i 9 4 EXPRESSION IN THE ANIMAL EYE 
and manatees those which stand lowest as judged 
by the presence or absence of expression, without 
the accession of hideous deformity. 
The analysis of beauty must always be approached 
with diffidence. There is always the danger that, 
like the crystal drop, it may, on the displacement 
of a single component part, rebuke the impertinent 
inquirer by the shivering and resolution of the perfect 
whole into fragments which baffle reconstruction and 
defy recognition. Common opinion, the fairest 
arbiter in a matter of such general interest, is pro- 
bably agreed, that in the human eye, colour does 
not control our estimate of beauty. u Black eyes 
or blue eyes, hazel or grey,” as the song says, are 
equally admired in the proper setting. But in the 
eyes of all other creatures colour does make a marked 
difference in the impression which they convey to 
us, though the reason for this difference is obscure. 
Light-coloured eyes of any shade seem to detract 
strangely from the depth and significance of animal 
expression. The usual tint in these light-coloured 
eyes of animals is a bright golden yellow. Creatures 
of very similar form and almost identical shape of 
head and face, appeal, or fail to appeal, to us by the 
expression of their eye largely on account of this 
slight difference, though the probable range of 
emotion and scope of intelligence in the one can 
hardly be believed to differ greatly from the same 
powers in the other. The yellow eyes of the sheep 
and the goat have probably never been the subject 
