278. When viewed with the eye, actions of the body appear as simple and uniform as seeds, fruits and eggs do in external form, or as nuts and almonds do in the shell, and yet they contain within them all the prior elements from which they originate. The reason they appear so simple and uniform is that every final element is enveloped in a covering which distinguishes it from prior ones. Every other degree, too, is surrounded with a covering which distinguishes it from the next. Consequently those qualities which belong to the first degree are not discerned from the second degree, nor are those qualities which belong to the second degree discerned from the third degree. So for example, love belonging to the will, which is the first degree of the mind, is not discerned in the wisdom of the intellect, which is the second degree of the mind, except in consequence of a certain delight in thinking about some matter. The first degree, which is, as said, love belonging to the will, is not discerned in the knowledge of the memory, which is the third degree, except in consequence of a certain gratification in knowing and speaking. It follows as a consequence from this that any work which is an action of the body contains all those prior elements, even though in outward form it appears so simple as to be a single entity.