Querying the field types of a table

Is there a way to query the field names and types of a table in either 6.5 or 7.0??  I am writing an application, and
inone piece, I need to get the field names and field types of any table.  Can this be done???  I have searched both the
weband documentation, and I can't seem to find a C function or system table that has this information. 

Thanks in advance,
Dale.