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.
Definitions of albinism vary and are inconsistent. Whilst they are clear and precise for humans and other mammals, this is because the majority of mammals have only one pigment, melanin. Many animals have pigments other than melanin, and some also have structural colours.