Water's circulation through the body of the earth
Water driven from the sea's depths to mountain summits, likened to the sap of a vine
A full page of mirror-script ink, headed by a red-chalk drawing of a ribbed vaulted structure captioned as structures for enclosing areas. The text sets out Leonardo's theory of a great water cycle within the earth: water entering from the lowest depths of the sea is driven up to the mountain summits, where, meeting cut-open veins, it rushes down and returns to the low sea by the shortest way, then rises again through branching veins. He compares the process to a vine whose cut branches pour water that falls back and rises anew through its passages.
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Water driven from the sea's depths to the mountain summits
Water enters from the lowest depth of the sea into the forces of its mover and is pushed up to the high peaks of the mountains, where, finding the veins cut open, it ruins downward and returns to the low sea by the shortest way. It then rises again through the ramifying veins and falls once more, turning ceaselessly up and down.
The veins of the earth likened to a vine
The circulating water runs within and without the earth's body through branching veins, moved by natural or accidental motion. Leonardo likens this to a vine, from whose cut branches water pours, falls back upon itself, and rises again through the passages to return by similar descents.
Structures for enclosing areas
The upper margin carries a red-chalk sketch of a ribbed, vaulted framework, captioned by the transcriber as structures for enclosing areas. It is drawn as a fan of curved ribs meeting at a central node above two arched spans.