A proportional compass, a dyers' cauldron, and rules of motion
Reducing a figure with the sesto; recipes of sulphur compounds; maxims on motion
The leaf mixes craft recipes, mechanics and drawing instruments. A list gives compounds of sulphur with pitch, lead, mastic and varnish, bound with pine-nut shells, sawdust, fish glue, cherry stones, snail-shells, soaked bean pods and myrtle seed, followed by two crisp maxims: that no flexible or liquid body can make angular motion, and that among motions of equal length the quicker one drives its moving body farther and faster. A small drawing shows a dyers' cauldron heated with little fire, and a proportional compass ("sesto") in the lower margin is explained as a tool for copying an object at a reduced scale, the large object taken between points c d and laid down between the opposite points a b.
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Reducing a figure by proportion with the compass
To diminish an object in various proportions, take the compass (sesto) drawn here, lift the large object with the points c d, and set it on the paper with the opposite points a b; the object will then come out reproduced in the same proportion that a b has to c d.
Dyers' cauldron with a small fire
A short caption labels a drawing of a dyers' cauldron kept over a little fire, a rounded vessel set on supports at the top of the leaf.
Two rules of motion
Leonardo states that no flexible or liquid thing can make angular motion, and that among motions of equal length made by movers, the one performed in less time will drive its moving body farther from itself and with greater speed.