Dissecting Leonardo's Anatomy
 

The Heart The Womb

Plant-like organs Comparing the heart to a plant: "The heart is the nut which produces the three of the veins; which veins have their roots in the dung, that is the mesaraic veins which proceed to deposit the blood they have acquired in the liver form which afterwards the upper veins of the liver are nourished" (qtd. in MacCurdy 117). Comparing the heart to a nut: "The plant never springs from the ramification for at first the pant exists before this ramification, and the heart exists before the veins ... the veins have their origin in the heart where is their greatest thickness; never can any plant be found which has its origin in the points of its roots or other ramifications; and the example of this is seen in the growing of the peach which proceeds from its nut as is shown above" (qtd. in MacCurdy 117).                       Describing seeds like wombs: "All seeds gave the umbilical cord, which breaks when the seed is ripe. And in like manner they have matrix and secundina, as is seen in herbs and all the seeds which grow in pods. But those which grow in shells, such as hazel-nuts, pistachio-nuts and the like have the umbilical cord long, and this shows itself in their infancy" (qtd. in MacCurdy 307).