Why water moves; a drop's weight on level and sloping planes
Water likened to quicksilver and to a ball; the sheet also drawn with flowing lines and a rising swell
The transcribed notes treat why water moves, comparing it to quicksilver and to a ball, and hold that every part retains something of the nature of the whole. They then examine a water droplet: on a level plane its parts weigh equally around the centre of its base, but on an oblique plane it gains weight on the lower side in proportion to the tilt, keyed to points a, b, c, d, e. The sheet this bundle points to is itself drawn with braided, crossing strokes and a curved swell rising against a vertical line, and carries further mirror-script text not included here.
On this page
Why water moves, likened to quicksilver and a ball
Leonardo announces a discussion of water and why it moves, drawing a comparison with quicksilver and with a ball. He states the guiding principle that of everything the part retains in itself something of the nature of the whole.
A droplet's weight on level and oblique planes
On a level plane the droplet's parts weigh equally around the centre of its base (a). But if the plane is oblique, by however much one extremity rises above the centre of the base beyond the level, so much more weight the drop gains beyond the centre, illustrated at points b, c, d, e.
Flowing lines and a rising swell on the sheet
Apart from the droplet notes, the sheet bears pen drawings of braided, crossing strokes that meet in an hourglass and a smooth curve that rises from a baseline toward a vertical wall. Further mirror-script text is present on the page but is not transcribed here.