Beautiful eyes are the gift of nature; but even those of the greatest beauty may owe something to their care , while those of an indifferent kind are very susceptible of improvement. We entirely discountenance any tampering with the eye itself, with a view to giving it luster or brightness. The sight has often been injured by the use of belladonna, preparations of the calabar bean, eyebright, and other substances having a strong effect on the eyes. But without touching the eye itself, it is possible to give the effect of brightness, softness, etc., by means of the eyelids and eyelashes.
Beautiful, natural eyes
Made-up eyes are by no means desirable, and to many are singularly displeasing; but the same may be said of made-up faces generally. Some ladies are, however, persuaded that it adds to their charms to give the eyes a long, almond shape—after the Egyptian type—while very many are persuaded that the eye is not seen to advantage unless its apparent size is increased by the darkening of the lids. Both these effects are produced by kohl, a black powder, which may be procured at the chemist’s, and is mixed with rose-water and applied with a camel’s-hair brush.
General Care of the Eyes
To Cure Weak Eyes It is well to have on the toilet table a remedy for inflamed eyes. Spermaceti ointment is simple and well adapted for the purpose. Apply at night, and wash off with rose-water in the morning. Golden ointment will serve a like purpose. Or, there is a simple lotion made by dissolving a very small piece of alum and a piece of lump sugar of the same size in a quart of water. Put the ingredients into water cold and let them simmer. Bathe the eyes frequently with it. Sties in the eyes are irritating and disfiguring. Foment with warm water; at night apply a bread and milk poultice. When a white head forms, prick it with a fine needle. Should the inflammation be obstinate, a little citerine ointment may be applied, care being taken that it does not get into the eye, and an aperient should be tried.
To Cure Weakness of Eyes Sulphate of copper, fifteen grains; camphor, four grains; boiling water, four ounces. Mix, strain, and when cold make up to four pints with water. Bathe the eyes night and morning with a portion of the mixture.
To Cure Watery and Inflamed Eyes Foment frequently with decoction of poppy heads. When the irritation and inflammation occur, a teaspoonful of cognac brandy in four ounces of spring water may be used three or four times in the course of the day as a strengthening lotion.
Theories have been based on even the peculiar color of the eyes. Thus, it is said that dark blue eyes are found chiefly in persons of delicate, refined or effeminate mental character; light blue eyes, and more particularly gray eyes, in the hardy and active; hazel eyes, in the masculine, vigorous, and profound; black eyes, in those whose energy is of a desultory or remittent character, and who exhibit fickleness in pursuits and affection. Greenish eyes, it is asserted, have the same general meaning as gray eyes, with the addition of selfishness or a sinistrous disposition. These statements, however, though based on some general truths, and supported by popular opinion, are liable to so many exceptions as to be unreliable and valueless in their individual applications.
Shakespeare is said to have had hazel eyes; Swift, blue eyes; Milton, Scott, and Byron, gray eyes. Wellington and Napoleon are also said to have had gray eyes.
A beautiful eye is one that is full, clear, and brilliant; appropriate in color to the complexion, and in form to the features, and of which the connected parts—the eyelids, eyelashes, and eyebrows, which, with it, in a general view of the subject, collectively form the external eye—are also beautiful, and in keeping with it.