2/8 DIFFERENCES OF FEATURES. 



These may all occur in different individuals of the same 

 race, or even of the same family : and again, they are some- 

 times confined to the distinct tribes of the same country 

 within the limits of a few degrees. Thus Linn^us* de- 

 scribes in Sweden the Gothlander, with light hair and gray- 

 ish blue eyes -, the Fin, with yellow hair and brown iris ; 

 and the Laplander with black hair and eyes. 



Blue eyes, as well as yellow hair (caerulei oculi, rutilae 

 comae t)j have characterized the German race from the 

 earliest times ; and the same combination is met with, in 

 scattered instances, in the most remote nations. The iris of 

 the Negro is the blackest we are acquainted with ; so that 

 close inspection is necessary, in living individuals, to dis- 

 tinguish it from the pupil. It is invariably dark in all the 

 coloured tribes of men ; as well as in dark-complexioned 

 individuals of the white variety. 



* Fauna Suecica^ p. 1. 



t Tacitus, Germ. 4. ^ Rutilus' is applied to splendid or shining objects, 

 as fire and flame ; and denotes frequently the colour of gold, as in this case. 

 Thus it has here the same meaning as the " auricorai" of Silius, applied to the 

 Batavi, and the epithet " golden-haired," so common among the earlier Ger- 

 man writers. 



