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14 claimed, not merely a subset. See id., at 475–476.

Nor is a specification necessarily inadequate just because it leaves the skilled artist to engage in some measure of adaptation or testing. In Wood, a patent claimed a process for making bricks by mixing coal dust into clay. 5 How., at 4. The patent included “a general rule” about the proportion of dust and clay to use and offered two alternative proportions “where the clay has some peculiarity.” Id., at 5. The Court upheld the claim, recognizing that “some small difference in the proportions must occasionally be required” given the varieties of clay. Ibid. Similarly, in Minerals Separation, the Court dismissed a challenge to a claimed process for separating metal from mineral ores. 242 U. S., at 270. The record showed that “preliminary tests” were required to adapt the process to any particular ore. Ibid. Once more, the Court explained that “the certainty which the law requires in patents is not greater than is reasonable.” Ibid. And because the “composition of ores varies infinitely,” it was “impossible to specify in a patent the precise treatment which would be most successful and economical in each case.” Id., at 271.