nd of veil interposed, that does, indeed, transmit to love
the light of heaven; yet inasmuch as the love does not in that degree love
its consort, wisdom, it does not receive it, yea, may even contradict and
rebuke it when it returns from its elevation. Still man flatters himself
that the wisdom of his understanding may be made serviceable as a means
to honor, glory, or gain. Then man gives self and the world the first
place, and the Lord and heaven the second, and what has the second place
is loved only so far as it is serviceable, and if it is not serviceable
it is disowned and rejected; if not before death, then after it. From
all this the truth is now evident, that love or the will is purified in
the understanding if they are elevated together.

420. The same thing is imaged in the lungs, whose arteries and veins
correspond to the affections of love, and whose respirations correspond
to the perceptions and thoughts of the understanding, as has been said
above. That the heart's blood is purified of undigested matters in the
lungs, and nourishes itself with suitable food from the inhaled air, is
evident from much observation. (1) That the blood is purified of undigested
matter in the lungs, is evident not only from the influent blood, which
is venous, and therefore filled with the chyle collected from food and
drink, but also from the moisture of the outgoing breath and from its
odor as perceived by others, as well as from the diminished quantity of
the blood flowing back into the left ventricle of the heart. (2) That the
blood nourishes itself with suitable food from the inhaled air is evident
from the immense volumes of odors and exhalations continually flowing
forth from fields, gardens, and woods; from the immense supply of salts
of various kinds in the water that rises from the ground and from rivers
and ponds, and from the immense quantity of exhalations and effluvia from
human beings and animals with which the air is impregnated. That these
things flow into the lungs with the inhaled air is undeniable: it is
therefore undeniable also that from them the blood draws such things as
are useful to it; and such things are useful as correspond to the
affections of its love. For this reason there are, in the vesicles or
innermost recesses of the lungs, little veins in great abundance with
tiny mouths that absorb these suitable matters; consequently, the blood
that flows back into the left ventricle of the heart is change