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Codex Arundel (BLL), fol. 24r (detail)
The comparison between the heart's generation of heat and the operation of a furnace is surely one of the boldest of the mechanical analogies that recur in Leonardo's anatomical studies. In his heart-furnace drawings, the air inlet and outlet valves stand respectively for the orifices supplying fresh air to the heart from the lung and the orifices through which the air heated by the heart is released. The trachea and lung act as a chimney stack for removing the fumes contained in the air burned by the heart.
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Leonardo da Vinci
Codex Arundel