| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The First Men In The Moon by H. G. Wells: considerable tangle due to an equally unwise attempt on my part to explain
about mines. Dismissing this topic at last in an incomplete state, the
Grand Lunar inquired what we did with the interior of our globe.
"A tide of twittering and piping swept into the remotest corners of that
great assembly then it was last made clear that we men know absolutely
nothing of the contents of the world upon which the immemorial generations
of our ancestors had been evolved. Three times had I to repeat that of all
the 4000 miles of distance between the earth and its centre men knew only
to the depth of a mile, and that very vaguely. I understood the Grand
Lunar to ask why had I come to the moon seeing we had scarcely touched our
own planet yet, but he did not trouble me at that time to proceed to an
The First Men In The Moon |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: fresh breeze. At nine a.m. the bell rung, and the boats were
hoisted out, and though the artificers were now pretty well
accustomed to tripping up and down the sides of the floating
light, yet it required more seamanship this morning than
usual. It therefore afforded some merriment to those who had
got fairly seated in their respective boats to see the
difficulties which attended their companions, and the
hesitating manner in which they quitted hold of the man-ropes
in leaving the ship. The passage to the rock was tedious, and
the boats did not reach it till half-past ten.
It being now the period of neap-tides, the water only
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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 Gambara by Honore de Balzac: had never met with the love I had dreamed of from my childhood. My
poor dress and my dwelling-place had hidden me from the eyes of men of
your class. A few young men, whose position did not allow of their
insulting me, were all the more intolerable for the levity with which
they treated me. Some made game of my husband, as if he were merely a
ridiculous old man; others basely tried to win his good graces to
betray me; one and all talked of getting me away from him, and none
understood the devotion I feel for a soul that is so far away from us
only because it is so near heaven, for that friend, that brother,
whose handmaid I will always be.
"You alone understood, did you not? the tie that binds me to him. Tell
Gambara |
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 Daisy Miller by Henry James: If this is improper, Mrs. Walker," she pursued, "then I am all improper,
and you must give me up. Goodbye; I hope you'll have a lovely ride!"
and, with Mr. Giovanelli, who made a triumphantly obsequious salute,
she turned away.
Mrs. Walker sat looking after her, and there were tears in
Mrs. Walker's eyes. "Get in here, sir," she said to Winterbourne,
indicating the place beside her. The young man answered that he felt
bound to accompany Miss Miller, whereupon Mrs. Walker declared that
if he refused her this favor she would never speak to him again.
She was evidently in earnest. Winterbourne overtook Daisy and
her companion, and, offering the young girl his hand, told her
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