CONCERNING ARCHITRAVES OF ONE OR SEVERAL PIECES.
An architrave of several pieces is stronger than that of one single piece, if those pieces are placed with their length in the direction of the centre of the world. This is proved because stones have their grain or fibre generated in the contrary direction i. e. in the direction of the opposite horizons of the hemisphere, and this is contrary to fibres of the plants which have ...
[Footnote: The text is incomplete in the original.]
The Proportions of the stories of a building are indicated by a sketch in MS. S. K. M. II2 11b (see Pl. LXXXV No. 15). The measures are written on the left side, as follows: br 1 1/2—6 3/4—br 1/12—2 br—9 e 1/2—1 1/2—br 5—ō 9—ō 3 [br=braccia; ō=oncie].
Pl. LXXXV No. 13 (MS. B. 62a) and Pl. XCIII No. 1. (MS. B. 15a) give a few examples of arches supported on piers.
Taken from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci edited by Jean Paul Richter, 1880.