310 



THE SPECIAL SENSES. 



Fig. 126. Diagram to illustrate the surfaces 

 in the eye at which the rays of light are chiefly 

 refracted. 



Index of refraction for air =1 



Index of refraction for cornea and aqueous hu- 

 mor = 1.3365 



Index of refraction for crystalline lens = 1.4371 



Index of refraction for vitreous humor = 1.3365 



The three points at which the light is refracted are indicated 

 in the accompanying schema (Fig. 126). The refractive surfaces 

 of the eye may be considered as being composed of a concavo-convex 

 lens, the cornea and aqueous humor, and a biconvex lens, the 

 crystalline lens. In a system of this kind, composed of several 

 refractive media, it has been shown that to construct geometrically 



the path of the rays it is 

 necessary to know six 

 points ; these are the six car- 

 dinal points or optical con- 

 stants of Gauss, namely, 

 the anterior and the poste- 

 rior focal distance, the two 

 nodal points, and the two 

 principal points. So far 

 as the eye is concerned, it 

 has been shown that the 

 path of the rays of light 



may be represented with sufficient accuracy by employing what is 

 known as the reduced schematic eye of Listing, in which the 

 refraction is supposed to take place at a single convex surface 

 separating two media, the air on one side and the humor of the eye 

 on the other, the latter having a refractive index of 1.33 (see Fig. 

 127). In this reduced eye the position of the ideal refracting 

 surface c' lies in the aqueous humor, at a distance of 2.1 mms. from 

 the anterior surface of the 

 cornea, and the position of 

 the nodal point or optical 

 center that is, the center 

 of curvature of the ideal 

 refracting surface, lies in 

 the crystalline lens at n, a 

 distance of 7.3 mms. from 

 the anterior surface of the 

 cornea. The principal fo- 

 cal distance for this refract- 

 ing surface lies at a dis- 

 tance of 20.7 mms., which 

 would be equivalent to 

 22.8 mms. (20.7 + 2.1) 

 from the actual surface of the cornea and 15.5 mms. (22.8 7.3) 

 from the nodal point. In the eye at rest this principal focal 



Fig. 127. Diagram to illustrate the reduced 

 or schematic eye with a single refracting surface 

 separating two media of different densities: c', 

 the ideal refracting surface situated 2.1 mms. 

 behind the anterior surface of real cornea; n, 

 the nodal point, or center of curvature of the 

 surface c', and 15.5 mms. in front of retina. 

 The eyeball is supposed to be filled with a uni- 

 form substance having a refractive index of 1.33, 

 equal to that of the vitreous humor. 



