| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Timaeus by Plato: child and also a man--a child in the range of his attainments, but also a
great intelligence having an insight into nature, and often anticipations
of the truth. He was full of original thoughts, and yet liable to be
imposed upon by the most obvious fallacies. He occasionally confused
numbers with ideas, and atoms with numbers; his a priori notions were out
of all proportion to his experience. He was ready to explain the phenomena
of the heavens by the most trivial analogies of earth. The experiments
which nature worked for him he sometimes accepted, but he never tried
experiments for himself which would either prove or disprove his theories.
His knowledge was unequal; while in some branches, such as medicine and
astronomy, he had made considerable proficiency, there were others, such as
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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 Ballads by Robert Louis Stevenson: adornment of the Marquesans, as the hair of women formed
their most costly girdle. The former, among this generally
beardless and short-lived people, fetch to-day considerable
sums.
Note 3, "TIKIS." The tiki is an ugly image hewn out of wood
or stone.
Note 4, "THE ONE-STRINGED HARP." Usually employed for
serenades.
Note 5, "THE SACRED CABIN OF PALM." Which, however, no woman
could approach. I do not know where women were tattooed;
probably in the common house, or in the bush, for a woman was
Ballads |
