First English treatise on the anatomy of the eye. Briggs described the papilla of the optic disc and hypothesized that vibrations caused by rays of light striking fibers of the retina were conveyed to the papilla, and thence to the optic thalami, on the model of a spider’s web.

Briggs’ treatise on the physiology of vision influenced Sir Isaac Newton, who reprinted it in book form with his own introduction, London, 1685.

Includes the first known description of nyctalopia.