| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lock and Key Library by Julian Hawthorne, Ed.: had convulsively been catching at the blankets, let go their short
and quivering grasp, and lay extended on the bed like the claws of
some bird that had died of hunger,--so meager, so yellow, so
spread. John, unaccustomed to the sight of death, believed this to
be only a sign that he was going to sleep; and, urged by an impulse
for which he did not attempt to account to himself, caught up the
miserable light, and once more ventured into the forbidden room,--
the BLUE CHAMBER of the dwelling. The motion roused the dying
man;--he sat bolt upright in his bed. This John could not see, for
he was now in the closet; but he heard the groan, or rather the
choked and gurgling rattle of the throat, that announces the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An Episode Under the Terror by Honore de Balzac: stranger; and neither of them moved.
The newcomer was a tall, burly man. Nothing in his behavior, bearing,
or expression suggested malignity as, following the example set by the
nuns, he stood motionless, while his eyes traveled round the room.
Two straw mats laid upon planks did duty as beds. On the one table,
placed in the middle of the room, stood a brass candlestick, several
plates, three knives, and a round loaf. A small fire burned in the
grate. A few bits of wood in a heap in a corner bore further witness
to the poverty of the recluses. You had only to look at the coating of
paint on the walls to discover the bad condition of the roof, and the
ceiling was a perfect network of brown stains made by rain-water. A
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from War and the Future by H. G. Wells: which the war can be ended. The first of these assumes a
complete predominance of our Allies. It has been stated in
general terms by Mr. Asquith. Evacuation, reparation, due
punishment of those responsible for the war, and guarantees that
nothing of the sort shall happen again. There is as yet no
mention of the nature of these guarantees. Just exactly what is
to happen to Poland, Austria, and the Turkish Empire does not
appear in this prospectus. The German Chancellor is equally
elusive. The Kaiser has stampeded the peace-at-any-price people
of Great Britain by proclaiming that Germany wants peace. We
knew that. But what sort of peace? It would seem that we are
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: transmitted to me from foreign parts, they would fill a volume,
and be a full defence against all that Mr. Partridge, or his
accomplices of the Portugal Inquisition, will be able to object;
who, by the way, are the only enemies my predictions have ever
met with at home or abroad. But I hope I know better what is due
to the honour of a learned correspondence in so tender a point.
Yet some of those illustrious persons will perhaps excuse me from
transcribing a passage or two in my own vindication. The most
learned Monsieur Leibnits thus addresses to me his third letter:
Illustrissimo Bickerstaffio Astrologiae instauratori, etc.
Monsieur le Clerc, quoting my predictions in a treatise he
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