Growth of the components of the human eyeball; II. Comparison of the calculated volumes of the eyes of the newborn and of adults, and their components.

Abstract

THE CALCULATED volume of the eye of the newborn and that of an adult person are shown in table 1 of a previous paper (Wilmer and Scammon 1950) and are illustrated graphically here by charts 1 through 5. The entire eyeball increases a little less than threefold between birth and maturity. This postnatal gain is very small as compared with that of the body as a whole, which increases about twentyfold, and is even less than that of the brain, which increases about three and a half times in weight. However, the gain of the eyeball is greater than that of most of the organs of special sense; for instance, the internal ear remains almost constant in size from late fetal life to maturity, and the olfactory mucous membrane is presumed to increase 10 per cent or less in area. There is little evidence of any increase in the organ