In the next subsection we will review several historical examples. First, one further point should be made with reference to the “The Three Princes of Serendip”. Prior to Walpole’s coinage, this story had been adapted by Voltaire into an early chapter of Zadig, and in turn “the method of Zadig” informed subsequent approaches both to fiction writing and natural science. This method is rooted firstly in discovery:

“[Zadig] pry’d into the Nature and Properties of Animals and Plants, and soon, by his strict and repeated Enquiries, he was capable of discerning a Thousand Variations in visible Objects, that others, less curious, imagin’d were all alike.” \cite[pp. 21--22]{zadig}

Secondly, from disparate observations, Zadig is often able to assemble a coherent picture:

It was his peculiar Talent to render Truth as obvious as possible: Whereas most Men study to render it intricate and obscure. \cite[p. 54]{zadig}