Albino

Albino, an animal in which there is a deficiency or absence of the pigment which is normally present in the skin, iris, and choroid coat of the eye. Thus the skin and hair are white, the iris appears pink from the colour of the blood in it being unobscured by pigment, and a characteristic change may be noted in the choroid on examination with the ophthalmoscope. The white rabbit with pink eyes is a familiar object, and examples of a similar peculiarity are not very uncommon in man. Indeed, "white negroes" were supposed by the early travellers to be a distinct race. The defect, when present, exists from birth. Owing to the deficiency of pigment, the retina is unusually sensitive to light, and this constitutes one of the greatest troubles in albinoism, as seen in the human subject; there is also not infrequently present actual defect of vision.