Brain and ocular system

Bodleian, MS Ashmole 399, fol. 22v (England, late 13th century)

It has been suggested that the brain and eyes diagram from the nine-figure series has an Islamic origin. This is supported by its schematic rendering, as shown in the above image. The eyes are represented by concentric circles and feed images of the external world through the blue line into the brain, which consists of geometrical shapes representing neurological function. Similar Islamic representations of the eyes and brain can be found in the Jawāmi'  kitāb Jālīnūs fī al-amrād al-hāditha  fī al-'ayn, Galen’s lost treatise on eye diseases (see Dublin, Chester Beatty Library, Arabic MS 3425, fol. 153r, dated 1431), and in an earlier diagram found in a copy of Ibn Al-Haytham’s treatise on optics (Istanbul, Süleymaniye Mosque Library, MS Faith 3212, fol. 81v, dated 1083). Like these Islamic images, the schematic drawings of Ashmole 399 render organic structures into a geometric form, representing both their physiognomic appearance as well as their physiological function.

The eyes and brain are depicted in a variety of ways in medieval manuscripts, examples of which you can explore in 'external links' to the right.