Sonia writers represent the peculiarities which distinguish the Albinos as altogether the result of disease. They found this opinion on the roughness and harshness of the skin, on the tender ness of the eyes, and the comparative physical weakness of these individuals. But the harsh and almost leprous appearance of the skin, though sometimes found, is by no means universal ; the tendentess of the eyes arises frotn the increased settaibility of the organs in consequence of the abstraction of the dark-coloured substance by which, in the natural state, they are defended from the light : teal, even admitting it to be a fact, which however does not appear to be fully established, that these persons are physically weaker than other men, it would not follow that this weakness is the result of disemae. As far as can be judged from external appearance, and from their accounts of their own feelings, Albinos appear perfectly healthy, and many do not exhibit a single mark of disease whatever. It is also certain that domestic animals which exhibit varieties perfectly analogous to those of the human Albino are free from disease. This peculiarity has been observed in the sheep, pig, horse, cow, dog, cat, mouse, ferret, monkey, squirrel, rat, hamster, guinea-pig, mole, opossum, martin, weasel, roe, fox, rhinoceros, elephant, badger, beaver, bear, camel, buffalo, and ens; and even in the crow, blackbird, canary-bird, partridge, common fowl, and pencock. it is remarkable, however, that it has never been seen in any cold-blooded animal. In all the mammalia and birds just enumerated, the nature and characters of the deviation seem to be perfectly analogous to those of the human Albino. The pure whiteness of their skin and other integuments, and the redness of the iris and pupil, mark the same deficiency of colouring matter. A white mouse, possessed by Blumen bach, exhibited the same inability to bear the light which has been observed almost universally in the human examples; the animal kept its eyelids closed even in the twilight.
The physical, intellectual, and the moral qualities, associated with this singular conformation of the body, have not been stated with distinctness and accuracy. It would seem that the Albino is both physically and mentally somewhat weaker than other men. All accounts agree in representing his physical strength 'as inferior to that of persons of the ordinary conformation. Saussure, in his
Voyage dans les Alpes,' expressly states, in relation to two boys whom be examined with much attention at Chamouni, that, when they were of a proper age, they were unable to tend the cattle like the other children ; and that one of their uncles maintained them out of charity, at a time of life when others were capable of gaining a sub sistence by their labour. Wafer, the old voyager, in his account of the Indian Albinos iu the Isthmus of Darien, while he represents them as being as nimble in the moonlight as the other Indians, states that they are not so strong and lusty. But in what degree their intellectual powers are confined, or whether indeed there be any decided inferiority, we have at present no means of forming an accurate judgment.
Some inconvenience certainly arises from the conformation of the eye peculiar to the Albinos. A strong light cannot be borne, and even the full glare of day appears to excite some degree of uneasiness. Deuce the eyelids are usually more drawn over the ball of the eye than is common with other persons, and the eyes are generally weak, tender, and watery ; while vision is more agreeable and more perfect in twilight. But the inconvenience of an ordinary degree of light, and the advantage of imperfect darkness, have been exaggerated.
It would seem that there is a greater tendency to the formation of this variety in some parts of the world than in others. It is more common among the African. and the Indian tribes than among the European people. In the Isthmus of Darien, and in some of the oriental islands, it is so frequent that some writers have conceived that those persons form a distinct and peculiar tribe ; but for this opinion there is no foundation. Mr. Bowdich, however, states that the king of Ashantee, who seems to have considered persons of this description as a great curiosity, and to have indulged his taste for collecting them in a truly Oriental manner, had assembled about him nearly a hundred white negroes. Blumenbach states that he has himself seen sixteen Albinos in various parts of Germany ; and examples have been not unfrequently found in Denmark, England, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Italy, the Grecian Archipelago, and Hungary. It is common in both sexes, but it would appear to be somewhat more frequent in males than in females.