| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson: "Nurse," said the King's daughter, "thought is come upon me for the
morrow, so that I can live no more after the manner of simple men.
Tell me what I must do that I may have power upon the hour."
Then the nurse moaned like a snow wind. "Alas!" said she, "that
this thing should be; but the thought is gone into your marrow, nor
is there any cure against the thought. Be it so, then, even as you
will; though power is less than weakness, power shall you have; and
though the thought is colder than winter, yet shall you think it to
an end."
So the King's daughter sat in her vaulted chamber in the masoned
house, and she thought upon the thought. Nine years she sat; and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of War by Frederick A. Talbot: heard of it during the present conflict. It is urged in certain
technical quarters, however, that the aerial torpedo will prove
to be the most successful projectile that can be used against
aircraft. I shall deal with this question in a later chapter.
During the early days of the war anti-aircraft artillery appeared
to be a much overrated arm. The successes placed to its credit
were insignificant. This was due to the artillerymen being
unfamiliar with the new arm, and the conditions which prevail
when firing into space. Since actual practice became possible
great advances in marksmanship have been recorded, and the
accuracy of such fire to-day is striking. Fortunately the airman
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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 Phaedrus by Plato: ask you a question: Would a husbandman, who is a man of sense, take the
seeds, which he values and which he wishes to bear fruit, and in sober
seriousness plant them during the heat of summer, in some garden of Adonis,
that he may rejoice when he sees them in eight days appearing in beauty? at
least he would do so, if at all, only for the sake of amusement and
pastime. But when he is in earnest he sows in fitting soil, and practises
husbandry, and is satisfied if in eight months the seeds which he has sown
arrive at perfection?
PHAEDRUS: Yes, Socrates, that will be his way when he is in earnest; he
will do the other, as you say, only in play.
SOCRATES: And can we suppose that he who knows the just and good and
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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 Exiles by Honore de Balzac: our disasters, our depravity could hinder the great movement given by
God to all the globes; and he laughed human impotence to scorn by
pointing to their efforts everywhere in ruins. He cried upon the manes
of Tyre, Carthage, and Babylon; he called upon Babel and Jerusalem to
appear; and sought, without finding them, the transient furrows made
by the ploughshare of civilization. Humanity floated on the surface of
the earth as a ship whose wake is lost in the calm level of ocean.
These were the fundamental notions set forth in Doctor Sigier's
address, all wrapped in the mystical language and strange school Latin
of the time. He had made a special study of the Scriptures, and they
supplied him with the weapons with which he came before his
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