A man pulling a [dead] weight balanced against himself cannot pull more than his own weight.  And if he has to raise it he will [be able to] raise as much more than his weight as his strength may be more than that of other men. [Footnote 7:  The stroke at the end of this line finishes in the original in a sort of loop or flourish, and a similar flourish occurs at the end of the previous passage written on the same page.  M. RAVAISSON regards these as numbers (compare the photograph of page 30b in his edition of MS. A).  He remarks:  “Ce chiffre 8 et, a la fin de l’alinea precedent, le chiffre 7 sont, dans le manuscrit, des renvois.”] The greatest force a man can apply, with equal velocity and impetus, will be when he sets his feet on one end of the balance [or lever] and then presses his shoulders against some stable body.  This will raise a weight at the other end of the balance [lever], equal to his own weight and [added to that] as much weight as he can carry on his shoulders.

384.

No animal can simply move [by its dead weight] a greater weight than the sum of its own weight outside the centre of his fulcrum.

385.

A man who wants to send an arrow very far from the bow must be standing entirely on one foot and raising the other so far from the foot he stands on as to afford the requisite counterpoise to his body which is thrown on the front foot.  And he must not hold his arm fully extended, and in order that he may be more able to bear the strain he must hold a piece of wood which there is in all crossbows, extending from the hand to the breast, and when he wishes to shoot he suddenly leaps forward at the same instant and extends his arm with the bow and releases the string.  And if he dexterously does every thing at once it will go a very long way.

386.

When two men are at the opposite ends of a plank that is balanced, and if they are of equal weight, and if one of them wants to make a leap into the air, then his leap will be made down from his end of the plank and the man will never go up again but must remain in his place till the man at the other end dashes up the board.

[Footnote:  See Pl.  XXIV, No. 3.]

387.

Of delivering a blow to the right or left.

[Footnote:  Four sketches on Pl.  XXIV, No. 1 belong to this passage.  The rest of the sketches and notes on that page are of a miscellaneous nature.]

388.

Why an impetus is not spent at once [but diminishes] gradually in some one direction? [Footnote 1:  The paper has been damaged at the end of line 1.] The impetus acquired in the line a b c d is spent in the line d e but not so completely but that some of its force remains in it and to this force is added the momentum in the line d e with the force of the motive power, and it must follow than the impetus multiplied by the blow is greater that the simple impetus produced by the momentum d e.