Fol. 3r

The drawing on the lower part of the page shows a cart that can be used to transport heavy cannons, but the notes above are an homage to scientific observation, practice and experimentation and the measuring of natural phenomena as the only sure ways of knowing reality and understanding the laws that govern it.

«la scienza strumentale ovvero meccanica è nobilissima più di ogni altra, perché secondo le sue leggi tutti i corpi animati che hanno movimento compiono le loro operazioni»
(Instrumental or mechanical science is extremely noble, more than any other, because all animated bodies that have movement carry out their operations according to its laws.)

NOTE. For each page of Leonardo’s Codex we provide a brief summary, with the quotation of one that page’s most significant passages edited in modern Italian, with an English translation.

translation by Kim Williams