ANALOGY, in matters of literature, a certain relation and agreement between two or more things, which in other respects are entirely different.
There is likewise an analogy between beings that have some conformity or resemblance to one another; for example, between animals and plants; but the analogy is still stronger between two different species of certain animals.
Analogy enters much into all our reasoning, and serves to explain and illustrate. A great part of our philosophy has no other foundation than analogy, the utility of which consists in superceding all necessity of examining minutely every particular body; for it suffices us to know that every thing is governed by general and immutable laws, in order to regulate our conduct with regard to all similar bodies, as we may reasonably believe that they are all endowed with the same properties: Thus, we never doubt that the fruit of the same tree has the same taste.