River scour on the Bisarno and the petrifying of ooze
Floods excavate the bed, broken walls are measured, and mud hardens into veins of stone.
A short upside-down note observes that in flood the deepest-running water scours the bed most, records the lengths of a broken and a surviving river wall with its mill, and states that the Bisarno has broken through 300 braccia in four years. It adds a geological remark that the bursting of river ooze forms veins through its petrification. The facing folio bears a lens- or spindle-shaped diagram with letter labels and columns of measured segments, whose numerals are not transcribed in the bundle.
On this page
Floods scour the bed and break the Bisarno's walls
In flood the water that runs deepest excavates the bed most. A wall 640 braccia long has been broken, with 150 braccia remaining together with the mill, and the Bisarno has broken through 300 braccia in four years.
Ooze bursts and petrifies into veins
Leonardo notes that the bursting of the river ooze afterward forms the veins through its petrification, mud hardening into stone.
Lens-shaped diagram with measured segments
A drawing carries letter labels n, o, c and v on a spindle- or lens-shaped figure beside columns of measured vertical segments, apparently a survey of the river channel and its walls; the numerals themselves are not transcribed in the bundle.