XV. On the motions of the eye, in illustration of the uses of the muscles and nerves of the orbit

Abstract

The object of this paper is to explain the reason of there being six nerves distributed to the eye, and consequently crowded into the narrow space of the orbit. But before it is possible to assign the uses of these nerves, we must examine the motions of the eye more minutely than has hitherto been done, and try to comprehend the offices to be performed. Much as the eye has been studied, the framework which suspends it, and by which it is moved and protected, has not received the attention it deserves. Yet this frame-work, or apparatus, is not less calculated to renew our wonder, than the properties of the organ itself.