Levers, Motion, and Bodies Floating in Water
On the proportion of a lever to its counter-lever, and why a drowned body rests between two waters
A sheet crowded at the top with sketches of toothed wheels, gears and lever arms, with dense blocks of text below and to the right. The central theme, repeated in several formulations, is that whatever proportion a lever has with its counter-lever is found again in the weights, in the slowness of the motion and in the path travelled by each end. A long opening passage argues that motion cannot occur without percussion, and examines buoyancy: whether air trapped under water in a well is pushed up or drawn up, and why a dead body rests between two waters as earth, air and water contend within it. The sheet is stained and torn, with several lacunae in the text.
On this page
The lever and its counter-lever in proportion
Whatever proportion the lever has with its counter-lever, the same proportion is found in the qualities of the weights, in the slowness of the motion, and in the quality of the path made by each of their extremities, once they have reached the permanent height of their pole.
A weighted lever measured by its arms a b and n u
Marked t, e, a, b, n, u, with the weight 100. As much as e n enters into t u, so much more ease will the mover of the weight have to hold it at the extremity of the lever and at the point e n. The proportion of the lever to its counter-lever governs the weights placed at the extremities.
Air and water contending in a well
If a bag touched the bottom of a well so that the water were not beneath it, the bag would want to rise; here it is disputed whether the air under water is pushed up by the water below, drawn up by the water above, or seeks its own element by nature. A man's earthy part draws him to the bottom, the air would raise him out, and the water, weighing nothing within water, keeps him between the two.
Toothed wheels and gear studies
The upper half of the sheet is filled with rapidly drawn toothed wheels, cogwheels and lever arms, some ringed by teeth. One toothed wheel carries the numbers 10 and 100 written above it. These mechanical studies accompany the written analysis of the lever.