| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Faraday as a Discoverer by John Tyndall: oil of turpentine the rotation is independent of the direction of
the ray. But he showed that a still more profound distinction
exists between the magnetic rotation and the natural one. I will
try to explain how. Suppose a tube with glass ends containing oil
of turpentine to be placed north and south. Fixing the eye at the
south end of the tube, let a polarized beam be sent through it from
the north. To the observer in this position the rotation of the
plane of polarization, by the turpentine, is right-handed. Let the
eye be placed at the north end of the tube, and a beam be sent
through it from the south; the rotation is still right-handed.
Not so, however, when a bar of heavy glass is subjected to the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson: prostrated himself before God in what I can only call unmanly
penitence. As he had aspirations beyond his place in the
world, so he had tastes, thoughts, and weaknesses to match.
He loved to walk under a wood to the sound of a winter
tempest; he had a singular tenderness for animals; he carried
a book with him in his pocket when he went abroad, and wore
out in this service two copies of the MAN OF FEELING. With
young people in the field at work he was very long-suffering;
and when his brother Gilbert spoke sharply to them - "O man,
ye are no for young folk," he would say, and give the
defaulter a helping hand and a smile. In the hearts of the
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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 First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: that it will be much safer for all, both in official and private stations,
to conform to and abide by all those acts which stand unrepealed,
than to violate any of them, trusting to find impunity in having
them held to be unConstitutional.
It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a President
under our national Constitution. During that period fifteen different
and greatly distinguished citizens have, in succession, administered
the executive branch of the government. They have conducted it through
many perils, and generally with great success. Yet, with all this scope
of precedent, I now enter upon the same task for the brief Constitutional
term of four years under great and peculiar difficulty. A disruption of
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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 King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: which you see the Golden River issue, and shall cast into the stream
at its source three drops of holy water, for him and for him only
the river shall turn to gold. But no one failing in his first can
succeed in a second attempt, and if anyone shall cast unholy water
into the river, it will overwhelm him and he will become a black
stone." So saying, the King of the Golden River turned away and
deliberately walked into the center of the hottest flame of the
furnace. His figure became red, white, transparent, dazzling,--a
blaze of intense light,--rose, trembled, and disappeared. The King
of the Golden River had evaporated.
"Oh!" cried poor Gluck, running to look up the chimney after
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