Water gives the first impetus to its motion.
A book of the levelling of waters by various means,
A book of diverting rivers from places where they do mischief.
A book of guiding rivers which occupy too much ground.
A book of parting rivers into several branches and making them fordable.
A book of the waters which with various currents pass through seas.
A book of deepening the beds of rivers by means of currents of water.
A book of controlling rivers so that the little beginnings of mischief, caused by them, may not increase.
A book of the various movements of waters passing through channels of different forms.
A book of preventing small rivers from diverting the larger one into which their waters run.
A book of the lowest level which can be found in the current of the surface of rivers.
A book of the origin of rivers which flow from the high tops of mountains.
A book of the various motions of waters in their rivers.
Taken from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci edited by Jean Paul Richter, 1880.