The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-02-09
WINDOWS OF THE SOUL.
THE EYES AS A FEATURE IN MA
TloNAL PHYSloGNoMY

Opinions of Buifon, Winekehnann and
Other Authorities--Eyes Regarded rs
Tribal indioations--A Few Paragraphs
from Notwithstanding 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 as the great feature of express
sion; that is, persons who are neither anna
teurs in nor professors of that quasi
science physiognomy. These gentlemen
devote their time aud treatises as much to
the nose ms to the eyes, propounding rnles
OF character as deduced from the wrinkles
Of the forehead and warts ON the cheek
writing learnedly of the lineaments of the
cheek, the Specification of the chin, the
index of the mouth and score of other
diversities of feature.
First, as to the eyes as n feature in ma
tional physiognomy, Lavater, when dis
cussng this question, gives the following
as the result of his observations; That
the Italians have small eyes; the Ger
mans light colored eyes, surrounded with
many wrinkles; the English, strong, open,
liberal and steadfast eyes, and the Swiss
dull eyes,
The Laplanders, according to Button,
have narrow eyes, the pupils of yellow
brown, inclining to 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 eyelds thick The eyes of
the Chinese are small, their eyebrows
\ large and the eyelids raised.
The New Hollander had dull, black
Teye, thick eyebrows and eyelids half shut
Ia habit acquired in fancy to preserve the
eyes from the gnats, To the Spaniards
Blffon gives "good eyes," to the Goths,
blpe 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-
nlauX 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
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 plover's
egg Another authority states that the
eye 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-
ian's 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 'sfierce, with
blue eyes and red hair" The Celts are
described as swarthy and dark eyed, the
Gauls 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 be said to be
light eyed is the Caucasian, and even this
race is by no means uniform as to color