The Manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci, Vol. 2

ACCOUNTS — FABRICS FOR AN APPARATUS — EXPLOSIVE BOMB.

— On the 28th of April, I had from Marchesino 103 pounds and [furthermore?] 12 The "pound" here refers to the lira, a unit of currency in Renaissance Milan. ¹.

— White and sky-blue fabrics woven in a checkerboard pattern to make an apparatus ².

— Fabrics drawn in a b c d e f g h i k to make a "sky" likely a canopy or ceiling decoration for an apparatus.

— This ball, when it is thrown, travels, goes out, and when it reaches the ground, the reeds—which have one of their ends attached with a strip of lit linen—penetrate it and set fire to the powder. This powder is surrounded by a bit of toworiginal: "étoupe" — coarse, broken fibers of flax or hemp used for stuffing or as tinder. soaked in secondary turpentine, and the rest is wrapped in hemp turpentine moistened with turpentine, linseed oil, and pitch; and let the wrappings be sparse so that the flames have air, for otherwise you would accomplish nothing.

1. This Marchesino was likely the secretary of the Duke of Milan (see J. P. Richter, Leonardo, p. 18, London, 1880). — One sees, by the example of this passage, that Leonardo da Vinci sometimes wrote in the ordinary direction from left to right, exactly the same as from right to left.
2. The Writings of Leon. de V., p. 23-24.