Sym of Edinburgh relates the history of a
family of seven children, who were alternately white and black.
All but the seventh were living and in good health and mentally
without defect. The parents and other relatives were dark. Figure
73 portrays an albino family by the name of Cavalier who
exhibited in Minneapolis in 1887.
Examples of the total absence of pigment occur in all races, but
particularly is it interesting when seen in negroes who are found
absolutely white but preserving all the characteristics of their
race, as, for instance, the kinky, woolly hair, flattened nose,
thick lips, etc. Rene Claille, in his "Voyage a Tombouctou," says
that he saw a white infant, the offspring of a negro and negress.
Its hair was white, its eyes blue, and its lashes flaxen. Its
pupils were of a reddish color, and its physiognomy that of a
Mandingo. He says such cases are not at all uncommon; they are
really negro albinos. Thomas Jefferson, in his "History of
Virginia," has an excellent description of these negroes, with
their tremulous and weak eyes; he remarks that they freckle
easily. Buffon speaks of Ethiops with white twins, and says that
albinos are quite common in Africa, being generally of delicate
constitution, twinkling eyes, and of a low degree of
intelligence; they are despised and ill-treated by the other
negroes.
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