Albi'nos

Albi'nos (Portuguese, from Lat. albus, 'white')—called also Leucoethiopes, or white negroes, and by the Dutch and Germans Kakerlaken—were at one time considered a distinct race; but closer observation has shown that the same phenomenon occurs in individuals of all races, and that the peculiar appearance arises from an irregularity in the skin, which has got the name of leucopathy or leucosis. It consists in the absence of the colouring matter which, in the normal state, is secreted in the deepest layer of the cuticle, and also of the dark pigment of the eye; so that the skin has a pale, sickly white colour, while the iris of the eye appears red, from its great vascularity. As the pigment in the coats of the eye serves to diminish the stimulus of the light upon the retina, albinos generally cannot bear a strong light; on the other hand, they see better in the dark than others. The colouring matter of the hair is also wanting in albinos, so that their hair is white. All these differences are of course more striking in the darker varieties of the species, and most of all in the negro albinos. Albinoism is always born with the individual, and occurs not only in men, but also in other mammalia, in birds, and probably in insects. It is not improbable that the peculiarity may to some extent be hereditary. The opinion that albinos are distinguished from other men by weakness of body and mind, is completely refuted by facts.