| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Meno by Plato: figure be such that when you have produced a given side of it (Or, when you
apply it to the given line, i.e. the diameter of the circle (autou).), the
given area of the triangle falls short by an area corresponding to the part
produced (Or, similar to the area so applied.), then one consequence
follows, and if this is impossible then some other; and therefore I wish to
assume a hypothesis before I tell you whether this triangle is capable of
being inscribed in the circle':--that is a geometrical hypothesis. And we
too, as we know not the nature and qualities of virtue, must ask, whether
virtue is or is not taught, under a hypothesis: as thus, if virtue is of
such a class of mental goods, will it be taught or not? Let the first
hypothesis be that virtue is or is not knowledge,--in that case will it be
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from My Aunt Margaret's Mirror by Walter Scott: unfortunate man,' continued the stranger.
"'By the crime of an unnatural, bloody-minded murderer,' said the
lady.
"'I am answered,' replied the old man, bowing, as if to withdraw.
"'Stop, sir, I command you,' said Lady Bothwell. 'Who are you
that, at such a place and time, come to recall these horrible
recollections? I insist upon knowing.'
"'I am one who intends Lady Bothwell no injury, but, on the
contrary, to offer her the means of doing a deed of Christian
charity, which the world would wonder at, and which Heaven would
reward; but I find her in no temper for such a sacrifice as I was
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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 Catherine de Medici by Honore de Balzac: destined to present to Henri IV. the keys of Paris. The strongest
desire rooted in the heart of the worthy burgher was to use half of
his fortune and half of that of the jeweller in the purchase of a
large and beautiful seignorial estate, which, in those days, was a
long and very difficult affair. But his shrewd mind knew the age in
which he lived too well to be ignorant of the great movements which
were now in preparation. He saw clearly, and he saw justly, and knew
that the kingdom was about to be divided into two camps. The useless
executions in the Place de l'Estrapade, that of the king's tailor and
the more recent one of the Councillor Anne du Bourg, the actual
connivance of the great lords, and that of the favorite of Francois I.
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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 Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: world thus travestied; but the desire to escape from Glasgow
was now too strongly and too exclusively impressed upon his
mind. With one haggard glance at the spotted tails of his
new coat, he inquired what was to pay for this accoutrement.
The man assured him that the whole expense was easily met
from funds in his possession, and begged him, instead of
wasting time, to make his best speed out of the
neighbourhood.
The young man was not loath to take the hint. True to his
usual courtesy, he thanked the speaker and complimented him
upon his taste in greatcoats; and leaving the man somewhat
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