Eddies Gnawing Canal Banks; Light Beyond the Mountains
Red-chalk river studies with a note on where a place is brightest
A red-chalk leaf carrying two separate studies. At the top, beside a double-arc sketch with a mountain profile, Leonardo remarks that a place will be the more luminous the farther it lies from the mountains. Below, between two river-profile drawings, he warns that whirling eddies (marked a, b) gnaw away the banks of canals and prescribes barriers of planks set along the whole length of each eddy's rebound, since the transverse rebounds behave alike.
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Eddies that eat away the banks of canals
Leonardo observes that these retrosi, or whirling eddies, gnaw at the banks of canals. He advises setting barriers of planks along the whole reach of each eddy's rebound, from a to b, because the transverse rebounds are all alike in behaviour.
The most luminous place lies farthest from the mountains
A brief observation that a location grows more luminous the more remote it stands from the mountains. It accompanies a double-semicircle drawing that carries a mountain profile.