464 



ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1921. 



All records on eye color, however carefully made, necessarily bear 

 the following imperfections : A small number of the apparently pure 

 light browns, and other-than-blue lights, will belong to the cate- 

 gory of only apparently and unstably (in relation to progeny) pures; 

 they are mixeds in which the mixture is not clearly perceivable. A 

 small proportion of the medium browns will be in the same cate- 

 gory. A superficial observation in addition will inevitably result 

 in classing many of the mixeds as pures. The classes which are most 

 free from error will be the pure blues and the darker browns, in 

 which it will merely be a question of classification errors along the 

 boundaries. 



There have been many former attempts at a satisfactory classifi- 

 cation of eye color, and several " standards " have been made by 

 which to record these colors. Being largely empirical, however, 

 none of them, neither classifications nor standards, are fully satisfac- 

 tory. In the present studies reliance was placed on the above analysis 

 of the colors, on due regulations of the procedure, on large practice, 

 and on constant care. All eyes were examined in clear light, at the 

 distance of best vision, the " reading distance." The use of artificial 

 standards, after sufficient expertness was acquired, was found un- 

 necessary and hindering rather than facilitating the examination. 



With all the above regulations and precautions it is certain that 

 the results on eye color here recorded are still imperfect; though 

 they are probably as near correct as they can be made under present 

 conditions. 



The number of records on eye color among the Old Americans is 

 the same as that on the hair, namely, 1,009 males and 914 females; 

 and the total data show the following results: 



Old Americans: Color of eyes. 



Pure 

 lights. 



Mixed. 



Pure 

 browns. 



Males (1,009).. 

 Females (914). 



Per cent 

 31 

 24.1 



Per cent. 

 52.5 

 55.9 



Per cent. 

 10.5 

 20 



More than half of the eyes among the Old Americans are mixed, 

 in general, a light of some sort with specks, ring or other plain traces 

 of brown ; approximately one-third in males and one-fourth in females 

 are pure lights, and one-sixth in males with one-fifth in females are 

 pure browns. The females have less pure lights and more browns, 

 showing again the tendency towards somewhat greater pigmentation. 



The above data contrast in an interesting way with those on hair. 



