io from that time threw away his palette, and confined himself
wholly to his works in sculpture and design, "enraged," says Vessari,
"that a child should thus excel him."

The youth of Leonardo thus passed away in the pursuit of science and
of art; sometimes he was deeply engaged in astronomical calculations
and investigations; sometimes ardent in the study of natural history,
botany, and anatomy; sometimes intent on new effects of color, light,
shadow, or expression in representing objects animate or inanimate.
Versatile, yet persevering, he varied his pursuits, but he never
abandoned any. He was quite a young man when he conceived and
demonstrated the practicability of two magnificent projects: one was
to lift the whole of the church of San Giovanni, by means of immense
levers, some feet higher than it now stands, and thus supply the
deficient elevation; the other project was to form the Arno into a
navigable canal as far as Pisa, which would have added greatly to the
commercial advantages of Florence.

It happened about this time that a peasant on the estate of Piero da
Vinci brought him a circular piece of wood, cut horizontally from the
trunk of a very large old fig-tree, which had been lately felled, and
begged to have something painted on it as an ornament for his cottage.
The man being an especial favorite, Piero desired his son Leonardo to
gratify his request; and Leonardo, inspired by that wildness of fancy
which was one of his characteristics, took the panel into his own
room, and resolved to astonish his father by a most unlooked-for proof
of his art. He determined to compose something which should have an
effect similar to that of the Medusa on the shield of Perseus, and
almost petrify beholders. Aided by his recent studies in natural
history, he collected together from the neighboring swamps and the
river-mud all kinds of hideous reptiles, as adders, lizards, toads,
serpents: insects, as moths, locusts, and other crawling and flying
obscene and obnoxious things; and out of these he composed a sort of
monster or chimera, which he represented as about to issue from the
shield, with eyes flashing fire, and of an aspect so fearful and
abominable that it seemed to infect the very air around. When
finished, he led his father into the room in which it was placed, and
the terror and horror of Piero proved the success of his attempt. This
production, afterward known as the "Rotello del Fico," from the
material on