by contact, is well known: the reason of this is,
because all that proceeds from the Lord, in an instant pervades the
universe, as may be seen above, n. 388-390; and as it proceeds by
degrees, and by continual mediations, therefore it passes not only to
animals, but also to vegetables and minerals; see n. 389; it also passes
into the earth itself, which is the mother of all vegetables and
minerals; for the earth, in the spring, is in a prepared state for the
reception of seeds, as it were in the womb; and when it receives them,
it, as it were, conceives, cherishes them, bears, excludes, suckles,
nourishes, clothes, educates, guards, and, as it were, loves the
offspring derived from them, and so forth. Since the sphere of
procreation proceeds thus far, how much more must it proceed to animals
of every kind, even to worms! That as the earth is the common mother of
vegetables, so there is also a common mother of bees in every hive, is a
well known tact, confirmed by observation.

398. X. IN THE DEGREE IN WHICH INNOCENCE RETIRES FROM INFANTS, AFFECTION
AND CONJUNCTION ALSO ABATE, AND THIS SUCCESSIVELY EVEN TO SEPARATION. It
is well known that the love of infants, or _storge_, retires from
parents according as innocence retires from them; and that, in the case
of men, it retires even to the separation of children from home, and in
the case of beasts and birds, to a rejection from their presence, and a
total forgetfulness of relationship. From this circumstance, as an
established fact, it may further appear, that innocence flowing in on
each side produces the love called _storge_.

399. XI. A STATE OF RATIONAL INNOCENCE AND PEACE WITH PARENTS TOWARDS
INFANTS, IS GROUNDED IN THE CIRCUMSTANCE, THAT THEY KNOW NOTHING AND CAN
DO NOTHING FROM THEMSELVES, BUT FROM OTHERS, ESPECIALLY FROM THE FATHER
AND MOTHER; AND THIS STATE SUCCESSIVELY RETIRES, IN PROPORTION AS THEY
KNOW AND HAVE ABILITY FROM THEMSELVES, AND NOT FROM OTHERS. That the
sphere of the love of infants is a sphere of protection and support of
those who cannot protect and support themselves, was shewn above in its
proper article, n. 391: that this is only a rational cause with men, but
not the very essential cause of that love prevailing with them, was also
mentioned in the same article. The real original cause of that love is
innocence from the Lord, which flows in while the man is ignorant of it,
and produces the above rational cause; therefore as the first cause
pr