Buffon's Natural History. Volume 04 (of 10) / Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c

by comte de Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon

This variety in the colour of the eyes, is peculiar to man, and one or two of the brute-creation; in other animals, the colour in any one individual is the same in all the rest. The eyes of the ox are brown; those of sheep of a watery colour; those of goats are grey, &c. and it may also be remarked, that the eyes of most white animals are red; as the rabbit, ferret, &c. “According to Aristotle, in the human species grey eyes are the strongest; blues eyes are weak; full eyes are near sighted, and brown ones require a good light.”

Though the eye, when put in motion, seems to be drawn towards either side, yet it only moves round its centre; by which its coloured part moves nearer, or farther from the angle of the eye-lids, and is thus elevated or depressed. The distance between the eye is less in man than in any other animal; in some it is so great that it is almost impossible that they should ever view the same object with both eyes at once.

Next to the eyes, that which gives most character to the face are the eye-brows, which being, in some measure, totally different from the other features, their effect is most readily distinguished. The eye-lashes have an effect in giving expression to the eye, particularly when long and close, they soften its glances, and improve its sweetness. Man and apes are the only animals that have eye-lashes both upon the upper and lower lids, all other animals want them on the lid below, and even man has less on the under than on the upper.

The eye-lids serve to guard the ball of the eye, and to furnish it with a proper moisture. The upper lid rises and falls; the lower has scarce any motion; and though their being moved depends on the will, yet the will is unable to keep them open when sleep, or fatigue, oppresses the mind. In birds and amphibious quadrupeds the lower lid alone has motion; and fishes and insects have no eye-lids whatsoever.

The forehead makes a large part of the face, and chiefly contributes to its beauty. It ought to be justly proportioned, neither too round nor too flat, neither too narrow nor too low, and it should be regularly surrounded with the hair. The hair tends greatly to improve the face, and baldness takes away from beauty. Borrowed locks, however, do not justly supply the place of real ones, as the true character cannot be so well traced in the countenance when the one is substituted for the other. The highest part of the head, and that immediately above the temples, first becomes bald; the hair under the temples, and at the back of the head, is seldom known to fail.

It has been observed by some authors that baldness was peculiar to man, and that it never happens to women in the most advanced periods of life. The hair is, in general, thickest where the constitution is strongest, and more glossy and beautiful where the health is most permanent. The ancients supposed the hair to be produced like the nails, the part next the root pushing out that immediately contiguous. But the moderns have found that every hair may be truly said to live and to receive nutriment like other parts of the body. The roots do not turn grey sooner than the extremities, but the whole hair changes colour nearly at the same time, and we have many instances of persons who have grown grey in one night’s time. When turned white it gradually loses its strength and falls off. Aristotle asserts, that no man ever became bald previous to his intercourse with women.

The nose is the most prominent feature in the face, but as it has scarce any motion, even in the strongest passions, it rather adds to the beauty, than to the expression of the countenance. The form of this feature, and its advanced position, are peculiar to the human visage alone. Other animals, for the most part, have nostrils with a partition between them, but none of them have an elevated nose. Apes themselves have scarce any thing else of this feature but the nostrils, the rest of the feature lying flat upon the visage, and scarce higher than the cheek-bones. This organ serves man and most animals not only to breathe but to enjoy odoriferous scents. Birds have merely two holes for these purposes.

The mouth and lips, next to the eyes, are found to have the greatest expression. The passions have great power over this part of the face, and the mouth marks its different degrees by its different forms. The organ of speech still more animates this part, and gives it more life than any other feature in the face. The ruby colour of the lips, and the white enamel of the teeth, have such a superiority over every other feature that they seem to form the principal object of our regard. In fact, the whole attention is fixed upon the lips of the speaker; however rapid his discourse, and however various the subject, the mouth takes correspondent situations, and deaf men have been often found to see the force of those reasonings, which they could not hear, by attending to the motions of the lips.

Notwithstanding the opinion of Aristotle, with regard to the crocodile, I am convinced, that in that, as well as in man, and other animals, the under jaw alone has the power of motion. In the human embrio, and in monkeys, the under jaw is very much advanced before the upper. In instances of the most violent passion this jaw has often an involuntary quivering motion; and often also pain and pleasure, as well, as languor produces another, which is that of yawning.