136 BEPORT— 1880. 



ranning across the iris. In the various shades of green eyes the yellow 

 pigment is more uniformly diffused over the surface of the iris, and the 

 green colour is due to the blending of the superficial yellow pigment with 

 the blue and grey of the deeper structures. In the hazel and brown eyes 

 the uvea and the fibrous tissues are hidden by increasing deposits of yellow 

 and brown pigment on the anterior surface of the iris, and when this is 

 very dense black eyes are the result. It is very doubtful, however, 

 whether the iris is ever so dark-coloured in the inhabitants of this country 

 as to justify the term black being applied to it, and the popular use of the 

 expression has reference to the widely dilated pupil common in persons 

 with dark brown eyes. The nearest approach to a black eye among us 

 is the dark blue or violet eye associated with black hair in some Iiisli 

 adults ; here the colour is jjrobably not entirely due, as in infants, to the 

 greater transparency of the fibrous structures, but to interstitial deposit of 

 black pigment, or to a layer situated on the anterior surface of the iris. 



' As the observations included in the above table were made by many 

 different persons without specific directions or colour-tests, and as the 

 shades are not well-defined and are too numerous for easy analysis, I have 

 combined them into three large groups — the light, including the shades 

 of blue ; the mixed, including the grey and green ; and the dark, includ- 

 ing the brown and so-called black eyes, in order to correct some obvious 

 errors of observation. Green eyes are more common than the table 

 indicates, and no doubt many cases of green eyes have been recorded as 

 grey, and probably a few as light brown. On the other hand the number 

 of grey eyes appears to be out of proportion to the rest, and this column 

 probably includes a number of light blue as well as grey and green eyes. 



'Mr. H. C. Sorby, F.R.S., has examined the colouring matter of the 

 hair,' and has separated three pigments which he describes as brown-red, 

 yellow, and black ; and he attributes the different shades of the colour of 

 hair to one of these pigments, or to their combination in different propor- 

 tions. Thus, fair and brown hairs owe their colours chiefly to yellow and 

 black pigment ; and the shades of red hair to red and black pigments, the 

 brightest red having the least black or yellow. Acting on these investi- 

 gations, and bearing in mind that amongst black-haired races red (and 

 not yellow) hair frequently occurs, and is generally associated with black 

 hair in this country, I have interposed the black between the yellow and 

 red shades in the table. This arrangement has the advantage of sepai'at- 

 ing the browns and the reds, and of showing how the black overshadows 

 these colours as the hair darkens by advancing age ; and it is useful in 

 distinguishing the chief racial elements of our population. The diagram 

 shows the quantity of hair of each colour, and the relation which the 

 colours bear to each other above the age of 10 years. If the observations 

 commenced at birth, and were grouped in periods of four or five years, the 

 curve would change with advancing age, and the apex would move 

 gradually from the fairer to the darker shades. By grouping the whole 

 of the observations into fair, dark, and red, as I have done in the table, we 

 see the prevailing complexion of the higher and professional classes in this 

 country.' 



IV. As to Toivn mid Country Origin of Class I. 



Though the statistics as yet obtained are not sufiBcient to show con- 

 clusively the different tendencies of town and country life, an attempt has 



' Jovr. Anthrop. Inst., vol. viii. 



