forms and forces there. When degrees of height, that is, discrete degrees,
are in successive order, they may be compared to a column divided into
three stories, through which ascent and descent are made. In the upper
rooms are things most perfect and most beautiful; in the middle rooms,
things less perfect and beautiful; in the lowest, things still less
perfect and beautiful. But simultaneous order, which consists of like
degrees, has another appearance. In it, the highest things of successive
order, which are (as was said above) the most perfect and most beautiful,
are in the inmost, the lower things are in the middle, and the lowest in
the circumference. They are as if in a solid body composed of these three
degrees: in the middle or center are the finest parts, round about this
are parts less fine, and in the extremes which constitute the
circumference are the parts composed of these and which are therefore
grosser. It is like the column mentioned just above subsiding into a
plane, the highest part of which forms the innermost of the plane, the
middle forms the middle, and the lowest the outermost.

206. As the highest of successive order becomes the innermost of
simultaneous order, and the lowest becomes the outermost, so in the Word,
"higher" signifies inner, and "lower" signifies outer. "Upwards" and
"downwards," and "high" and "deep" have a like meaning.

207. In every outmost there are discrete degrees in simultaneous order.
The motor fibers in every muscle, the fibers in every nerve, also the
fibers and the little vessels in all viscera and organs, are in such
an order. Innermost in these are the most simple things, which are the
most perfect; the outermost is a composite of these. There is a like
order of these degrees in every seed and in every fruit, also in every
metal and stone; their parts, of which the whole is composed, are of
such a nature. The innermost, the middle, and the outermost elements