An example of an analogy used in explaining science:
"Another analogous fact deserves notice: we observed on several occasions that a greater number of free leaves were injured on the branches which had been kept motionless by some of their leaves having been pinned to the corks, than on the other branches. This was conspicuously the case with those of Melilotus Petitpierreana, but the injured leaves in this instance were not actually counted. With Arachis hypogaea, a young plant with 7 stems bore 22 free leaves, and of these 5 were injured by the frost, all of which were on two stems, bearing four leaves pinned to the cork-supports. With Oxalis carnosa, 7 free leaves were injured, and every one of them belonged to a cluster of leaves, some of which had been pinned to the cork. We could account for these cases only by supposing that the branches which were quite free had been slightly waved about by the wind, and that their leaves had thus been a little warmed by the surrounding warmer air. If we hold our hands motionless before a hot fire, and then wave them about, we immediately feel relief; and this is evidently an analogous, though reversed, case."
Charles Darwin with Francis Darwin (1880) The Power of Movement in Plants. London: John Murray.
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