| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: windows lest the enemy should fly in from the neighbouring woods,
and rear a brood of worms. Anyone, indeed, who has seen
a hole in a filbert, or a piece of wood riddled by dry rot,
will recognize a similarity of appearance in the channels made
by these insect enemies.
Among the paper-eating species are:--
1. The "Anobium." Of this beetle there are varieties, viz.:
"A. pertinax," "A. eruditus," and "A. paniceum." In the larval
state they are grubs, just like those found, in nuts; in this stage
they are too much alike to be distinguished from one another.
They feed on old dry wood, and often infest bookcases and shelves.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from American Notes by Rudyard Kipling: the ages, and civilized after all. There appeared before me an
affable stranger of prepossessing appearance, with a blue and an
innocent eye. Addressing me by name, he claimed to have met me
in New York, at the Windsor, and to this claim I gave a qualified
assent. I did not remember the fact, but since he was so certain
of it, why, then--I waited developments.
"And what did you think of Indiana when you came through?" was
the next question.
It revealed the mystery of previous acquaintance and one or two
other things. With reprehensible carelessness my friend of the
light-blue eye had looked up the name of his victim in the hotel
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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 A Second Home by Honore de Balzac: For about five years now, having achieved a high position as a judge,
Granville had occupied the /entresol/ of the house to avoid living
with the Comtesse de Granville. Every morning a little scene took
place, which, if evil tongues are to be believed, is repeated in many
households as the result of incompatibility of temper, of moral or
physical malady, or of antagonisms leading to such disaster as is
recorded in this history. At about eight in the morning a housekeeper,
bearing no small resemblance to a nun, rang at the Comte de
Granville's door. Admitted to the room next to the Judge's study, she
always repeated the same message to the footman, and always in the
same tone:
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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 Vision Splendid by William MacLeod Raine: by a slender, golden girl who had just bidden him good-bye. And
because his heart sang within him his footsteps turned toward the
office of his cousin. There had been between them of late an
estrangement. Since the lawyer had been appointed general attorney
for the Transcontinental and had formed a partnership with Scott,
thus bringing to the firm the business of the public utility
corporations, James had not found much time for Jeff. He was a
member of the most important law firm on the Pacific Coast, judged
by the business it was doing, and he had definitely cut loose
politically from his former associates. His cousin blamed himself
for the change in their personal relations, and he meant to bring
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