St.

Teresa's Day School

Chapter 11: Sense Organs

The sense organs enable us to be aware of the conditions of our external as well as internal environment.
The major sense organs in our body are the eyes, ears, tongue, nose and skin which are sensitive to light, sound,
taste, smell and touch respectively.
The actual sensation is perceived by the sensory cells located in these organs receptors. such cells are
categorised as RECEPTORS.

Receptor is any specialised tissue or cell sensitive to a specific stimulus.

(i) Mechanoreceptors - are receptors for touch, pressure of skin due to mechanical change.
(ii) Chemoreceptors - receptors of taste of the tongue and smell of the nose due to chemical influences.
(iii) Photoreceptors - are rods and cones of the retina of eye due to light.
(iv) Thermoreceptors - are heat and cold receptors in the skin, due to change in temperature.
(v) Phonoreceptors - receptors for sound/hearing.

THE EYES: The two eyes are located in deep sockets or orbits on the front side of the head. Each eye is in the
form of a ball and can be rotated with the help of six muscles.

Eyelids: The upper and the lower movable eyelids protect the outer (front) surface of the eyes and can shut out
light. Each eyelid carries outwardly curved eyelashes which prevent falling of larger particles into the eye.

Eyebrows: Although virtually not a part of the eye, these are also protective; they prevent the rain drops or the
trickling perspiration from getting into the eyes.

Tear glands (lacrimal glands): They are located at the upper sideward portion of the orbit. Six to twelve ducts
of the gland pour the secretion over the front surface.
They also have an antiseptic property due to the enzyme lysozyme which kills the germs.

Tear ducts: These ducts drain off the liquid into a sac lying at the inner angle of the eye. A nasolacrimal duct
conducts the secretion into the nasal cavity.

FUNCTIONS OF TEARS:
1. Lubricate the surface of the eye.
2. Wash away dust particles.
3. Help in killing germs.
4. Communicate emotions.

Conjunctiva: It is a thin membrane covering the entire front part of the eye.

STRUCTURE OF THE EYEBALL:

The wall of the eyeball is composed of three concentric layers:

(1) outer sclerotic,
(2) middle choroid, and
(3) inner retina.

(1) The sclerotic layer (or sclera) is made of tough fibrous tissues and is white in colour. The white portion on
the front of the eye is the sclerotic layer, itself visible through the conjunctiva. It bulges out and becomes
transparent in the front region where it covers the coloured part of the eye; this part is called the cornea.

(2) The choroid layer is richly supplied with blood vessels for providing nourishment to the eye. It contains a
dark black pigment (melanin) which prevents light rays from reflecting and scattering inside the eye. In the
front of the eye, the choroid expands to form the ciliary body (containing circular muscles). The smooth
muscles in the ciliary body alter the shape of the lens. The iris is also an extension of the choroid, partially
covering the lens and leaving a circular opening in the centre, the pupil.

(3) The retina or the innermost layer is sensitive to light. It contains two types of sense cells called rods and
cones.

The rod cells (inner ends rod-like) are sensitive to dim light but do not respond to colour. They contain the
pigment rhodopsin or visual purple, The rod cells are distributed almost throughout the retina.

The cones (inner ends conical) are sensitive to bright light and are responsible for colour vision. They contain
the pigment iodopsin visual violet. The cone cells are mostly confined or to the yellow spot.

YELLOW SPOT - The area of best vision

The distribution of rods and cones is not uniform.
A particular spot called the macula lutea or simply yellow spot lies at the back of the eye almost at the centre on
the horizontal axis of the eyeball. This spot contains the maximum number of sensory cells and particularly the
cones. As a result, this is the region of brightest vision and also of the colour vision. The rest of the retina has
fewer cones and more rods.

BLIND SPOT - The area of no vision

Lateral to the yellow spot on the nasal side is the blind spot. There are no sensory cells here and, therefore, this
is the point of no vision. This is the point at which the nerve fibres from all the sensory cells of the retina
converge and bundle together to leave the eyeball in the form of the optic nerve.

LENS: The lens is a transparent, flexible, biconvex crystalline body just behind the pupil. It contains
transparent lens fibres (long thin cells which have lost their nuclei). The lens is collectively held in position by
fibres called the suspensory ligament, which attaches it to the ciliary body.

TWO CHAMBERS OF THE EYE AQUEOUS AND VITREOUS CHAMBERS:

The lens, together with its suspending structures, divides the inner cavity of the eyeball into two chambers:
aqueous chamber in front of the lens and vitreous chamber behind the lens.
(1) Aqueous chamber is the front chamber between the lens and the cornea. It is filled with a clear watery
liquid called aqueous humour. The aqueous humour serves in two ways:
(i) Keeps the lens moist and protects it from physical shock,
(ii) It refracts light.

(2) Vitreous chamber is the larger cavity of the eyeball behind the lens. It is filled with transparent jelly-like
thicker fluid called vitreous humour (vitreous glassy, humour fold)
The vitreous humour serves two functions:
(1) helps in keeping the shape of the eyeball,
(2) It protects the retina and its nerve endings.

HOW DO WE SEE?

The four major steps in seeing an object are as follows

(1) Entry of light rays

(2) Focusing of image
(3) Transmission of nerve impulses from retina to brain
(4) Interpretation by the brain

Accommodation (viewing objects in sharp focus): To see an object clearly, its image should be in focus in
each the process of focusing the eye to see objects at different distances is called accommodation.

