Albinos, individuals in whom, by some defect in their organization, the substance which gives color to the skin, hair, and eyes is absent. 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 the 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. It is supposed that the dark color of the eye and hair is owing to a large quantity of pig-mentum in the system, and light hair and eyes to a smaller proportion of it. The name albino was originally applied by the Portuguese to the white negroes they met with on the coast of Africa. With the features of the negro and the peculiar woolly form of the hair, the color of the skin and hair was white.

The eye, instead of 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, Linrneus 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 cases of leprosy, would seem to indicate that the phenomenon might result from a diseased organization. They are also deficient in mental capacity. In the same family several children are sometimes born albinos. They are most generally of the male sex. An instance is recorded of a Welsh family, in which every alternate child was an albino. It is stated by Esquirol that two albinos married, and had two children that were not albinos, but of quite brown color. It is not understood to what ultimate cause the phenomenon is to be attributed. It is not limited to man; for individuals possessing the same peculiarities are found among a great variety of the warm-blooded animals, and, according to Geoffroy St. Hilaire, in fishes and some species of molluscous animals as well.

Examples are not very rare among the feathered tribe, the effect being seen in the color of the plumage, as in other animals in that of the hair. The white crow and the white blackbird are albinos. Albino mice are not uncommon. The white elephants of India are venerated by the natives, who believe them to be animated with the souls of their ancient kings. One of the kings of the Ashahtees is said to have had particular regard for albinos, and collected around him about 100 of them. According to Humboldt, albinos are more common among nations of dark skin, and inhabiting hot climates. In the copper-colored races they are more rare, and still more so among whites. - The knowledge we possess of this subject is derived from the scientific investigations of Blumenbach, De Saussure, who describes them in his Voyage dans les Alpes, Buzzi, surgeon to the hospital at Milan, Som-mering, and others.