Lining the inner surface of the sclerotic is the second coat, the choroid. It is dark in color and fragile in structure, and is made up almost entirely of blood-vessels and nerves. As the choroid approaches the front part of the eyeball, its parts become folded upon themselves into a series of ridges, called ciliary processes. These folds gradually become larger, and at last merge into the ciliary or accommodation muscle of the eye. The circular space thus left in front by the termination of the choroid is occupied by the iris, a thin, circular curtain, suspended in the aqueous humor behind the cornea and in front of the crystalline lens. In its center is a round opening for the admission of light.
This is the pupil, which appears as if it were a black spot. The back of the iris is lined with dark pigment, and as the coloring matter is more or less abundant, we may have a variety of colors. This pigment layer and that of the choroid and retina absorb the light entering the eye, so that little is reflected.
The pupil appears black, just as the open doorway to a dark closet seems black. The margin of the iris is firmly connected with the eyeball all round, at the junction of the sclerotic and the cornea.
327. The Retina. The third and innermost coat of the eyeball is the retina. This is the perceptive coat, without which it would be impossible to see, and upon which the images of external objects are received. It lines nearly the whole of the inner surface of the posterior chamber, resting on the inner surface of the choroid. It is with the retina, therefore, that the vitreous humor is in contact.
The retina is a very thin, delicate membrane. Although very thin, it is made up of ten distinct layers, and is so complicated in structure that not even a general description will be attempted in this book. It does not extend quite to the front limits of the posterior chamber, but stops short in a scalloped border, a little behind the ciliary processes. This is the nerve coat of the eye, and forms the terminal organ of vision. It is really an expansion of the ultimate fibers of the optic nerve, by means of which impressions are sent to the brain.
The retina contains curious structures which can be seen only with the aid of the microscope. For instance, a layer near the choroid is made up of nerve cells arranged in innumerable cylinders called “rods and cones,” and packed together not unlike the seeds of a sunflower. These rods and cones are to be regarded as the peculiar modes of termination of the nerve filaments of the eye, just as the taste buds are the modes of termination of the nerve of taste in the tongue, and just as the touch corpuscles are the terminations of the nerves in the skin.
Experiment 148. Close one eye and look steadily at the small a in the figure below. The other letters will also be visible at the same time. If now the page be brought slowly nearer to the eye while the eye is kept steadily looking at the small a, the large A will disappear at a certain point, reappearing when the book is brought still nearer.
[Illustration: a oAx]