Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/277

 ALBI ALBINOS 253 ALBI, or Alby (anc. Albiga), a town of France, capital of the department of Tarn, on the Tarn, 41 m. N. E. of Toulouse; pop. in 1866, 16,596. It has a cathedral, a museum, and a library, but is one of the least attractive towns of France. The name of the sect of Albigensea was derived from this place and its district, Albigeois. A council denouncing their tenets was held near here in 1176. Albi was one of the most important Protestant towns during the reign of Louis XIV., and the revocation of the edict of Nantes drove many of its citizens into exile. ALBIGENSES, the collective name of various religious sects in the 12th and 13th centuries, who left the Catholic church and called them- selves Oatharists or Cathari (the pure). The word is derived from Albigeois (Albigesium), the territory of the viscount of Albi, the chief protector of the sects. The war against the Albigenses arose in consequence of the murder in 1208 of the papal legate Peter of Castelnau. Pope Innocent III. threw the blame on the he- retical nobility of southern France, and in par- ticular upon Eaymond VI. of Toulouse, and had a crusade preached against them. Ray- mond averted the blow by submitting to the most humiliating conditions, and the crusading army, under the leadership of the legates Milo and Arnold, marched first against Eaymond Roger, the viscount of Albi, Beziers, Carcas- sonne, and Rasez, whose land was devastated and given to Simon de Montfort. When Be- ziers, the capital of Roger, was taken by storm, 20,000 of the inhabitants were massacred. The army then (1211) turned against Raymond of Toulouse, who had again been excommuni- cated. His land was also conquered, and in 1215 adjudged to Simon de Montfort. Ray- mond, however, supported by his subjects, continued a vigorous resistance to Simon, who in 1218 fell at the siege of Toulouse. A large portion of his territory was then reconquered by Raymond, and his son Raymond VII. even succeeded in forcing Amalric, the son of Si- mon, to a complete surrender. Louis VIII. of France, who was now prevailed upon by Pope Honorius to take arms against the Albigenses, died in November, 1226 ; but finally Raymond was compelled in 1229 to purchase relief from excommunication by ceding part of his terri- tory to France, and by making his son-in-law, the brother-in-law of Louis IX. of France, heir to the remainder. Thus the Albigenses were left without a patron, and the inquisition was organized in 1229 by the council of Toulouse to complete their extermination. The name maintained itself, however, throughout the 13th century, not only in France, but also in upper Italy, Spain, and other countries, and disap- peared at the beginning of the 14th century. For the doctrine of the Albigenses see CA- THAEISTS. ALBINOS, individuals in whom, by some de- fect in their organization, the substance which gives color to the skin, hair, and eyes is ab- sent. These persons, whether Indian, negro, or white, appear of a uniformly dead, milky hue, with hair of the same shade, and eyes with the iris deficient in the black or blue or hazel pigment, which in others conceals the delicate network of blood vessels, and the intense red- ness they diffuse over the surface. In the albino, both the pupil and the iris lacking this colored curtain, the former, from the concentra- tion within it of fine blood vessels, is of a deep red, and the circle around it is of a pink color. It is supposed that the dark color of the eye and hair is owing to a large quantity of pig- mentum in the system, and light hair and eyes to a smaller proportion of it. The name albino was originally applied by the Portuguese to the white negroes they met with on the coast of Africa. With the features of the negro and the peculiar woolly form of the hair, the color of the skin and hair was white. The eye, in- stead of the jet-black hue, which seems given to the inhabitants of the tropics to enable them to bear the intense glare of the sun, was like that of the white rabbit and ferret, and, like this, better suited for use in the moonlight and in places sheltered from the light of day. From this inability to bear the light, which, however, is said to be much exaggerated, Linnaeus called the albinos nocturnal men. They generally lack the strength of other men ; and a peculiar 1 harshness of the skin, such as is noticed in cases of leprosy, would seem to indicate that the phenomenon might result from a diseased organization. They are also deficient in men- tal capacity. In the same family several chil- dren are sometimes born albinos. They are most generally of the male sex. An instance is recorded of a Welsh family, in which every alternate child was an albino. It is stated by E'squirol that two albinos married, and had two children that were not albinos, but of quite brown color. It is not understood to what ultimate cause the phenomenon is to be attrib- uted. It is not limited to man ; for individuals possessing the same peculiarities are found among a great variety of the warm-blooded animals, and, according to Geoffroy St. Hilaire, in fishes and some species of molluscous ani- mals as well. Examples are not very rare among the feathered tribe, the effect being seen in the color of the plumage, as in other animals in that of the hair. The white crow and the white blackbird are albinos. Albino mice are not uncommon. The white elephants of India are venerated by the natives, who be- lieve them to be animated with the souls of their ancient kings. One of the kings of the Ashantees is said to have had particular regard for albinos, and collected around him about 100 of them. According to Humboldt, albinos are more common among nations of dark skin, and inhabiting hot climates. In the copper-colored races they are more rare, and still more so among whites. The knowledge we possess of this subject is derived from the scientific in- vestigations of Blumenbach, De Saussure, who