Page 78 - Miracle in the Eye
P. 78

o far, we have covered the eye's structure, the unique
                              and flawless structure of each component working in
                             harmony, and the role of brain in seeing. We've empha-
                           sized how the eye, both in its segments and as a whole, is
                         nothing short of a miracle. From the point on, we'll analyze
                       the miracle of the eye's existence.
                During our everyday lives, we come across countless eyes—those of
            parents, siblings, friends, relatives; and of course our own in the mirror. How
            did each of these equal miracles form?
                A few years ago, the very eyes with which you read this page did not
            exist. The being you refer to as "me" was just a single cell. First you split into
            two cells, then into four. Millions of further splits followed, until you became
            a small sphere the size of a finger. Next, upon this ball two black spots ap-
            peared. As days passed, these spots became indentations and two unique or-
            gans began to develop on their own. From undifferentiated cells, you
            developed two eyes, each complete with a pupil, lens, cornea, retina, sclera,
            iris, eyelids, nutritious fluids and billions of blood capillaries. In a matter of
            weeks, the eyes with which you read these words were created completely.
            After birth, you opened them to the world for the first time.
                To gain a better understanding of the eye's development, look at the de-
            velopment of the human body. As mentioned before, all mammals, humans
            included, develop from a single cell in the mother's womb. The secret of how
            this cell develops lies within that very cell, inside a molecule called DNA.


                The Codes of Life
                DNA contains millions of units of biological code written in a language
            which only cells can understand. They keep a record of every aspect of a per-
            son, from the structure of organs to physical details. One single cell develops
            into the human body according to the information within the cells' DNA.
                Under normal conditions, the process of cell division should result in
            two identical cells. Therefore, one might expect the million-cell sphere that
            results to be composed of identical cells. But this is not so. During cell divi-


          76
   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83