| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: soul? If the soul could once survive its separation, what could it
afterwards receive or suffer from the body?"
"The Egyptians would doubtless think erroneously," said the
astronomer, "in the darkness of heathenism and the first dawn of
philosophy. The nature of the soul is still disputed amidst all
our opportunities of clearer knowledge; some yet say that it may be
material, who, nevertheless, believe it to be immortal."
"Some," answered Imlac, "have indeed said that the soul is
material, but I can scarcely believe that any man has thought it
who knew how to think; for all the conclusions of reason enforce
the immateriality of mind, and all the notices of sense and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King Henry VI by William Shakespeare: grammar school; and whereas, before, our forefathers had no other
books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to
be used, and, contrary to the king, his crown, and dignity, thou
hast built a paper-mill. It will be proved to thy face that thou
hast men about thee that usually talk of a noun and a verb, and
such abominable words as no Christian ear can endure to hear.
Thou hast appointed justices of peace, to call poor men before
them about matters they were not able to answer. Moreover, thou
hast put them in prison, and because they could not read, thou
hast hanged them; when, indeed, only for that cause they have
been most worthy to live. Thou dost ride in a foot-cloth, dost
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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 Sophist by Plato: 'becoming,' 'the finite,' 'the abstract,' in which the negative cannot be
separated from the positive, and 'Being' and 'Not-being' are inextricably
blended.
Plato restricts the conception of Not-being to difference. Man is a
rational animal, and is not--as many other things as are not included under
this definition. He is and is not, and is because he is not. Besides the
positive class to which he belongs, there are endless negative classes to
which he may be referred. This is certainly intelligible, but useless. To
refer a subject to a negative class is unmeaning, unless the 'not' is a
mere modification of the positive, as in the example of 'not honourable'
and 'dishonourable'; or unless the class is characterized by the absence
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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 An International Episode by Henry James: "It isn't a train--it's a boat."
"Oh, I see. And what is the name of--a-- the--a-- town?"
"It isn't a town," said Mr. Westgate, laughing. "It's a--well, what shall
I call it? It's a watering place. In short, it's Newport.
You'll see what it is. It's cool; that's the principal thing.
You will greatly oblige me by going down there and putting yourself
into the hands of Mrs. Westgate. It isn't perhaps for me to say it,
but you couldn't be in better hands. Also in those of her sister,
who is staying with her. She is very fond of Englishmen.
She thinks there is nothing like them."
"Mrs. Westgate or--a-- her sister?" asked Percy Beaumont modestly,
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