Having fun with Leonardo da Vinci‘s notebooks

We all have this image of the crazy genius confined to a tiny laboratory franticly scribbling away the results of experiments. This depiction is, of course, imaginary… or is it? There is actually one man who fits that description to the point: Leonardo da Vinci. Vinci was famous for being interested in almost any subject and writing extensively on everything. Today, I want to give you some insights from the notebooks that Vinci left behind for us!

Know what you‘re getting into

Please note that he wrote... a lot. Like a dozen notebooks - representing thousands of pages. Worse still, he wrote what came to him without any specific order. Drawings, poems, schematics are mixed up. On one page, you can have dissection notes on cadavers, then a math problem, followed by some philosophy - all on different subjects. Oh and remember that Vinci sometimes wrote two pages at the same time... often using codes. He even wrote backwards sometimes. What a guy. Thankfully, scholars have worked tirelessly to ingest the absurd amount of information Vinci left. Today, I present to you some highlights from his notebooks, as presented by Solomon R. of the Guggenheim Museum Library (1955). He did an astounding work. I highly recommend his version of Vinci's notebooks to understand the man. Be warned that he didn't include the beautiful drawings Vinci made. You might want to take a look at those.

Philosophy

First, here are some of my favourite philosophical wanderings he put into his notebooks (just a few of his MANY aphorisms):

Supreme happiness will be the greatest cause of misery, and the perfection of wisdom the occasion of folly.
To the ambitious, whom neither the boon of life, nor the beauty of the world suffice to content, it comes as penance that life with them is squandered, and that they possess neither the benefits nor the beauty of the world.
While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.
Truth alone was the daughter of time.
Shun those studies in which the work that results dies with the work.

As you can see, Vinci intrinsically pushed for the virtues of excellence and persistence. Self-improvement was is life commitment. From what Solomon categorized as “philosophy“, I want to point out a few other things. Sometimes, Vinci wrote disputations against himself. He would write a subject title, then a series of arguments for or against in succession. In addition, Vinci referenced many times Aristotle‘s theory of elements. He seemed to me like a definite fan of that theory. Vinci put much on paper either approving or quoting that theory - most of all concerning the element of water and its position around the Earth.

We can even find some riddles here and there. Here is one: What is it that is much desired by men, but which they know not while possessing? It is sleep. Clever.

I also found one remark quite interesting. Without context, Vinci added a quick burn to wine: "Wine is good, but water is preferable at the table". Enough said it seems.

Anatomy

One of the most famous parts of his notebooks and with good reason. He wrote a lot on how to dissect specific body parts (what to cut, what bones are problematic, etc.). His anatomical notes contain what I consider his most beautiful and intricate drawings. Magnificient but still a tad repulsive. Go take a look if your heart is strong enough.

Here are some interesting highlights:

Vinci describes his own theory of blood. In his own words: “The origin of the sea is the contrary to that of the blood, for the sea receives within itself all the rivers, which are entirely caused by the aqueous vapours that have ascended up into the air; while the sea of the blood is the source of all the veins.“ Vinci is adopting a view common enough in a world where humour theory is still quite active. In plain English, Vinci declares that blood, carrying the humours, is produced by the soul within the hearth and then is evacuated OUTSIDE the body by the veins. In that way, humans would be similar to radiators - for humours instead of how air I guess.
This note on muscles fascinates me: “It often occurs that two muscles are joined together although they have to serve two limbs; and this has been done so that if one muscle were incapacitated by some injury the other muscle in part supplied the place of that which was lacking.“ It makes me realize that it is true that muscles are sometimes joined together. I don't know the truth behind that matter but Vinci‘s view is interesting. I will have to look it up.

Vinci listed the complete list of vital functions of the body (which he called “causes“). And I love it. Here they are:

Cause of breathing.
Cause of the movement of the heart.
Cause of vomiting.
Cause of the food descending into the stomach.
Cause of the emptying of the intestines.
Cause of the movement of the superfluous matter through the intestines.
Cause of swallowing.
Cause of coughing.
Cause of yawning.
Cause of sneezing.
Cause of the numbness of various limbs.
Cause of loss of sensation in any limb.
Cause of the tickling sensation.
Cause of sensuality and other necessities of the body. Cause of urination.
And so of all the natural actions of the body

Who knew that tickling was vital? No kidding: it‘s probably a crucial function to the human species. I will have to look it up further. Do you see that? Almost anything Vinci describes can lead to so many questions and inquiries. So much fun.

Optics

The next section is a mix between light physics and painting lessons of all things. Again, here are some highlights:

I find it important to note that Vinci believed that sight happened when light acted as a medium to transport images inscribed on objects to our senses. Not exactly alike but just how similar to our view it is is unbelievable. Might not seem like much but the idea that sight came from rays bursting from the eyes was still a HEAVILY accepted view at his time. What Vinci declared in his notes would have been seen as groundbreaking.
His notes show proof that he recognized the role of movement in perception (giving an example of running water leaving its "hues" behind). We can also gather that he understood concepts such as the effect of distance on vision and the parallax effect. No wonder he was a genius painter too.
He even included some optical illusions! Here's one: If the eye that looks at the star turns swiftly in an opposite direction, it will appear to it that this star forms itself into a curving line of fire. We can all experience that easily. Please don‘t do it with the sun though. We‘re talking about Vinci - not Galileo.

To be continued

Man, there is so much already and we covered only three subjects. Oh well, I guess I will have to leave the rest for another time. Take that as an invitation to read Vinci‘s notebooks yourself. I can only hope you will have as much fun with it as I did.

In any case, see you next time.

References

Leonardo da Vinci‘s Notebooks, Solomon R., Guggenheim Museum Library, 1955.