Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1888-02-16
WINDOWS OF THE SOUL.
THE EYES AS A FEATURE IN Ma
TioNAL PHYSloGNoMY.


Opinions of Button. Winckelmann and
Other Authorities-Eyes Regarded
Tribal indieations-A Few Paragraphs
from Lavater-Copcerning Color.
Some poetical gentleman has called the
eye ''the window of the SOUL" and at all
times and among nearly all peoples it is
regarded a. the great feature of express
SION; that is. persons vino are neither anna
tenrs in nor professors of that quasi
science physiognomy. These gentlemen
devote their time and trearises rs much TO
e nose as 10 the eyes, proposnding rules
O. character as dedueed from the wrinkles
OF lhe forehead and warts on the cheek,
writing Iearnedly OF the lineaments of the
cheek the Specification of the chin. the
index of the mouth and a score of other
diyerSifies of feature.
First. as 10 the eyes as feature in ma
tioual pIysiornomy. I.avater, when dis
cltsSing this question, gives the following
a. lie result of his observations: That
tn Italians have small eyes; the Ger
mans liz Int colored eyes, surrounded with
MANY wrinkles; the English, strong, open,
liberal and steadfast eyes, and the Swiss
dull eyes.
The I.aplanders, according TO Button,
have narrow eyes. the pupils of yellow
brown, inclining to a black, and the eye
lids retiring toward the temple. The
eyes of the Tartars, he says, are small and
sunken, the eyebrows large, covering the
eyes, and the eyelids thick. The eyes of
the Chinese are small, their eyebrows
large and the eyelids raised
The New Hollander had dull. black
eye thick eyebrows and eyelids half shut
"a habit acquired in fancy to preserve the
eyes from the gnats. To the Spaniards
Button gives good eyes" to the Cloths,
blue eyes, and to the Finlanders, heavy
lids and the iris of deep yellow.
Winckelmann holds the opinion that the
shape and color of the eyes are very
largely the result of climate and other di
rect conditions Thus, he says, the small,
half closed blinking eyes of the Esqui
maux are due To natures attempt to pre-
serve the sight from the dry, cold air
and the effusion of light from the snow
amidst which they live. The small eyes
of all the distant and northern nations,
he says in another place, are in conse-
quence of the imperfection Of their
growth. 1t is upon the authority of a
philosophic writer named De Paw that
the Peruvian has an eye the apple OF
which is black and the white not very
clear
This reminds one of the description by
Russell of a Senegambian's eye, which he
likens to a boiled prune set in a plover's
egg. Another authority states that the
eve of the Turks Is devoid of passion or
great enterprise, but that it is eloquent in
all the penetration of benevolent cunning.
This writer also says that the ''silent
eye of the Englishman seeks not to
! please" that the eye of the Frenchman is
"vivacious and unstable;" that the Ital
fans is ardent" and the Dutchman's
'half open and without thought"
Eyes have always been regarded as
tribal indications. Tacitus, for example,
describes the Germans as fierce, with
blue eyes and red hair" The Celts are
described as swarthy and dark eyed, the
Guuls are red haired and light eyed,
while the Nubians and Egyptians have
| always been spoken of as dark eyed.
These characteristics have not apparently
changed, and it may be said roundly that
the people of the temperate zone have
| generally light colored eyes, while those
of the extreme zones are dark. OF the
| races, the only one that can he said to be
| light eyed is the Caucasian, and even this
| race is by no means uniform AS to color
| in its eyes The entire human history
| goes To prove that the light haired. blue
| eyed races are capable of the highest
| degree of civilization, but it does not by
ruy means prove that the highest degree
| Of civilization is confined to the blonde
| 1a"cS. There was a period when blue
| eyed persons We're rarely seen, and today
| seVcn-eig hths Of the worlds inhabitants
| have dark eyes Not only is the majority
| on the side of the daik eyed, bat statistics
| would seem to indicate that that majority
| is increasing In paper read some time
| ago before the Swedish Archaeological
| society it was stated that brown eyes were
| bccumng more common in Switzerland,
| North Germany, Belgium and Sweden,
| and that ont of every 100 sets of light eyed
| parents So per cent. of the children had
| dark eyes. In this calculation blue gray
| and gray eyes were classified rs blue, and.
| if there is any weight to be attached to
| the report. II would show that blue eyes,
| cvcH III blue eyed country, are becoming
| d ciledly scarce, which ought to be good
| news for the blondes.
II will be sequential here to quote a
| paragraph or two from Lavater concern
| Ing the color of the eyes. The colors
/
''are he orange. yellow, green, blue, gray
| AMI gray mixed with white, The blue
| and orange are most predominant and are
| often found in the same eye Eyes
| supposed to be black. says Button, ARE
| only yellow. brown or Il deep orange; to
convince ourselves Of which we need but
| 10 k ut them closely, for when seen at n
| distance or turned toward the light, they
appear to he black, because the yellow
| brown color is So contrasted to the white
| of the eye that the opposition makes it
| supposed black. Eyes also of less dark
| color pass FOR black, but are not esteemed
SO fine as the other, because the contrast
| is not So great. There also are yellow
and bright yellow eyes which do not ap-
| pear black because the colors are not deep
| enough to be overpowered by the shade.
| 1t is not uncommon to perceive shades of
orange, yellow, gray and blue in the
| me eye, and wherever blue APP
| pears, however small the tincture, it be-
| comes the predominant color and APP
| pears in streaks over the whole iris. The
| orange is in flakes round, and at some
! little distance from the pupil, but is so
| strongly etfaced by the blue that the eye
| appears wholly blue. and the mixture of
orange is only perceived when closely in
spected. The finest eyes are those which
we imagine to be black or blue. Vivacity
and fire, which are the principal charac
terStics of the eyes, are the more emitted
when the colors are deep and contrasted
than when slightly shaded. Black eyes
have most strength of expression and
most vivacity; hut the blue have most
mildueSs aud are more arch. In the for
| mer there is an ardor uninterruptedly
bright. because the color, which appears
to MS uniform. emits similar reflections
every way We look at it. But modifica-
tions are distinguished in the light which
animates blue eyes, because there are va
rious tints of color producing various re-
Hectious San Francisco Chronicle
Errope's Coal supply
1t appea $ that about II, 200, 900 of tons