The Human Eye

Structure of the Eye
The amount of light entering the eye (right) is controlled by the pupil, which dilates and contracts accordingly. The cornea and lens, whose shape is adjusted by the ciliary body, focus the light on the retina, where receptors convert it into nerve signals that pass to the brain. A mesh of blood vessels, the choroid, supplies the retina with oxygen and sugar. Lacrimal glands (left) secrete tears that wash foreign bodies out of the eye and keep the cornea from drying out. Blinking compresses and releases the lacrimal sac, creating a suction that pulls excess moisture from the eye’s surface.
The entire eye, often called the eyeball, is a spherical structure approximately 2.5 cm (about 1 in) in diameter with a pronounced bulge on its forward surface. The outer part of the eye is composed of three layers of tissue. The outside layer is the sclera, a protective coating. It covers about five-sixths of the surface of the eye. At the front of the eyeball, it is continuous with the bulging, transparent cornea. The middle layer of the coating of the eye is the choroid, a vascular layer lining the posterior three-fifths of the eyeball. The choroid is continuous with the ciliary body and with the iris, which lies at the front of the eye. The innermost layer is the light-sensitive retina.

The cornea is a tough, five-layered membrane through which light is admitted to the interior of the eye. Behind the cornea is a chamber filled with clear, watery fluid, the aqueous humor, which separates the cornea from the crystalline lens. The lens itself is a flattened sphere constructed of a large number of transparent fibers arranged in layers. It is connected by ligaments to a ringlike muscle, called the ciliary muscle, which surrounds it. The ciliary muscle and its surrounding tissues form the ciliary body. This muscle, by flattening the lens or making it more nearly spherical, changes its focal length.

The pigmented iris hangs behind the cornea in front of the lens, and has a circular opening in its center. The size of its opening, the pupil, is controlled by a muscle around its edge. This muscle contracts or relaxes, making the pupil larger or smaller, to control the amount of light admitted to the eye.

Behind the lens the main body of the eye is filled with a transparent, jellylike substance, the vitreous humor, enclosed in a thin sac, the hyaloid membrane. The pressure of the vitreous humor keeps the eyeball distended.

The retina is a complex layer, composed largely of nerve cells. The light-sensitive receptor cells lie on the outer surface of the retina in front of a pigmented tissue layer. These cells take the form of rods or cones packed closely together like matches in a box. Directly behind the pupil is a small yellow-pigmented spot, the macula lutea, in the center of which is the fovea centralis, the area of greatest visual acuity of the eye. At the center of the fovea, the sensory layer is composed entirely of cone-shaped cells. Around the fovea both rod-shaped and cone-shaped cells are present, with the cone-shaped cells becoming fewer toward the periphery of the sensitive area. At the outer edges are only rod-shaped cells.

See: Functioning Of The Eye; Eye Protective Structures; Comparative Anatomy Of The Eye; Eye Diseases

Eye

Eye (anatomy), light-sensitive organ of vision in animals. The eyes of various species vary from simple structures that are capable only of differentiating between light and dark to complex organs, such as those of humans and other mammals, that can distinguish minute variations of shape, color, brightness, and distance. The actual process of seeing is performed by the brain rather than by the eye. The function of the eye is to translate the electromagnetic vibrations of light into patterns of nerve impulses that are transmitted to the brain.

Related Topics:

• Human Eye, 
• Functioning of the Eye
• Eye Protective Structures
• Eye Comparative Anatomy
• Eye Diseases

Fallopian Tube

Fallopian Tube, one of two ducts in female mammals leading from the ovaries to the upper part of the uterus. They are also known as oviducts. In the human female the fallopian tubes are about 2 cm (about 0.75 in) thick and 10 to 13 cm (4 to 5 in) long. As the ovum leaves the ovary it passes into the mouth of the adjoining fallopian tube and is propelled toward the uterus by hairlike projections called cilia on the inner surface of the tube. If the ovum is fertilized inside the tube, where most fertilization takes place, it usually implants in the uterus. Some fertilized ova, however, implant in the fallopian tube itself and must be surgically excised. The condition is called an ectopic pregnancy. Many cases of infertility in women are due to blocked fallopian tubes, which can result from infection, especially that which is contracted from sexually transmitted disease. Surgical severing and sealing of the fallopian tubes is a common method of preventing pregnancy. These tubes were named after their discoverer, the Italian anatomist Gabriello Fallopio. See also Reproductive System.

Feces

Feces, also stool, excreta, or residual waste materials, evacuated from the bowels. Through peristalsis (involuntary intestinal contractions) and digestion, partly digested food begins to assume the aspects of feces when it passes from the small intestine to the large intestine. In a healthy digestive system, feces consist of undigested and indigestible food products such as mucous secretions and cellulose; traces of intestinal juices from the liver, the pancreas, and other digestive glands; undestroyed enzymes; leucocytes; epithelial cells; cellular debris from the intestinal walls; fat globules; nitrogenous protein products; mineral salts; water; and large numbers of bacteria.

