| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Faraday as a Discoverer by John Tyndall: two spheres of one jar, while air occupied this interval in the
other, then he found that the instrument occupied by the 'solid
dielectric' takes more than half the original charge. A portion of
the charge was absorbed by the dielectric itself. The electricity
took time to penetrate the dielectric. Immediately after the
discharge of the apparatus, no trace of electricity was found upon
its knob. But after a time electricity was found there, the charge
having gradually returned from the dielectric in which it had been
lodged. Different insulators possess this power of permitting the
charge to enter them in different degrees. Faraday figured their
particles as polarized, and he concluded that the force of induction
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: morning tea, coffee, cocoa, and warm milk; of all of which he partook
but sparingly, while munching a piece of bread, and scattering tobacco
ash with complete insouciance. Two hours did he sit over this meal,
then poured himself out another cup of the rapidly cooling tea, and
walked to the window. This faced the courtyard, and outside it, as
usual, there took place the following daily altercation between a serf
named Grigory (who purported to act as butler) and the housekeeper,
Perfilievna.
Grigory. Ah, you nuisance, you good-for-nothing, you had better hold
your stupid tongue.
Perfilievna. Yes; and don't you wish that I would?
Dead Souls |
