PHYSIOLOGIC CONTENT OF PIGMENT IN THE CONJUNCTIVA OF CHINESE

Abstract

In dealing with the pathologic hyperpigmentation of the conjunctiva in Chinese in various diseases, chiefly in vitamin A deficiency,¹ the question of normal pigmentation in this race soon arose. Being unable to find literary data on that subject, I studied the conjunctiva of various healthy-appearing Chinese who were free from ocular diseases. Only a little is known about the pigmentation of the conjunctiva in melanotic races. Fischer² reported in various tribes of African Negroes an accumulation of pigment in the epithelial cells of the limbus, which ends abruptly toward the cornea and gradually toward the fornix. The pigment was found chiefly in the deep epithelial layers as intracellular granules ; the content of pigment in the conjunctiva of Negroes, however, certainly exceeds that in the conjunctiva of the less pigmented Chinese. Steiner³ gave some data concerning the pigmentation of the eyes in Malays of Java and