It was a saltatory move, to use the word that some use to describe changes or developments in evolution. Their idea is that rather than very slow, incremental changes in evolution, there were sudden, abrupt changes. Newton's sudden and new understanding can be described as saltatory. He understood in a profound way the real workings of the universe, at least its mechanical aspects, its quotidian functions and he could express it precisely and mathematically. It was, in a way, the birth of science as we understand it today.
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