COMPLEXION.
Complexion is usually (and I think universally) employed to express the tint of the skin; and the hair and eyes are spoken of separately when the occasion demands a specific reference to them. "NEMO" (No. 22. p. 352.), moreover, seems to confound the terms "white" and "fair," between the meanings of which there is considerable difference. A white skin is not fair, nor a fair skin white. There is no close approach of one to the other; and indeed we never see a white complexion, except the chalked faces in a Christmas of Easter Pantomime, or in front of Richardson's booth at Greenwich or Charlton Fair. A contemplation of these would tell us what the "human face divine" would become, were we any of us truly white-skinned.
The skin diverges in tint from the white, in one direction towards the yellow, and in another towards the red or pink; whilst sometimes we witness a seeming tinge of blue,—characteristic of asphyxia, cholera, or some other disease. We often see a mixture of red and yellow (the yellow predominating) in persons subject to bilious complaints; and not unfrequently a mixture of all three, forming what the painters call a "neutral tint," and which is more commonly called "an olive complexion."
The negro skin is black; that is, it does not separate the sun's light into the elementary colours. When, by the admixture of the coloured races with the negro, we find coloured skins, they always tend to the yellow, as in the various mulatto shades of the West Indies, and especially in the Southern States of America; and the same is true of the "half-castes" of British India, though with a distinct darkness or blackness, which the descendant of the negro does not generally show.
Though I have, in accordance with the usual language of philosophers, spoken of blue as an element in the colour of the skin, I have some doubt whether it be a "true blue" or not. It is quite as likely to arise from a partial participation in the quality of the negro skin—that of absorbing a large portion of the light without any analysis whatever. This may be called darkness.
However, to return to the Query: the term pale is applied to the yellow-tinted skin; fair, to the red or pink; brown, to the mixture of red and yellow, with either blue or such darkness as above described; sallow, to yellow and darkness; and the only close approach to whiteness that we ever see, is in the sick room of the long-suffering fair complexion. In death, this changes to a "blackish grey," a mixture of white and darkness.
The pale complexion indicates a thick, hard, dry skin; the fair, a thin and soft one; and all the shades of dark skin render a large amount of ablution essential to health, comfort, or agreeableness to others. If any of your readers should feel curious about the characters of the wearers of these several skins, they must inquire of Lavater and his disciples.
D.V.S.
Home, April 1. 1850.