A Teutscher, or Deutscher, according to the method of pronunciation, was a person belonging to the nation. Some would no doubt translate this as meaning Dutchman. When Julius Caesar, about fifty years before the birth of Christ, advanced to the frontiers of what might then be considered Germany proper, and hence was brought into more immediate contact with its people, he is enabled to speak with certainty. Any thing like authentic German history commences with the Christian era, and it ripens with the progress of civilization and learning, and light comes to us through the darkness and gloom of the middle ages. Their skin was also white, their eyes blue, and their glance bold and piercing.
Some ancient writers say their usual height was seven feet.
New-born infants were dipped in cold water, and the cold bath was continued during their whole lives as the strengthening renovator, by both boys and girls, men and women. It is not intended to give an extended and detailed view of the habits, manners, regulations, and institutions of these people. But it is proper to note some points in their history down to the period of the immigration of the Palatines to this western continent. It must be apparent to all, that in order to provide against assaults from without, there must have been a confederation of the German tribes at some period. The most perfect of these alliances among the tribes took place about the year A. D. 235, in order to form a barrier against the Roman armies.