aloft to the height of a soaring tree. Its leaves 
are more heart-shaped than those of the common 
alaternus, and have a fine, shining, strong ver- 
dure during both summer and winter.— The 
jagged-leaved alaternus differs widely in appear- 
ance from the others, yet is a good-looking, 
straight-growing tree. Its bark is smooth and 
fine in summer, and assumes a reddish hue in 
winter ; and its leaves are long, lanceolate, smooth, 
shining, and with peculiar and strongly-charac- 
tered serratures. Some variegated sorts of the 
jagged-leaved alaternus, with silver and gold 
stripes, are exceedingly beautiful, but so uncon- 
_ stant and fitful that, unless they receive peculiar 
_ culture in the worst kind of hungry soil, they 
| will lose their stripes and revert to plain green. 
| Numbers of other varieties of alaternus might 
_ be named, but they agree so nearly with some 
_ of the main varieties as not to be worth separate 
| notice. 
_ nus were, at one time, in great favour for hedges 
Several varieties of the common alater- 
and for planting against walls and out-buildings 
_ to conceal deformities and make an ornamental 
appearance; but they were found to be far too 
troublesome, and in other respects unsuitable,— 
and by a revulsion of fashion, they went totally 
into disrepute. All the sorts grow well in a dry 
_ gravelly or sandy soil. Plants intended for hedges 
_ or under-shrubs should be raised from layers ; and 
| bear the light of day. 
| plants intended to assume a tree-like form should | _ 
_ be raised from seed,—and the latter, if their lead- 
ing shoots be encouraged, will grow to a height 
of 18 or 20 feet. 
ALBINO. A Spanish word applied to indi- 
| viduals of the human race who have the skin 
| and hair white; the iris very pale, bordering on 
red; and the eye so sensible that they cannot 
This condition is seen 
more frequently in the negro. 
The Albino—called Blafard on the continent 
of Europe; Bedas, Chacrelas, or Kakerlaks, in 
India; Whzte-Negro or Dondos, in Africa; Da- 
rien in America—is an individual malformation 
or degeneration in the colouring matter of the 
skin and hair, usually dying with the individual, 
but sometimes becomes hereditary, and is trans- 
mitted to their offspring. It presents the same 
characters in whatever race it appears, and is 
| found likewise among the lower animals. 
The human Albinos are of a feeble constitu- 
tion, the skin of a dull white, the eyes weak with 
the iris red, and the hair of a pale yellow. They 
are most commonly found, or at least are most 
remarked, among the races of dark complexions. 
At Java, they are reported to form a wandering 
“and proscribed race, roaming in the woods under 
the name of Chacrelas. Labillardiére observed 
an Albino female of Malay descent upon one of 
the Friendly Islands. The Albinos of Ceylon, 
called Bedas or Bedos, appear to belong to the 
| Hindoo race. They are also found among the 
a 
| Papoos; and have been seen, but very seldom, 
| among the Hyperboreans. A white negress from 
ALBINO. 
Madagascar was observed by M. Bory de St. Vin- 
cent; she had two children, the one by a white, 
the other by a negro. Hach of these children 
presented intermediate characters between its 
parents, having the usual traits of the father 
combined with the Albino features and white 
hair of the mother. Albinos are reported to be 
common in the woods of the Isle of France. They 
are also common on the continent of Africa. In 
America, the most remarkable are the Dariens, 
who reside in the isthmus connecting the nor- 
thern and southern portions of that continent. 
The want of colour, or albinism, in animal and 
vegetable bodies, when they are said to be leucose 
or white, has its proximate cause in the original 
want, or the diminished secretion, of the coloured 
layer of mucous net-work placed immediately 
under the epidermis, or outer skin of animals. 
With plants, this is owing to the inert secretion 
of the green matter, or chromule, and its ceasing 
to colour the cuticular tissues. In all species, 
softness and moisture are the results of this albin- 
ism or whiteness. Its ultimate cause is the want 
of vital energy, arising either from the prolonged 
absence of the influence of light upon the organic 
structure, or from the intensity of a long-con- 
tinued cold. Its effects may be either absolute 
and total, or merely partial and local, even among 
the white varieties of animals and plants. Its 
general tendency is to effeminate all beings. 
Accidental albinism may arise from old age, or 
the want of a continued renewal of this coloured 
layer, which communicates its hue to the hair, 
feathers, or scales. It may be even induced be- 
fore old age by disease, or by the absence of the 
usual supplies of nutriment, or, among animals, 
by the violence of fear or any sudden emotion, 
which may serve to withdraw from the exterior _ 
of the body its secretions, and render the skin 
pale, or the hair white. There is also an acci- 
dental albinism from the mechanical injury of 
the mucous pigment, arising from the bruising 
or tearing of the skin, and on these spots, white 
hair or feathers will arise in the place of coloured 
appendages. 
An opposite state of deep blackness, or melanism, 
when the surface is said to be melanose or black, 
arises from the superabundance of the mucous 
subcutaneous tissue in animals and plants, in 
which carbon exudes towards the exterior. Such 
are negroes, and all black or dark-brown animals, 
lurid and venomous plants, as the Solaneze. This 
state of the skin is well-fitted for skies, resplen- 
dent with light and heat. It is attended in in- 
dividuals with dryness, rigidity, and shortness of 
stature. Excessive cold, combined with the ab- 
sence of light, serves to drive the nutritive and 
repairing juices far from the skin. This kind of 
albinism is especially remarked in animals in- 
habiting the highest mountains and the polar 
regions, where they become white in winter and 
coloured in summer. The large species of the 
porcupine exhibit these alternate annulations of 
er a aa aah 
