Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 52.djvu/182

168 Brythonic branch of the Welsh and Cornish. It is permissible to suppose that the absence of contact implied by these ancient linguistic differences might allow of a separate modification of the Scottish wing to the end we have observed. At all events, we have laid bare



the facts, even if we have pricked holes in the Iberian hypothesis thereby.

Enough portraits have now been presented to admit of a few hasty generalizations concerning the facial features peculiar to Britain. To be sure, all sorts of difficulties beset us at once. It is unfair to compare different ages, for example. The youthful countenance is less scarred by time. Nor, again, is it just to draw comparisons from different stations in life. In the same race the exposed farm laborer will differ from the well-fed and groomed country gentleman. Strongly marked racial differences between social classes exist all over the islands. The aristocracy everywhere tends toward the blond and tall type, as we should expect. We may, however, draw a few inferences from the data at our disposal, which seem to be well grounded in fact. The most peculiar characteristic of the Teutonic face, as a whole, is its smooth, almost soft, regularity. The lower jaw of the brunette and more primitive type is apt to be squarish and heavy, with the bony ridges above the eyes strongly pronounced. This latter trait appears in nearly all our portraits—Welsh, Scotch, or Irish. It is notable in the Cornishmen. In all cases this endows the features with a certain ruggedness and strength which is pleasing to the eye. Finally—for we have no space to enlarge upon the subject in this place—the nose in the Teuton is more