| 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: naturalised; and if the natives have not been actually exterminated, their
numbers have been greatly reduced, and this is the first stage towards
extinction. A mountain is an island on the land; and the intertropical
mountains before the Glacial period must have been completely isolated; and
I believe that the productions of these islands on the land yielded to
those produced within the larger areas of the north, just in the same way
as the productions of real islands have everywhere lately yielded to
continental forms, naturalised by man's agency.
I am far from supposing that all difficulties are removed on the view here
given in regard to the range and affinities of the allied species which
live in the northern and southern temperate zones and on the mountains of
 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 The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: "How dreadful!" exclaimed Lady Agatha. "Really, some one should interfere."
"I am told, on excellent authority, that her father keeps an American
dry-goods store," said Sir Thomas Burdon, looking supercilious.
"My uncle has already suggested pork-packing Sir Thomas."
"Dry-goods! What are American dry-goods?" asked the duchess,
raising her large hands in wonder and accentuating the verb.
"American novels," answered Lord Henry, helping himself to some quail.
The duchess looked puzzled.
"Don't mind him, my dear," whispered Lady Agatha. "He never means anything
that he says."
"When America was discovered," said the Radical member--
 The Picture of Dorian Gray |