Leonardo da Vinci, artist, thinker and man of science; . s goingto get better, the bird will look him straight in the face, and will takethe disease upon himself. When the Bestiarii failed Leonardo inhis study of animal habits, he had recourse to Brunetto LatinisTesoro. Here again Springer has removed all doubt as to theborrowings of the fifteenth century Florentine from his fellow-country-man of the thirteenth. Even Pliny—the credulous Roman naturalist ^ Richtur, vol. i., pp. 320, ct seij. ^ Codex A//anlulls, fols. 234, 236. Berichtc dcr k. Sachs. Gesdlscliaft der IVissenscha/kii, 18S4, ]). 2
Leonardo da Vinci, artist, thinker and man of science; . s goingto get better, the bird will look him straight in the face, and will takethe disease upon himself. When the Bestiarii failed Leonardo inhis study of animal habits, he had recourse to Brunetto LatinisTesoro. Here again Springer has removed all doubt as to theborrowings of the fifteenth century Florentine from his fellow-country-man of the thirteenth. Even Pliny—the credulous Roman naturalist ^ Richtur, vol. i., pp. 320, ct seij. ^ Codex A//anlulls, fols. 234, 236. Berichtc dcr k. Sachs. Gesdlscliaft der IVissenscha/kii, 18S4, ]). 244-271. EXTRACTS FROM A BESTIARIUS 8i —was drawn upon. How an intellect so independent as Leonardoscould take the trouble to analyse—I will not say to receive—somany absurd beliefs, in which the basilisk, the phœnix, and the sirensare accepted as real beings, it is difficult to explain. His only excuseis to be found in the example set by the most eminent men among hiscontemporaries. He did not always confine himself to mere compilation. Many a. DELLA TORRE TEACHING IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PAVIA. BRONZE BAS RELIEF BV RICCIO. (The Louvre.) comparison or maxim reveals a personal note. Thus he says of thelion : We may compare him to the children (or disciples) of virtue,who awake at the call of glory and raise themselves by honourablestudies, thanks to which they continually mount higher and for those who are deaf to this appeal, they stand apart and separatefrom virtuous men. In the domain of natural science, Leonardo was a student ofanatomy, botany, and geology. VOL. II. M 82 LEONARDO DA VINCI Anticipating the boldest speculations of the nineteenth century,he declares that motion is the cause of all life : II nioto è causadogni vita.^ We might almost fancy we were sitting at the feet ofHaeckel, and hearing him say that the life of any organism is nothingmore than a continuous chain of movements in matter, and that vitalmotion is homogeneous, persistent, dominant.
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