| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: little as they deserve, I had given less than their due.
But you,--you above all, above my mother, had been wronged
by me. I, and only I, knew your heart and its sorrows;
yet to what did it influence me?--not to any compassion
that could benefit you or myself.--Your example was
before me; but to what avail?--Was I more considerate
of you and your comfort? Did I imitate your forbearance,
or lessen your restraints, by taking any part in those
offices of general complaisance or particular gratitude
which you had hitherto been left to discharge alone?--No;--
not less when I knew you to be unhappy, than when I
 Sense and Sensibility |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Faraday as a Discoverer by John Tyndall: also belongs his analysis of the Contact Theory, his inquiries as to
the Source of Voltaic Electricity, and his final development of the
Chemical Theory of the pile.
His third great discovery is the Magnetization of Light, which I
should liken to the Weisshorn among mountains--high, beautiful,
and alone.
The dominant result of his fourth group of researches is the
discovery of Diamagnetism, announced in his memoir as the Magnetic
Condition of all Matter, round which are grouped his inquiries on
the Magnetism of Flame and Gases; on Magne-crystallic action, and on
Atmospheric Magnetism, in its relations to the annual and diurnal
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