Measurements of Rayleigh light scattering, nonlinear light scattering in DC magnetic fields, and the Cotton-Mouton effect were carried out for 15 mM NaCl and water solutions of ferritin at room temperature. The spherical geometry of the molecule implies that it is optically isotropic. Such a macromolecule should not manifest magnetic anisotropy; however, in solution it shows induced magnetic birefringence (Cotton-Mouton effect) and changes in the intensity of the scattered light components. The analysis of the obtained results indicates the deformation of linear optical polarizability induced in the ferritin by a magnetic field as the main source of the magneto-optical phenomena observed. Light scattering and the CM effects theoretically depend on the linear magneto-optical polarizability, chi, and the nonlinear magneto-optical polarizability, eta. Using the theory describing the phenomena as well as the experimental data, the values of the anisotropy of linear magneto-optical polarizability components, chi(parallel to) - chi(perpendicular to) = -(1.3 +/- 0.7) x 10(-22) [cm(3)] (in SI units chi(parallel to) -chi(perpendicular to) = -(2.0 +/- 1.2) x 10(-33) [m(3)]), the linear optical polarizability, alpha = (alpha(parallel to) + 2alpha(perpendicular to))/3 = (3.9 +/- 1.0) x 10(-20) [cm(3)] (in SI units alpha = (3.52 +/- 0.09) x 10(-4) [Cm-2 V-1]), and its anisotropy, kappa(alpha) = (alpha(parallel to) -alpha(perpendicular to))/3alpha = -(0.06 +/- 0.03), nonlinear magneto-optical polarizability, eta = (eta(parallel to) + 2eta(perpendicular to))/3 = -(4.7 +/- 0.9) x 10(-30) [cm(3)Oe(-2)] (in SI units eta = -(6.7 +/- 1.3) x 10(-18) [Cm-4 V-1 A(-2)]) and its anisotropy, kappa(eta) = (eta(parallel to) -eta(perpendicular to))/3eta = -(0.15 +/- 0.10), were deduced. Here alpha(parallel to), eta(parallel to), alpha(perpendicular to), eta(perpendicular to) are the optical and magneto-optical polarizability components along the parallel and the perpendicular axes of the axially symmetric molecule, respectively.