| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Red Inn by Honore de Balzac: After all, that man, now beatified by gastronomical enjoyments, hadn't
probably two ideas in his brain, and was thinking of nothing.
Consequently I felt rather ashamed of wasting my powers of divination
"in anima vili,"--of a doltish financier.
While I was thus making, at a dead loss, these phrenological
observations, the worthy German had lined his nose with a good pinch
of snuff and was now beginning his tale. It would be difficult to
reproduce it in his own language, with his frequent interruptions and
wordy digressions. Therefore, I now write it down in my own way;
leaving out the faults of the Nuremburger, and taking only what his
tale may have had of interest and poesy with the coolness of writers
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Heroes by Charles Kingsley: But the Minuai marched toward their ship, growling like lions
cheated of their prey; for they saw that Aietes meant to mock
them, and to cheat them out of all their toil. And Oileus
said, 'Let us go to the grove together, and take the fleece
by force.'
And Idas the rash cried, 'Let us draw lots who shall go in
first; for, while the dragon is devouring one, the rest can
slay him and carry off the fleece in peace.' But Jason held
them back, though he praised them; for he hoped for Medeia's
help.
And after awhile Medeia came trembling, and wept a long while
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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 Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: the absorbing delight with which Richard Hilton pursued his study.
An earnest discussion as to whether a certain leaf was ovate or
lanceolate, whether a certain plant belonged to the species
scandens or canadensis, was, in their eyes, convincing proof
that the young brains were touched, and therefore NOT the young
hearts.
But love, symbolized by a rose-bud, is emphatically a botanical
emotion. A sweet, tender perception of beauty, such as this study
requires, or develops, is at once the most subtile and certain
chain of communication between impressible natures. Richard
Hilton, feeling that his years were numbered, had given up, in
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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 A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: sides of the cliffs and stretch out their long black arms, and can
make night come when they will it. She sang of the nautilus who
has a boat of her own that is carved out of an opal and steered
with a silken sail; of the happy Mermen who play upon harps and can
charm the great Kraken to sleep; of the little children who catch
hold of the slippery porpoises and ride laughing upon their backs;
of the Mermaids who lie in the white foam and hold out their arms
to the mariners; and of the sea-lions with their curved tusks, and
the sea-horses with their floating manes.
And as she sang, all the tunny-fish came in from the deep to listen
to her, and the young Fisherman threw his nets round them and
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