Following Trelat and Guinard, we may
divide albinism into two classes,-- general and partial.
As to the etiology of albinism, there is no known cause of the
complete form. Heredity plays no part in the number of cases
investigated by the authors. D'Aube, by his observations on white
rabbits, believes that the influence of consanguinity is a marked
factor in the production of albinism; there are, however, many
instances of heredity in this anomaly on record, and this idea is
possibly in harmony with the majority of observers.
Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire has noted that albinism can also be a
consequence of a pathologic condition having its origin in
adverse surroundings, the circumstances of the parents, such as
the want of exercise, nourishment, light, etc.
Lesser knew a family in which six out of seven were albinos, and
in some tropical countries, such as Loango, Lower Guinea, it is
said to be endemic. It is exceptional for the parents to be
affected; but in a case of Schlegel, quoted by Crocker, the
grandfather was an albino, and Marey describes the case of the
Cape May albinos, in which the mother and father were "fair
emblems of the African race," and of their children three were
black and three were white, born in the following order: two
consecutive black boys, two consecutive white girls, one black
girl, one white boy.
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