| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Ruling Passion by Henry van Dyke: Scott took his place on the low seat, cracked his whip, shouted
"POUITTE! POUITTE!" and the equipage darted along the snowy track
like a fifty-foot arrow.
Pichou was in the lead, and he showed his metal from the start. No
need of the terrible FOUET to lash him forward or to guide his
course. A word was enough. "Hoc! Hoc! Hoc!" and he swung to the
right, avoiding an air-hole. "Re-re! Re-re!" and he veered to the
left, dodging a heap of broken ice. Past the mouth of the Ste.
Marguerite, twelve miles; past Les Jambons, twelve miles more; past
the River of Rocks and La Pentecote, fifteen miles more; into the
little hamlet of Dead Men's Point, behind the Isle of the Wise
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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: found a person who is desirous to occupy the situation in the
Institution lately filled by William Payne. His name is Michael
Faraday. He is a youth of twenty-two years of age. As far as Sir H.
Davy has been able to observe or ascertain, he appears well fitted
for the situation. His habits seem good; his disposition active and
cheerful, and his manner intelligent. He is willing to engage
himself on the same terms as given to Mr. Payne at the time of
quitting the Institution.
'Resolved,--That Michael Faraday be engaged to fill the situation
lately occupied by Mr. Payne, on the same terms.'
[2] Faraday loved this word and employed it to the last; he had an
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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 The Reign of King Edward the Third by William Shakespeare: Here by my side doth hang my wedding knifes:
Take thou the one, and with it kill thy Queen,
And learn by me to find her where she lies;
And with this other I'll dispatch my love,
Which now lies fast a sleep within my heart:
When they are gone, then I'll consent to love.
Stir not, lascivious king, to hinder me;
My resolution is more nimbler far,
Than thy prevention can be in my rescue,
And if thou stir, I strike; therefore, stand still,
And hear the choice that I will put thee to:
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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 Lesson of the Master by Henry James: extent, at which the person using it could write only in the erect
posture of a clerk in a counting-house; and stretched from the
entrance to this structure was a wide plain band of crimson cloth,
as straight as a garden-path and almost as long, where, in his
mind's eye, Paul at once beheld the Master pace to and fro during
vexed hours - hours, that is, of admirable composition. The
servant gave him a coat, an old jacket with a hang of experience,
from a cupboard in the wall, retiring afterwards with the garment
he had taken off. Paul Overt welcomed the coat; it was a coat for
talk, it promised confidences - having visibly received so many -
and had tragic literary elbows. "Ah we're practical - we're
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