# What is the optic nerve?

The optic nerve is called the optic nerve (second cranial nerve). Gray's Anatomy (1918) describes it as the second cranial nerve.

## What it means

- The second cranial nerve.
- Carries visual information from the retina to the brain.
- Made entirely of central nervous system tissue.

## Action steps

1. Leaves the back of the eyeball.
2. Passes through the optic canal into the skull.
3. The two optic nerves meet at the optic chiasm before their fibers continue to the visual cortex.

## Sources

- [Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body (1918)](https://www.bartleby.com/107/)

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