Fetus

Fetus, term applied to an animal embryo after a definite period has elapsed following conception. In human reproduction, for example, the period is eight weeks; for early embryonic development, see Embryology.

In the first half of the second month of gestation, the human embryo closely resembles that of other mammals, but in the latter part of the month the head becomes disproportionately large, principally because of development of the brain. The external genitalia also appear in the latter part of the second month. The extremities become more developed, and the fetus attains a length of about 3 cm (about 1.2 in).

By the end of the third month, centers of ossification appear in most of the bones, the fingers and toes become differentiated, and the external genitalia begin to show definite sex differentiation. After the fourth month the average fetus is almost 15 cm (almost 6 in) long and weighs about 113 g (about 4 oz). The sex of the fetus is easily identifiable. The face looks human, and movement is usually discernible. During the fifth and sixth months a downy covering called lanugo develops on the body, and the body becomes increasingly larger in proportion to the head. The fetus attains a length of about 30 cm (about 12 in) and weighs about 624 g (about 1 lb 6 oz).

During the seventh month the skin, which is red and wrinkled, is covered with a white substance called the vernix, or vernix caseosa, which protects the skin. The vernix is a mixture of epithelial cells, lanugo hairs, and secretions from the glands of the skin. By then the fetus is about 40 cm (about 15 in) and has attained a weight of more than 1 kg (more than 2 lb). The pupillary membrane disappears from the eyes. The body organs are sufficiently developed to sustain life outside the uterus; the more developed the fetus, the greater are its chances for extrauterine life. A fetus born at this period moves its limbs quite energetically and cries with a weak voice. After this period, during the eighth and ninth months, the fetus loses its wrinkled appearance due to the deposition of subcutaneous fat. The fingers and toes have well-developed nails.

Full term is reached at the end of the tenth lunar month of pregnancy. Most of the fetal hair has been shed, and the fetus is ready for birth, having attained a length of about 50 cm (about 20 in) and a weight of approximately 3 kg (approximately 7 lb). The vernix covers the entire surface of the body. When the infant is born before the full term and weighs less than 2.4 kg (5 lb 8 oz), it is considered premature.

Respiratory activity occurs in the fetus as early as the twelfth week of gestation and continues throughout its intrauterine life. The lungs do not function in any effective sense, however, because the fetus is enclosed in a sac that fills with a clear amniotic fluid early in the embryonic period. Oxygen and materials needed for nutrition are brought to the fetus from the placenta, a vascular organ which unites the fetus to the maternal uterus, by the umbilical vein. Conversely, the placenta is responsible for the conveyance of carbon dioxide and waste products from fetus to mother. The placenta has an increasing permeability as pregnancy advances. Metabolites, waste products of metabolism, gain access to the fetal circulation from the mother's blood by direct diffusion across the membranes and, in certain cases, by selective transfer of particles.

Foot

Foot (anatomy), in human anatomy, lowest structure on the leg, consisting of 26 bones and resembling the hand. Seven thick, short, tarsal bones compose the heel and back of the instep; five parallel metatarsal bones, which form the front of the instep, spread toward the front of the foot to form the ball. Fourteen smaller phalanges make up the toes; the large toe is composed of two, and each smaller toe is made up of three. All the bones are firmly connected by tough bands of tissue called ligaments; the plantar ligament runs from the heel bone to the metatarsals, keeping the bones in place. Movements of the foot are controlled by leg muscles.

The tarsal and metatarsal bones form the two arches of the foot: the plantar arch running from the heel to the ball and normally touching the ground only at each end, and the metatarsal arch across the ball of the foot. With the thick layer of fatty tissue under the sole, these flexible arches absorb pressure and the shocks of walking and jumping.

Gallbladder

Gallbladder, muscular organ that serves as a reservoir for bile, present in most vertebrates. In humans, it is a pear-shaped membranous sac on the undersurface of the right lobe of the liver just below the lower ribs. It is generally about 7.5 cm (about 3 in) long and 2.5 cm (1 in) in diameter at its thickest part; it has a capacity varying from 1 to 1.5 fluid ounces. The body (corpus) and neck (collum) of the gallbladder extend backward, upward, and to the left. The wide end (fundus) points downward and forward, sometimes extending slightly beyond the edge of the liver. Structurally, the gallbladder consists of an outer peritoneal coat (tunica serosa); a middle coat of fibrous tissue and unstriped muscle (tunica muscularis); and an inner mucous membrane coat (tunica mucosa).

The function of the gallbladder is to store bile, secreted by the liver and transmitted from that organ via the cystic and hepatic ducts, until it is needed in the digestive process. The gallbladder, when functioning normally, empties through the biliary ducts into the duodenum to aid digestion by promoting peristalsis and absorption, preventing putrefaction, and emulsifying fat. See Digestive System.