| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Summer by Edith Wharton: four.
But she had never perceived that any practical
advantage thereby accrued either to North Dormer or to
herself; and she had no scruple in decreeing, when it
suited her, that the library should close an hour
earlier. A few minutes after Mr. Harney's departure
she formed this decision, put away her lace, fastened
the shutters, and turned the key in the door of the
temple of knowledge.
The street upon which she emerged was still empty: and
after glancing up and down it she began to walk toward
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: and inferential particles in English, and by the nice sense of tautology
which characterizes all modern languages. We cannot have two 'buts' or two
'fors' in the same sentence where the Greek repeats (Greek). There is a
similar want of particles expressing the various gradations of objective
and subjective thought--(Greek) and the like, which are so thickly
scattered over the Greek page. Further, we can only realize to a very
imperfect degree the common distinction between (Greek), and the
combination of the two suggests a subtle shade of negation which cannot be
expressed in English. And while English is more dependent than Greek upon
the apposition of clauses and sentences, yet there is a difficulty in using
this form of construction owing to the want of case endings. For the same
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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 Plutarch's Lives by A. H. Clough: Pompey, having made use of and expended the greatest part of
his own private revenues upon the war, sent and demanded moneys
of the senate, adding, that in case they did not furnish him
speedily, he should be forced to return into Italy with his
army. Lucullus being consul at that time, though at variance
with Pompey, yet in consideration that he himself was a
candidate for the command against Mithridates, procured and
hastened these supplies, fearing lest there should be any
presence or occasion given to Pompey of returning home, who of
himself was no less desirous of leaving Sertorius, and of
undertaking the war against Mithridates, as an enterprise which
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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 Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: garden, stole the camel.
The Flying-Machine
AN Ingenious Man who had built a flying-machine invited a great
concourse of people to see it go up. At the appointed moment,
everything being ready, he boarded the car and turned on the power.
The machine immediately broke through the massive substructure upon
which it was builded, and sank out of sight into the earth, the
aeronaut springing out barely in time to save himself.
"Well," said he, "I have done enough to demonstrate the correctness
of my details. The defects," he added, with a look at the ruined
brick-work, "are merely basic and fundamental."
Fantastic Fables |
