| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: trifling characters, such as the down on fruit and the colour of the flesh,
which, from determining the attacks of insects or from being correlated
with constitutional differences, might assuredly be acted on by natural
selection. The tail of the giraffe looks like an artificially constructed
fly-flapper; and it seems at first incredible that this could have been
adapted for its present purpose by successive slight modifications, each
better and better, for so trifling an object as driving away flies; yet we
should pause before being too positive even in this case, for we know that
the distribution and existence of cattle and other animals in South America
absolutely depends on their power of resisting the attacks of insects: so
that individuals which could by any means defend themselves from these
On the Origin of Species |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Collection of Beatrix Potter by Beatrix Potter: of a flitch, and then looked
undecidedly at Pigling. "You may
sleep on the rug," said Mr. Peter
Thomas Piperson.
Pigling Bland slept like a top.
In the morning Mr. Piperson made
more porridge; the weather was
warmer. He looked to see how much
meal was left in the chest, and
seemed dissatisfied--"You'll likely
be moving on again?" said he to
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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 Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: by his name ("herus villoe"), permitted him to imitate the
magnificence of families who were in other respects his inferiors,--
those, for instance, of Epernon, Luynes, Balagny, d'O, Zamet, regarded
as parvenus, but living, nevertheless, as princes. It was therefore an
imposing spectacle for poor Etienne to see the assemblage of retainers
of all kinds attached to the service of his father.
The duke seated himself on a chair of state placed under a "solium,"
or dais of carved word, above a platform raised by several steps, from
which, in certain provinces, the great seigneurs still delivered
judgment on their vassals,--a vestige of feudality which disappeared
under the reign of Richelieu. These thrones, like the warden's benches
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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 Russia in 1919 by Arthur Ransome: place and ready for a general tea-drinking. This
performance was repeated again and again throughout the
night. People dozed off to sleep, woke up, drank more
tea, and joined in the various conversations that went on
in different parts of the carriage. Up aloft, I
listened first to one and then to another. Some were
grumbling at the price of food. Others were puzzling why
other nations insisted on being at war with them. One man
said he was a co-operator who had come by roundabout
ways from Archangel, and describing the discontent there,
told a story which I give as an illustration of the sort of thing
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