Notes: a Gun-Barrel Test, a Maxim, and a Lasso Puzzle
Try the strength of the thinnest firearm barrel; a saying on valuing life; a rope thrown to an ox's horns
Three unrelated jottings share the page. The first urges testing the strength of the thinnest gun-barrel one can obtain. The second is a maxim — 'Whoever does not value life does not deserve it.' The third poses a puzzle: a man throws a loop of rope twenty-five braccia to the horns of an ox and catches them, and Leonardo asks how he coils all the rope while holding the fastening in his other hand, marked c. The leaf is text only, with faint crossed-circle figures showing through from the reverse.
On this page
Test the strength of the thinnest gun-barrel
Leonardo directs the reader to prove the strength, or resistance, of the thinnest firearm barrel (canna di scoppietto) that can be had. It is a note toward gauging how slender a gun-barrel may safely be made.
Maxim: whoever does not value life does not deserve it
A single moral saying stands among the notes: 'Whoever does not value life does not deserve it.' It is one of the aphorisms Leonardo scattered through his manuscripts.
Puzzle: coiling a lasso thrown to an ox's horns
A man throws a loop of rope twenty-five braccia long to the horns of an ox and catches them. Leonardo asks in what way he coils all the rope while holding the fastening in his other hand, marked c.