ON THE EFFECT OF COAL FIRES ON THE EYES. 



393 



real cause of this change, and having nothing in his head but Goths 

 and Celts to account for every variety of physiognomical appearance, of 

 course these black-eyed people must be Celts. And it happens most 

 opportunely for his system, that this was the country of the Strathclyde 

 Britons, or Welsh of Strathclyde (Strathclud-Walli), whose citadel 

 was on the rock of Dumbarton : and therefore he is convinced, that the 

 people retain the Celtic character of their ancestors to this day. And 

 this circumstance, in conjunction with that of the same character 

 occurring among the descendants of the Silurians of South Wales, 

 seems to establish the fact to a demonstration : the blue-eyed Celts of 

 the remainder of Wales, Cumberland, and Ireland, being entirely 

 overlooked; and these inconsiderable spots made to represent the 

 great Celtic race. 



Whether the author of Ossian was afflicted with the Celto-gothic 

 mania, and wished to make his heroine a genuine Briton of Alclud, or 

 a Roman of Theodosia, he certainly contrived to make her, in some 

 respects, correspond with the character of the country : for, in 

 describing Moina of Balclutha, in the poem of Carthon, he calls her, 

 H the daughter of strangers," " Moina with the dark blue eyes ; " and 

 says, " Her hair was dark as the raven's wing." 



Having never visited the coal-fields of Sutherland, in the north of 

 Scotland, I cannot say whether that fuel has been used there in 

 sufficient quantities to influence the physiognomy of the people. But 

 as far as regards those districts of the Highlands which I have visited, 

 I never saw anything to justify the assertion of the dark complexion 

 of the people. At Inverness, it is true, the dark eye sometimes occurs : 

 but not in a greater degree than in towns in general, where it always 

 prevails more in proportion than in the country. I have also, in this 

 part of Scotland, met with some remains of the gipsey race ; and am 

 much deceived if some of this gipsey blood has not been mistaken by 

 Dr. Macculloch for that of the aboriginal Celts ; as we know that, some 

 years ago, gipsey families were very numerous in Scotland. Meg 

 Merrilies' kraal was one of those establishments, very frequently met 

 with ; and, even in England, at this day, in the militia regiments of 

 those counties in which gipsey encampments have been most numerous, 

 the gipsey blood is very distinguishable in the dark Asiatic counte- 

 nance, which here and there meets the eye, as we pass along the ranks, 

 and forms a striking contrast to the fair and xanthous complexion of 

 the old agriculturists. Had this variety been noticed in a Welsh or 



VOL. I.— NO. IX. (SEPTEMBER, 1833.) F F 



