The Washington herald., 1908-01-26

photograph is baffied in many ways when
painting directly from the life. Great Is
the problem how to hit the right tones for
hair and eyes; for these are subject 20
curious changes. which are little c0nsid-
cred. OF course. everybody recognizes
such temporary changes as blushing the
tan Of prolonged exposure 10 sunlight, the
I0siness that comes with sharp winter
air or sometimes merely from a nap.
BIN illness and comparatively transient
moods affect the complexion. What is
rarely thought OF is the effect OF emo
tions on the color Of hair and eyes. Per-
haps that is why lovers are not infre-
quentIy caught in awkward mistakes. as
when they address their dsrIings as blue
eyed, when the dsrlings are convinced
from extended inspection Of their own
charms in the glass, that they have eyes
of brown.
The colors of eyes and hair are affected
not merely by emotions and moods. but
by surroundings. by the amount and dl-
recti0n Of the light that happens 10 fail
on them. by the shadow Of a hat While
II is "a commonplace that sometimes hair
viii turn gray or white during terrible
that minor emotions are family register
ed. yet not so family thar the changes
can be overlooked by painters. And then
We are Handicapped by the want OF =
generally accepted series Of words 10 fix
each shade in the language
seek 10 Establish Distinctions.
Efforts have been made by Topinard.
Frederic SchWaIbe, Wsldeyer, and others
T. establish such distinctions in French
and German for scientific purposes con-
nected with studies Of savage races and
The relative prepouderauce among white
people OF b.9Ids and bruHettes. Schwalbe
has studied the question for Germany
and then extended his researches 10 all
human beings. with special consideration
OF compilations. In English We have
very narrow and imperfect series OF words
for the col0rs Of the eyes. as black, blue
gray, brown yellow. and a larger one for
hair. as black brown. auburn red. CaI-
Ioty yellow. tow. fiaNeu. gray white
SOME of which are used to signify tbs
same shade. And as We so back into the
sources Of language we find an increasing
scarcity Of words % describe human col
Oring. though the reverse is the ease with
regard 10 domestic animals Thus OR
f5refatheTs had iu common use q far
greater variety of words 10 express dogs.
horses and COWS Of different c0l0rs and
tones than We have That is because
they thought more and talked more of
their property than of themselves and
fellows. If we formed the habit of dis
cussing the finer shades, the words would
surely coin themselves.
Indeed. the artists do coin words which
sometimes become current outside the
studio. The popular artist word chic.
which has spread from France into other
tongues, is really q color term for il
started ab a taunt directed against tie
ClaSsicisJs who painted even summer
trees all brown, and were shocked at an
inn0vatCr Ike Constable, Who actually
painted them green. Chique is a sailor s
term fora chew Of tobacco. and so chic
began 10 be used as a sneer az the to
baccO juice painters, and later on rose
10 refined society as a term 10 disparags
the work Of a painter who did not paint
from nature, but COlOred his designs .u
his studio after an arbitrary fashion.
II a du chic came later to mean that the
mans work had a certain schooled cIeF-
erness in drawing. but lacked healthy
realism.
Dark skins Are Superior.
Some years ago there were statements
made in Germany that the brown-skinued
and brown-eyed citizens whom one finds
particularly plentiful I'm Bavaria and Bo-
hernia We're gradually getting the upper
hand and supplanuHg the blond. blue.
and gray eyed Germans. So various
savants fell 10 work tabulating. and .u
time the census men We're induced 20 reg
ister the Colors Of eyes and hair among
school children. The late Prof Yirchow
examined the statistics representing North
Germany and among other things came
10 the conclusion that the blUe-eyed rep
resent the GeTmanic strain and the gray
eyed the Slavic. Weinberg. who studied
the EstEouians, little people on the
Baltic who are Finnish by tongue and
descent. but probably largely mixed with
Slav blood. endeavors to distinguish the
gTay-eyed blonds among them as faxen,
ashen, straw-colored, yellowish. and red
dish. But after all these learned discus
sions one comes down 20 the fact that Il
IS labor lost If Investigators have not
agreed on the terms that represent given
shades. and when pursuing their investi-
cations have not with them a hard and
fast table OF Colors which they can use
as tests on the persons examined.
Herr Fischer is a student Of anthrOpol-
oey who has been making some expert
ments I'm this line and giving fair trial
to inventions Of other men who are up
against" this difficulty. He has tried
hanks of different colored silks and cot
tons and tufts of natural hair.
Herr Fischer has found it necessary
to divide his colors into two series-one
Of the gray-blacl. the other Of the yellow
brown Green is a color We do not eX-
pect TO find I'm human hair, except i'm the
last stages of bad hair dye. Yet human
hair from Russia. quite undOctored has
been discovered having q green tinge
Blue I'm hair is not so uncommon A
certain rude expression Of the emotions
like the painting of faces and bodies
among savages. has been observed in
tribes of the South Pacific. who color
their hair in different ways for feast or
function, reminding us of the Orientals
who stain their hair and eyelids with
henna, and the Venetian women of the
Titan period who sought the red-gold
tone by staining their tresses with some
vegetable extract, and sitting In the sun
with their locks distributed over broad
straw hats from which the crown had
been removed.
Plays Important Part.
Color in complexion hair, and eyes has
played a mighty part in the world, and
continues to exert a vast influence. one
has only to think Of India, where caste
was and is still based on color, and our
own country where the unfortunate with
the slightest modicum OF black blood in
his veins encounters almost everywhere
a deadly and blightiHg prejudice II was
a severe blow to the pride of Brltons, 50
toploftical toward all the world, and es-
peciaIly toward East Indians, when HuX-
lev announced that the aborigines of the
British Isles, absorbed long ago into
whittier waves of invaders. were crinkly-
haired, dark-skinned savages. Scandina-
,-iaD hate 10 ha reminded of the FiDnjc