| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Miracle Mongers and Their Methods by Harry Houdini: by his disadvantageous situation;
attempting and often doing, what he hears
other strong men have done, without making
use of the same advantages.
About six years ago he pulled against
a horse, sitting on the ground with his feet
against two stumps driven into the
ground, but without the advantage
represented by the first figure, Plate 19; for
the horse pulling against him drew upwards
at a considerable angle, such as is
Miracle Mongers and Their Methods |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Drama on the Seashore by Honore de Balzac: angle at which they open it the world is theirs. But this phenomenon
of the inner life takes place only at a certain age. That age, which
for all men lies between twenty-two and twenty-eight, is the period of
great thoughts, of fresh conceptions, because it is the age of immense
desires. After that age, short as the seed-time, comes that of
execution. There are, as it were, two youths,--the youth of belief,
the youth of action; these are often commingled in men whom Nature has
favored and who, like Caesar, like Newton, like Bonaparte, are the
greatest among great men.
I was measuring how long a time it might take a thought to develop.
Compass in hand, standing on a rock some hundred fathoms above the
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