Eyes

We were enjoying a walk in the sunshine along the hike and bike trail. It was a beautiful day! The scenery was awesome! But something even more wonderful was happening that I regularly take for granted. I could see.

Have you any idea what happens every time you look at something? I was fascinated by Werner Gitt’s description of that in his book, “The Wonder of Man”, from which I’ve gleaned the following. A portion of the electro-magnetic spectrum whose wavelengths extend from 400 nanometers (violet) to 750 nm (red) are visible light rays that allow us to see. A nanometer is a millimeter cut into 1,000,000 slices. These visible light rays are refracted (bent) by the cornea and focused by the lens onto the retina at the back of the eye. The lens changes shape as pairs of muscles control it so that it focuses. The lens will bulge or flatten from about 46 mm to 70 mm constantly and automatically for years without me even realizing it. That is amazing but there is more.

As I’m looking around, the iris and pupil adjust to the amount and brightness of the light source. The aqueous humor keeps a balanced pressure inside the eye. Tear ducts provide lubrication to the cornea and the eyelids blink to spread and wash. The 0.2 mm layer of photo cells at the back of the retina convert optical signals to chemical ones and then electrical signals that travel along the optic nerve to the brain and I see the birds! Wow! But there is even more.

The rods and cones on the retina are a masterpiece of technological efficiency. Each eye has about 110 million rods and 6 million cones plus other cells whose signals converge on the 1,000,000 nerve fibres in the 2 mm thick optic nerve leading to the brain. The optic nerve is better than the best fibre optic cable ever made. It is an astounding work of creation. All this happens instantly without me even being aware of it.

No wonder that Charles Darwin in “Origin of the Species” wrote:

“To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.”

This is an astounding work of the Creator. See the light on the sunny side,

Henry Wiebe