| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Frances Waldeaux by Rebecca Davis: must not go without a cup of hot coffee," she said,
leading him to a lounge in the hall. It was very sweet
to be treated like a sick man!
"And God knows I am sick, body and soul!" he thought,
sinking down.
Beside the lounge was a little table with one cover. He
noted with keen pleasure the delicate napery, the silver
candlesticks, the bowl of roses, with which the
substantial meal was set out. Lucy waited on him with
the quick intelligence of a trained nurse. She scarcely
spoke, yet her every motion, as she served him, seemed a
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: "Poor Louise!" said Madame d'Espard. "I understand her and pity her."
The Marquise d'Espard put on the pensive look of a woman full of soul
and feeling. Sabine de Grandlieu, who was but ten years old, raised
knowing eyes to her mother's face, but the satirical glance was
repressed by a glance from the Duchess. This is bringing children up
properly.
"If my daughter lives through the shock," said Madame de Chaulieu,
with a very maternal manner, "I shall be anxious about her future
life. Louise is so very romantic."
"It is so difficult nowadays," said a venerable Cardinal, "to
reconcile feeling with the proprieties."
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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 On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: each other by a dozen characters, in this case the genera, at the early
period marked VI., would differ by a lesser number of characters; for at
this early stage of descent they have not diverged in character from the
common progenitor of the order, nearly so much as they subsequently
diverged. Thus it comes that ancient and extinct genera are often in some
slight degree intermediate in character between their modified descendants,
or between their collateral relations.
In nature the case will be far more complicated than is represented in the
diagram; for the groups will have been more numerous, they will have
endured for extremely unequal lengths of time, and will have been modified
in various degrees. As we possess only the last volume of the geological
On the Origin of Species |
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 Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: time he had a favourite wife, the first of the four allowed by
the Prophet. And, speaking with well-bred politeness, he
explained further to the dumbfounded Almayer that, if he would
consent to the alliance of his offspring with that true believer
and virtuous man Reshid, she would be the mistress of all the
splendours of Reshid's house, and first wife of the first Arab in
the Islands, when he--Abdulla--was called to the joys of Paradise
by Allah the All-merciful. "You know, Tuan," he said, in
conclusion, "the other women would be her slaves, and Reshid's
house is great. From Bombay he has brought great divans, and
costly carpets, and European furniture. There is also a great
Almayer's Folly |