Light and dark adaptation:

When you pass from a brightly lighted area to a dark room (such as a cinema hall), you experience difficulty in
seeing objects for a short while. Slowly, your vision is improved. This improvement is called dark adaptation.

This change is due to:

(a) regeneration of the visual purple or rhodopsin, the pigment of the rods, which was earlier broken down due
to bright light, and
(b) dilation of the pupil permitting more light to enter the eyes.

When a person with dark adapted eyes moves to a brightly lighted area, as in coming out of a cinema hall after
the noon show, he experiences a dazzling effect for a short period. After a few seconds, he comes back to
normal viewing through light adaptation. The adaptation is due to reverse of the previous changes, i.e..
(a) the visual purple of the rods is bleached, reducing their sensitivity, and
(b) the pupil constricts (gets narrower), to reduce the amount of light entering the eyes. The partial closure of
the eyelids in dazzling light also serves the same purpose.

Colour Vision: Colour vision is possible only through cones of the retina which are stimulated only in bright
light. You cannot make out the red, violet or purple flowers in a garden on a moonlit night, because then only
the rods function and not the cones.
COMMON DEFECTS OF THE EYE:

1. Near or short-sightedness (Myopia) is a condition in which the near objects can be seen clearly while the
distant objects appear blurred.
Reasons for myopia: The two possible reasons are:
(i) the eye ball is lengthened from front to back OR
(ii) the lens is too curved (even both reasons may occur together).

Correction of myopia: This defect can be corrected by suitable concave (diverging) lens which causes the light
rays to diverge before they strike the lens of the eye. Most of your classmates using spectacles may be suffering
from myopia (power of glasses used is mentioned in minus "-").

2. Far or long-sightedness (Hyperopia, old term- Hypermetropia) is a condition in which there is a difficulty
in seeing near objects.
Reasons for hyperopia: This defect results on account of either shortening of the eyeball from front to back or
the lens is too flat.
Correction of hyperopia: A convex (converging) lens is required to correct it. (power of the glasses used is
mentioned in plus "+").

3. Astigmatism is a defect in which some parts of the object are seen in focus while others are blurred. It arises
due to the uneven curvature of the cornea. This is corrected by cylindrical lenses.

4. Presbyopia is a condition affecting older people who cannot see near objects clearly. Their lens loses
flexibility resulting in a kind of far- sightedness. This again is corrected by a convex lens.

5. Cataract is a condition in which the lens turns opaque and the vision is cut down even to total blindness. It
can be corrected by surgically removing the lens, and by using spectacles with highly convex lenses,
compensating for the missing lens, or in a newer technique, a small plastic lens is implanted behind or in front
of the iris.

6. Night-blindness is a condition in which a person feels difficulty in seeing in dim light as during the night.
This is due to non-formation of the pigment visual purple of the rods.

7. Colour blindness is a condition in which some people by birth cannot discriminate between certain colours
such as red and green. This is due to a genetic defect.

8. Corneal opacities: The cornea of some patients gets scarred and turns opaque (white) and non- functional.

9. Squint: In this defect, the two eyes somewhe eye. converge leading to what is called "cross eye An opposite
condition appears when they diverge and is called the "wide eye." Both conditions may cause double vision or
diplopia. Surgery and suitable exercise can correct these defects.

Stereoscopic (binocular) vision: All monkeys/apes and particularly humans can ly perceive depth or the
relative distance of the objects. This is due to simultaneous focusing of an object in both e g and their images by
a kind of "overlapping" in the brain gives the three dimensional effect.
After-images If one looks at a bright object for a moment and pictures then closes the eyes, the sensation of
light persists for a short period. In the same way, if one looks at a brightly coloured object and then looks at a
dark surface, an image of the object in the same colour will persist. This is known as persistence image or the
after-image.

THE EAR-ORGAN FOR HEARING AND BALANCE:

The human ear is concerned with two functions, hearing and body balance. It has three main divisions:
(i) outer ear, (ii) middle ear and (iii) inner ear.

(i) The outer ear consists of the projecting part pinna (also called "auricle") and the passage auditory canal
leading to the ear drum (or tympanum).

(ii) The middle ear contains three tiny bones malleus, incus and stapes or hammer, anvil and stirrup in
popular terms and a eustachian tube which connects the cavity of the middle ear with the throat. The three
bones are collectively called the ear ossicles.

(iii) The inner ear or membranous labyrinth has three parts the cochlea, semicircular canals and the
vestibule. The cochlea is spiral-shaped and looks like a snail shell. It has two and a half turns. Its inner winding
cavity is divided into three parallel canals separated by membranes. The median (cochlear) canal is filled with
a fluid called endolymph and the other two with perilymph. The middle canal contains areas possessing
sensory cells, spiral organ called organ of Corti for hearing. The nerve fibres arising from these cells join the
auditory nerve. The sensory cells lie on the basilar membrane. The other part of the inner ear is a set of three
semi-circular canals which are arranged at right angles to each other in three different planes so that one is
horizontal and the other two are vertical. One end of each canal is widened to form an ampulla which contains
sensory cells for dynamic balance the body is in motion and nerve fibres from them join the auditory nerve.

The short stem joining the bases of semicircular canals to the cochlea shows two parts-a utriculus and a
sacculus, collectively termed as vestibule.

FUNCTIONS OF THE EAR: The internal ear is involved in two sensory functions: hearing and body balance.

A. HEARING
B. BALANCING