Household inventory, the power of two bows, and a note on Nothingness
Three mounted fragments: an inventory list, a proportion problem on two bows, the meditation on 'il nulla', and a triangle
Three small paper fragments are mounted on this leaf. One carries a two-column household inventory (linen, kitchen and writing equipment, furniture); another poses a problem about two bows of unequal power drawn beside a sketch of two bows; a further column holds Leonardo's famous meditation on the nature of Nothingness; and a small fragment at the top shows a lettered triangle beside the words 'I want the root'. The passages range from practical bookkeeping to natural philosophy.
On this page
Triangle and the extraction of a root
A triangle is lettered a b c c, and beside it Leonardo begins 'I want the root...'. The fragment breaks off, leaving the calculation of the root unfinished.
Two bows of double power: how far will the lesser shoot?
Leonardo sets a proportion problem: two bows, one of double the power of the other but equal in arc, chord and arrow and each drawn to half its power. If the greater shoots 200 braccia, he asks how far the lesser will shoot. A small figure of two bows, labelled 4, accompanies the problem.
On the being of Nothingness
A meditation that among great things the being of Nothingness is the greatest: it dwells in time and stretches its limbs into past and future, embracing all works done and to come, of nature and of the animals, yet possesses nothing of the indivisible present and does not reach the essence of anything.
Two-column household inventory
Written with the sheet upside down, a paired list runs from bedding and table linen to copper and kitchen ware, then to lamps, writing supplies, furniture and hearth gear: featherbed, sheets, tablecloths, cauldron, frying pan, jugs, candlesticks, inkwell, ink, pillows, chairs, trivet, mirror and more.