| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: the distance traveled by Gallia in April was 39,000,000 leagues,
and at the end of the month she was 110,000,000 leagues from the sun.
A diagram representing the elliptical orbit of the planet, accompanied by an
ephemeris made out in minute detail, had been drawn out by the professor.
The curve was divided into twenty-four sections of unequal length,
representing respectively the distance described in the twenty-four months
of the Gallian year, the twelve former divisions, according to Kepler's law,
gradually diminishing in length as they approached the point denoting
the aphelion and increasing as they neared the perihelion.
It was on the 12th of May that Rosette exhibited this result of his
labors to Servadac, the count, and the lieutenant, who visited his
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Alcibiades II by Platonic Imitator: So that it was in vain for them to sacrifice and offer gifts, seeing that
they were hateful to the Gods, who are not, like vile usurers, to be gained
over by bribes. And it is foolish for us to boast that we are superior to
the Lacedaemonians by reason of our much worship. The idea is
inconceivable that the Gods have regard, not to the justice and purity of
our souls, but to costly processions and sacrifices, which men may
celebrate year after year, although they have committed innumerable crimes
against the Gods or against their fellow-men or the state. For the Gods,
as Ammon and his prophet declare, are no receivers of gifts, and they scorn
such unworthy service. Wherefore also it would seem that wisdom and
justice are especially honoured both by the Gods and by men of sense; and
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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 Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: a letter; six and eight weeks often elapsed between
opportunities, and when a mail was to be made up, sometimes at
a moment's notice, the bellman was sent hastily through the
streets of Lerwick. Between Shetland and Orkney, only seventy
miles apart, there was `no trade communication whatever.'
Such was the state of affairs, only sixty years ago, with
the three largest clusters of the Scottish Archipelago; and
forty-seven years earlier, when Thomas Smith began his rounds,
or forty-two, when Robert Stevenson became conjoined with him
in these excursions, the barbarism was deep, the people sunk
in superstition, the circumstances of their life perhaps
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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 Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy: unpleasant, too, but most unpleasant of all was the pronoun HIM
that Missy had used. Nekhludoff had long been wavering between
two ways of regarding Missy; sometimes he looked at her as if by
moonlight, and could see in her nothing but what was beautiful,
fresh, pretty, clever and natural; then suddenly, as if the
bright sun shone on her, he saw her defects and could not help
seeing them. This was such a day for him. To-day he saw all the
wrinkles of her face, knew which of her teeth were false, saw the
way her hair was crimped, the sharpness of her elbows, and, above
all, how large her thumb-nail was and how like her father's.
"Tennis is a dull game," said Kolosoff; "we used to play lapta
Resurrection |
