optic nerves


optic nerves

The 2nd of the 12 pairs of CRANIAL NERVES which emerge directly from the brain. The optic nerves are bundles of about one million nerve fibres originating in the RETINAS and connecting these to the brain. Each nerve passes through a channel in the bone at the back of the eye sockets (orbits) to reach the inside of the skull and to join with, and partially cross over, its fellow in the OPTIC CHIASMA.