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Ever since the publication by Venturi in 1797 and Libri in 1840
of some few passages of Leonardo's astronomical notes, scientific
astronomers have frequently expressed the opinion, that they must
have been based on very important discoveries, and that the great
painter also deserved a conspicuous place in the history of this
science. In the passages here printed, a connected view is given of
his astronomical studies as they lie scattered through the
manuscripts, which have come down to us. Unlike his other purely
scientific labours, Leonardo devotes here a good deal of attention
to the opinions of the ancients, though he does not follow the
practice universal in his day of relying on them as authorities; he
only quotes them, as we shall see, in order to refute their
arguments. His researches throughout have the stamp of independent
thought. There is nothing in these writings to lead us to suppose
that they were merely an epitome of the general learning common to
the astronomers of the period. As early as in the XIVth century
there were chairs of astronomy in the universities of Padua and
Bologna, but so late as during the entire XVIth century Astronomy
and Astrology were still closely allied.
It is impossible now to decide whether Leonardo, when living in
Florence, became acquainted in his youth with the doctrines of Paolo
Toscanelli the great astronomer and mathematician (died 1482), of
whose influence and teaching but little is now known, beyond the
fact that he advised and encouraged Columbus to carry out his
project of sailing round the world. His name is nowhere mentioned by
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