Leonardo, sensing opportunity, drew out his plans for his new cities. Canals running through them were to be used for barges and the underground conduits greatly resembled those of modern sewage systems. Paths were to have gutters for the adequate drainage of the streets. Public toilets were to be installed. Leonardo even had plans for the control of smoke collecting over the city—by sending it up tall chimneys where it was picked up by fans and driven away over the roofs. The widths of the streets were to be in proportion to the heights of the houses—light and air would circulate freely. Two levels would be connected by graceful ramps—the lower level for the commercial traffic and the upper level for the pedestrians. Where stairs were used they were designed so one could ascend or descend without one person seeing the other. Stables were devised so that animals were fed through openings in their mangers and under these were tunnels of flowing water for the removal of waste. [Illustration: _The results of the bubonic plague in Italy, 1484-85. Streets were deserted except for the carts picking up the dead._] These sweeping plans Leonardo laid before Ludovico when the epidemic had subsided. But Ludovico, once his fear was overcome, brushed them aside as impossible dreams. So Leonardo returned to the commission for the Fraternity and the designs for the bronze monument of Francesco Sforza. These jobs kept Leonardo from brooding about his rejections. Often, too, Leonardo worked with Bernardino de Predis, the elder brother of Ambrogio. Bernardino was a minter of coins. As Leonardo watched him at the laborious task of first cutting disks from ingots and then hammering the design into the hot metal, he suggested to Bernardino an easier method, then used in Germany. This was to prepare smooth ribbons of metal of the desired thickness and with a punch, impress the design into the ribbon at the necessary intervals and then, punch out the coin. Leonardo went on to improve this system by designing precise punches for both faces of the coin. A single machine then cut out and stamped the coins, using a falling weight raised by little winches. This machine was later destined for the Vatican mint in Rome. On March 26, 1485 an event occurred in Milan that was viewed with mingled fear, superstition, curiosity and excitement. There was a total eclipse of the sun. To some, coming as it did so soon after the plague, it was a judgment of God; to others, it was regarded as an omen—a sign for astrologers to use for predicting the future.