| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Pool in the Desert by Sara Jeanette Duncan: The lines on his face relaxed; he looked at her with fond
recognition of another delightful thing in her.
'You give sugar-cane to your horses,' she declared; 'why shouldn't I
give tobacco to mine? Goodbye; I hope Mrs. Innes will like "Two
Gables". There are roses waiting for her in the garden, at all
events.'
'Are there?' he said. 'I didn't notice. Goodbye, then.'
He went on to his office thinking of the roses, and that they were
in his garden, and that Madeline had seen them there. He thought
that if they were good roses--in fact, any kind of roses--they
should be taken care of, and he asked a Deputy Assistant Inspector-
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Common Sense by Thomas Paine: of the argument, and inquire into some of the many material injuries
which these colonies sustain, and always will sustain,
by being connected with, and dependent on Great Britain:
To examine that connection and dependence, on the principles
of nature and common sense, to see what we have to trust to,
if separated, and what we are to expect, if dependant.
I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath
flourished under her former connection with Great Britain
that the same connection is necessary towards her future
happiness, and will always have the same effect.
Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument.
Common Sense |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Heroes by Charles Kingsley: neck and welcome him; but he controlled himself, and said,
'My father may not wish for me, after all. I will try him
before I discover myself;' and he bowed low before AEgeus,
and said, 'I have delivered the king's realm from many
monsters; therefore I am come to ask a reward of the king.'
And old AEgeus looked on him, and loved him, as what fond
heart would not have done? But he only sighed, and said -
'It is little that I can give you, noble lad, and nothing
that is worthy of you; for surely you are no mortal man, or
at least no mortal's son.'
'All I ask,' said Theseus, 'is to eat and drink at your
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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 Timaeus by Plato: between two square numbers are rather perhaps only between the two lowest
squares; and of two mean proportionals between two cubes, perhaps again
confining his attention to the two lowest cubes, he finds in the latter
symbol an expression of the relation of the elements, as in the former an
image of the combination of two surfaces. Between fire and earth, the two
extremes, he remarks that there are introduced, not one, but two elements,
air and water, which are compared to the two mean proportionals between two
cube numbers. The vagueness of his language does not allow us to determine
whether anything more than this was intended by him.
Leaving the further explanation of details, which the reader will find
discussed at length in Boeckh and Martin, we may now return to the main
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