| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: may be attributed to them by inexperienced sentimen-
talists. I believe that some animals love their masters,
but I doubt very much if their affection is the outcome
of gratitude--a characteristic that is so rare as to be only
occasionally traceable in the seemingly unselfish acts of
man himself.
But finally I was forced to sleep. Tired nature would
be put off no longer. I simply fell asleep, willy nilly, as I
sat looking out to sea. I had been very uncomfortable
since my ducking in the ocean, for though I could see
the sunlight on the water half-way toward the island
Pellucidar |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Study of a Woman by Honore de Balzac: chiefly, his defects. He is ardent, but he laughs at ardor; he has
talent, and he hides it; he plays the learned man with aristocrats,
and the aristocrat with learned men. Eugene de Rastignac is one of
those extremely clever young men who try all things, and seem to sound
others to discover what the future has in store. While awaiting the
age of ambition, he scoffs at everything; he has grace and
originality, two rare qualities because the one is apt to exclude the
other. On this occasion he talked for nearly half an hour with madame
de Listomere, without any predetermined idea of pleasing her. As they
followed the caprices of conversation, which, beginning with the opera
of "Guillaume Tell," had reached the topic of the duties of women, he
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