It is an extremely useful thing to have knowledge of the true origins of memorable discoveries, especially those that have been found not by accident but by dint of meditation. It is not so much that thereby history may attribute to each man his own discoveries and others should be encouraged to earn like commendation, as that the art of making discoveries should be extended by considering noteworthy examples of it.
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Opening paragraph of Historia et Origo Calculi Differentialis (1714) Commercium epistolicum D. Joannis Collins et aliorum de analysi promota, see also Mathematische Schriften, Ed. C. I. Gerhardt, Georg Olms Verlag (1971) vol. 5, pp. 392–410; Tr. J. M. Child, "Newton and the art of discovery" Isaac Newton 1642–1727: A Memorial Volume (1927) Ed. W. J. Greenstreet, G. Bell, pp. 117–129.