Natura non facit saltus

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Natura non facit saltus (Latin for "nature does not make (sudden) jumps") has been a principle of natural philosophies since Aristotle's time^[1]. It appears as an axiom in the work of Gottfried Leibniz and Isaac Newton, the inventors of infinitesimal calculus^[2], as well in Linnaeus' Philosophia Botanica^[3]. The axiom expresses that natural processes are to vary continuously, or even in a differentiable fashion.

The principle is commonly seen as contradicting the postulates of quantum mechanics^[4], in which quantum leaps provide an example of discontinuous variation.

Modern evolutionary biology has terminology both suggesting continuous change, such as genetic drift, and suggesting discontinuous variation, such as mutation. However, as the basic structure of DNA is discrete, nature is now widely understood to make jumps, if on a very small scale^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Variant forms

The principle is also variously referred to as:

"Natura in operationibus suis non facit saltum" — 1613 appearance of a similar quote^[5].
"Natura non saltum facit" (Latin for "nature does not make a jump") — variant form used by Gottfried Leibniz
"Die Natur macht keine Sprünge" — German translation of the phrase^[5].