890 ON THE EFFECT OF COAL FIRES ON THE EYES. 



Macculloch attributes it decidedly to a Belgic extraction, and says, " no 

 other supposition will explain the Gothic race or blue eye of North 

 Wales." This temperament is observable in Anglesea, Caernarvonshire, 

 Merionethshire, and the adjoining districts, in which the people generally 

 use peat, or wood fires, until we come to the south of Breconshire, and 

 approach the great coal basin of South Wales ; then an almost sudden 

 change is observed. The light eye ceases to be general, and the dark 

 prevails, and continues to do so through a great part of the counties of 

 Glamorgan and Monmouth; so much so, that in the vale of Neath the coal 

 black is very generally seen, and even in Merthyr Tydvil, notwithstand- 

 ing the continued influx of strangers, this feature^is very distinguishable, 

 especially among the children of those who have been some time settled 

 there. On coming from the district of the peat and wood fires into this 

 part of the principality, this change in the colour of the eye is singu- 

 larly striking and observable. And it is a remarkable coincidence that 

 this is the very country of the ancient Silurians, whom Tacitus describes 

 as possessing characteristics, which might have attended this feature 

 and temparament, and which induced him to suppose they might be a 

 colony from Spain. The ancient castle of Dunraven in Glamorganshire, 

 is said to have been one of the strong holds of Caractacus. 



But though the black eye still remains, I have not been able to 

 ascertain that the hair of the present Silurians has a greater tendency 

 to curl than that of their neighbours ; nor is their complexion darker 

 than that, which in Britain naturally accompanies the melanic tem- 

 perament. 



Whether the ancient Silurians derived their dark complexion from 

 the use of coal, or whether they were really a colony from Spain, as 

 Tacitus is inclined to suppose, I cannot undertake to say, but it appears 

 certain that they were acquainted with the use of coal, which is found 

 in such abundance in their country, as Pennant informs us that an 

 ancient flint axe was actually discovered in one of the coal mines of 

 Monmouthshire. 



As we return from South Wales the change becomes visible in the 

 course of a few miles ; for as we quit the vicinity of the coal fires, the 

 light eye resumes its prevalency, until we approach the coal fires of 

 North Wales, in the neighbourhood of Rhuabon and Oswestry, where 

 the dark eye again appears ; notwithstanding the smallness of the coal 

 basin, and the number of strangers employed in working it. 



But though the people of North Wales are generally a blue-eyed 

 race, as Dr. Macculloch has justly observed, yet that colour assumes 



