392 ON THE EFFECT OF COAL FIRES ON THE EYES. 



that at Mansfield it is pretty general, and at Chesterfield decidedly the 

 prevailing feature. 



If we return southward through Leicester and Coventry we shall 

 perceive the same effect of coal, particularly at Nuneaton, as also along 

 the line of canals. And as the facility of conveying this fuel by means 

 of canals and rail-roads increases, we shall find that what is called the 

 Gothic character, will gradually give way to the Celtic. 



It may be noticed that in Lancashire, the eye, which is generally 

 blue, has often a dark circle on the outer rim of the iris, giving it 

 a higher expression than when unaccompanied by that finish, and 

 having much the character of that of the people of Belgium, and which 

 I do not recollect having seen so general in any other part of England ; 

 though the inhabitants of Cheshire partake of it. 



As we quit the coal districts and pass through Westmoreland and 

 Cumberland towards the North, the eye resumes the grey colour, and 

 retains it through the whole of those counties, and also through the 

 southern part of Scotland, on for a distance of more than a hundred 

 miles on the Glasgow road until we approach the neighbourhood of 

 Lanark, and the great coal fields of Scotland, where a change to the 

 dark eye is immediately perceptible. At Hamilton that melanic 

 tint becomes general, and continues to prevail along the whole of the 

 coal district, from Glasgow to Edinburgh, in so decided a manner, that 

 when once the fact is brought under notice it is impossible not to 

 connect it with the use of coal fuel. But when we quit this dis- 

 trict for the Highlands, in which coal is not found, and very little 

 used, the grey eye again makes its appearance ; and, notwithstanding 

 the very positive assertions respecting the dark character of that feature 

 among the Highlanders, I do not hesitate to say that, whenever it does 

 occur among them, it is so unusual, as to form an exception to the 

 general appearance ; whereas, on the other hand, in the country of the 

 Gothic Lowlanders where coal is used, the grey eye forms the exception. 

 So much for the system of Goths and Celts. A few facts accurately 

 observed are worth all the fanciful systems upon earth. 



And here may be noticed a remarkable instance of that delusive 

 coincidence between real facts and imaginary theories which occasionally 

 occurs ; and which has not unfrequently succeeded in confirming 

 prejudices already partially adopted, however absurd and erroneous ; 

 for on going from England towards Glasgow, it is impossible for the 

 physiognomist not to notice the sudden transition from the grey to 

 the dark eye, as he approaches that city; and never suspecting the 



