Plants and flowers are used as symbols in the Hebrew Bible, particularly of love and lovers in the Song of Songs, as an emblem for the Israelite people and for the coming Messiah. In Western Culture, William Shakespeare ascribed emblematic meanings to flowers, especially in Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Interest in floriography soared in Victorian England and in the United States during the 19th century.
Albinism (AL-bi-niz-im) is a disorder that occurs when a person inherits various genes * that are defective in their ability to make the pigment melanin (MEL-a-nin). Melanin is the main substance that determines a person's skin, hair, and eye color. In the United States, albinism affects approximately 1 in 17,000 people. * genes are chemicals in the body that help determine a person's characteristics, such as hair or eye color.
albinism. [alâ²binizâ²Ém]. a rare inherited disorder characterized by a lack of melanin in the skin. Total albinos have pale skin that does not tan, white hair, pink eyes, nystagmus, astigmatism, and photophobia. Albinos are prone to severe sunburn, actinic dermatitis, and skin cancer.lbinism. a hereditary disorder, usually transmitted as an autosomal recessive trait, in which there is partial or total absence of pigment in the skin, hair, and eyes (oculocutaneous albinism) or in the eyes alone (ocular albinism), caused by defective or absent function of the enzyme tyrosinase.