The Croonian Lecture. On the anatomical structure of the eye; illustrated by microscopical drawings, executed by F. Bauer, Esq

Having found an extraordinary advantage from Mr. Bauer's microscopical observations, when applied to anatomical investigations of other organs of animals, I requested him to give me his assistance in the examination of the different parts of the eye in the human species, quadrupeds, and birds. In the first place, I wished him to ascertain whether the marsupium in the bird’s eye is muscular; as I had advanced such an opinion in the Lecture for 1795. After the most careful examination, he has decided that it is not; but is a fine vascular membrane, as represented in the annexed drawing, which Dr. Young had long considered it The real structure of the marsupium being thus completely established, I was led to inquire what parts, contained within the globe of the eye, are possessed of muscular fibres. Mr. Bauer, on examining the ciliary processes, found that the anterior layer is made up of about 80 processes, lying directly behind the iris, and with it firmly attached at the base to the choroid and sclerotic coat: these are membranous, very vascular, and the surface next the lens concave; that next the iris, convex. They are distinctly shown in the annexed drawings.