the choroid coat extremely thin, 
and tinged of a pale red colour, by veffels filled with dif- 
coloured blood. What was more extraordinary, the fkin, 
when detached from different parts of the body, feem- 
Vol. I. No. 16. 
ALB 24.1 
ed alfo entirely diverted of the rete mucofum : maceration 
did not difcover the leaft veftige of this, not even in the 
wrinkles of the abdomen, where it is mod abundant and 
mod vifible. 
“ M. Buzzi likewife accounts for the whitenefs of the 
fkin and of the hair, from the abfence of the rete muco¬ 
fum, which, according to him, gives the colour to the cu¬ 
ticle, and to the hairs that are fcattered over it. Among 
other proofs of this opinion, he alleges a well-known fad, 
that, if the fkin of the blacked: horfe be accidentally de- 
ftroyed in any part of the body, the hairs that afterwards 
grow on that part are always white, becaufe the rete mu¬ 
cofum which tinges thofe hairs is never regenerated with 
the fkin. 
“ The proximate caufe of the whitenefs of Albinos, 
and the colour of their eyes, feems therefore pretty evi¬ 
dently to depend on the abfence of the rete mucofum: 
But what is the remote caufe ? 
“ In the firft place, it feems probable, that men aff'eded 
with this infirmity form no diftindt fpecies, for they are 
produced from parents that have dark fkins and black 
eyes. What is it then that deftroys the rete mucofum in 
ftich perfons? M. Buzzi relates a Angular fad, which 
feems to throw fome light on this fubjed. 
“ A woman of Milan, named Colcagni, had feven Tons. 
The two eldeft had brown hair and black eyes ; the three 
next had white fkins, white hair, and red eyes ; the two 
laft refembled the two eldeft. It was faid that this woman, 
during the three pregnancies that produced the Albinos, 
had a continual and immoderate appetite for milk, which 
fhe took in great quantities: but that when ffie was with 
child of the other four children, file had no fuch defire. 
It is not however afeertained, that this preternatural ap¬ 
petite was not itfeif tlie effect of. a certain heat,, or inter¬ 
nal difeafe, which deftroyed the rete mucofum in the chil¬ 
dren before they were born. 
“ The Albinos of Chamouni are alfo the offspring of 
parents with dark fkins and black eyes. They have three 
lifters by the fame father and mother, who are alfo bru¬ 
nettes. One of them that 1 faw had the eyes of a dark 
brown, and thp hair almoft black. They are laid,- how¬ 
ever, to be all afflided with a weaknefs of fight. When 
the lads are married, it will be curious to obferve hoW the 
eyes of their Children will be formed. The experiment 
would be particularly decifive if they were married to wo¬ 
men like themfelves. But this faulty conformation feems 
to be more rare among women than among men; for the 
four of Milan, the two of Chamouni, the one deferibed 
by Mauperfuis, the one by Helvetius, and almoft all the 
inflances of thefe lingular produdions, have been of our 
fex. It is known, however, that there are races of men and 
women affeded with this difeafe, and that thefe races 
perpetuate themfelves in Guinea, in Java, at Panama, &c. 
“ Upon tlie whole, this degeneration does not feern to be 
owing to the air of the mountains; for though I have 
traverfed the greateft part of the Alps, and the other 
mountains of Europe, thefe are the only individuals of 
the kind that ever I met with.” 
ALBINUS (Bernhard Siegfred), a celebrated phyfician 
and anatomift, was born at Francfort on the Oder, in 1697. 
Though diftinguifhed in every branch of literature, his at¬ 
tention was particularly turned to anatomy and forgery 3 
and his peculiar attachment to thefe branches of know¬ 
ledge, which he cultivated under the eye of his father, 
who was profeffor of anatomy and forgery at Leyden, gain¬ 
ed him the intimate friendfhip of Ruyfch and Raw. From 
Leyden he went to Paris, where he attended tlie lectures 
of D11 Verney, Vaillant, and other celebrated profellbrs. 
But he had fcarcely fpent a year there, when he was invi¬ 
ted by the curators of tlie univerlity of Leyden to be a 
lecturer in anatomy and furgery at that place. In 1721, 
upon the death of his father, he fucceeded to the profef- 
forffiip ; in which capacity he not only paid the greateft: 
attention to the pupils entrufted to his care, but laboured 
greatly in the improvement of the medical art. His nu- 
merous 
