every existing organism is in a sense a fossil

Categories: Comparisons

An example of simile in a scientist's writing:

"An object such as a galaxy or an apple carries its whole significance only if we consider the stages of its development as well as its, instantaneous activity. The ostensible purpose of biology in unravelling the processes that occur in living things is at the same time the elucidation of the necessary stages by which they arrived at their actual structures. Present study throws light on past history and vice versa…[Everything an organism contains is evidence of its predecessors]; and this remains the case even if we cannot read it clearly or at all."

J. D. Bernal (1951) The Physical Basis of Life, Routledge and Kegan Paul [the parenthetical material is taken from a footnote Bernal added in response to a criticism by Haldane of his original phrasing]

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Author: Keith

Former school and college science teacher, teacher educator, research supervisor, and research methods lecturer. Emeritus Professor of Science Education at the University of Cambridge.