An unknown case of the micro-macrocosmic analogy in Leonardo: the connection between embryology and geology

Abstract

The comparative analysis of Leonardo’s embryological and geological studies carried out around 1509 shows how, in this case, anatomy influenced his studies of the earth. It is an unknown case of application in Leonardo of the more general analogy between microcosm and macrocosm. The study of the development and hydrostatic balance of the fetal body immersed in its bath of fluids has many correspondences with Leonardo’s contemporary theory of the earth dominated by a historical conception concerning the continents first emergence from the waters, just like the birth of the animal body, and through the application of hydrostatic concepts.