A fruiting plant, the physics of impact, and the sphere of water
A leafy plant in fruit above notes on struck bodies and the spherical sea, with a short list of names.
A detailed pen study of a leafy plant heavy with a cluster of berries occupies the centre of the sheet, framed by circle-diagrams above and small sketches of clamp-like tools at the lower left. The written notes are unrelated to the plant: at the left Leonardo analyses what happens when a moving body strikes an object, how the struck matter either compresses and grows denser near the blow or yields into a hollow. At the upper right he argues that the sphere of water 'desires perfect roundness', so any attempt to draw the sea aside to bare the land is impossible, illustrating with sea depths from Syria to an island near the strait of Gibraltar. The same corner carries a short list of names, among them Salai, each set against a number, and further small figures and numerals appear untranscribed.
On this page
Study of a leafy plant bearing a cluster of berries
At the centre of the sheet is a careful pen drawing of a plant with toothed leaves and a dense cluster of rounded berries hanging from a bent stem. The study appears drawn for its own sake and is not described in the surrounding notes. Fine hatching models the leaves and the swelling fruit.
How a struck body deforms under percussion
When a moving body strikes an object, either the object compresses within itself or, unable to do so, yields into a hollow shaped by the striking body. Where it compresses, the matter nearest the blow grows denser while the more remote parts rarefy. On the side opposite the impact a curve forms greater than the concavity of the striking agent, the more remote it is from the centre of that spherical body.
The sphere of water seeks perfect roundness
The sphere of water desires perfect roundness, so any part rising above its universal surface soon levels itself. Leonardo argues it is therefore impossible to draw the sea aside to bare the land while keeping the water spherical. He reasons from sea depths between the shores of Syria and an island 400 miles from the strait of Gibraltar and 3,400 miles from Syria.
List of names, each with a number
At the upper right is a short list of personal names, Francesco, Gianmaria, Benedetto, Gianpetro, Salai, Bartolomeo, Girardo and others, each set beside a small number (3 or 4), followed by columns of figures. The entries read as a tally or account rather than continuous prose.