All this notwithstanding, we too are not free of error, for we believe that the mind of an inventor differs from ordinary minds, that the so-called genius possesses a mind distinct from an ordinary mind and superior to it. We think that discoveries and inventions are extraordinary events different from events encountered in everyday life, and we loudly maintain that discoveries and inventions elude all rules of thought.
Until now there has been no science that describes the means for making discoveries and inventions, and the generality of people, as well as many men of learning, believe that there never will be. This is an error. Someday a science of making discoveries and inventions will exist and will render services. It will arise not all at once; first only its general outline will appear, which subsequent researchers will correct and elaborate, and which still later researchers will apply to individual branches of knowledge. In a moment we shall see what a sketch of such a science would look like.
First of all, let us give up any expectation of hearing about something preternatural; inventions and discoveries are natural phenomena and, as such, are subject to certain laws. Those laws, if I am not mistaken, are three: those of gradualness, dependence, and combination.
1. The law of gradualness. No discovery or invention arises at once perfected, it is perfected gradually; likewise, no invention or discovery is the work of a single individual but of many individuals, each adding his little contribution. Evidence for the law of gradualness may be found, for example, in the fact that America was first discovered; then, in America, mountains, forests, rivers, and lakes were discovered; next, in the forests, individual sorts of trees were discovered, then various uses were discovered for the trees. Potatoes were first discovered; later they were found
