The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-04-28
THE WINDOWS OF THE SOUL
san Francisco Chronicle.

san Francisco Chronicle.
 Some poetical gentleman has called the eye ''the window of the soul," and at all times and among nearly all peo- pie it is regarded as the great feature of expression; that is, by persons who are neither amateurs in nor professors of that qadsi science, physiognomy. These gentlemen devote their time and treatises as much to the nose as to the eyes, propounding rules of charac- ters deduced from the wrinkles of the forehead and warts on the cheek, the signiRcation of the chin, the index of the mouth and score of other diver sities of feature.
 First, as to the eyes as feature in national phy siognomy. Lavater, when discussing this question, gives the fol- lowing as the result of his observs- tions; That the Italians have small eyes; the Germans light eyes, surrounded with many wrinkles; the English strong, open, liberal and steadfast eyes, and the Swiss dull eyes
 The Laplanders, according to Buff ion, have narrow eyes, the pupils of a yellow brown, inclining to black, and the eyelids retiring towards the temple. The eyes of the Tartars, he says, are small and sunken, the eye brows 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 a dull, black eye thick eyebrows and eyelids half shut-a habit acquired in infancy to preserve the. eyes from the gnats. To the Spaniards Buffon gives "good eyes," to the Goths, blue eyes, and to the Finlanders, heavy lids and the iris of a deep yellow.
 Winckelmann holds the opinion that the shape and color of the eyes are very largely the result of climate and other direct conditions. Thus, he says, the small, half-closed blinking eyes of the Esquimaux are due to na- ture's attempt to preserve 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 consequence of the imperfection of their growth. It is upon the authority of a philosophic writer named De Pauw that the Pe- ruvian has an eye the apple of which is black and the white not very clear.
 This reminds one of the description by Russell of Senegambian's eye, which he likens to boiled prune set in plover's egg. Another authority states that the eye of the Turks is de- void of passion or great enterprise, but that it is eloquent in all the penetra- ton of benevolent cunning. This writer also says that the s'silent eye" of the Englishman "seeks not to please;" that the eye of the French man is "vivacious and unstable :" that the Italians is ardent" and the Dutch mans "half open and without thought"
 Eyes have always been regarded as tribal indications. Tacitus, tor exam- pie, describes the Germans as "fierce, 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 ght-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 Caucas- ian, 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 any means prove that the highest degree of civilization is confined to the blonde races. There was period when blue eyed persons were rarely seen, and to- day seven-eighths of the worlds in- habitants have dark eyes. Not only is the majority on the side of the dark eyed, but statistics would seem to in- dicate that that majority is increasing. In paper read some time ago before the Swedish Archaeological Society it was stated that brown eyes were be- coming more common in Switzerland, North Germany. Belgium and Sweden, and that out of every one hundred set of light-eyed parents fifty-six per cent. of the children had dark eyes In this calculation blue-gray and gray eyes were classified as blue, and, if there is any weight to be attached to the report, it would show that blue eyes, even in blue-eyed country, are becoming decidedly scarce, which ought to be good news for the blondes. f She Couldn't Understand It. "What in the world has happened