| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: and changed in appearance very little, even when dead. This Greek worm,
filled with Hebrew lore, differed in many respects from any other I
have seen. He was longer, thinner, and more delicate looking than any
of his English congeners. He was transparent, like thin ivory, and had
a dark line through his body, which I took to be the intestinal canal.
He resigned his life with extreme procrastination, and died "deeply lamented"
by his keeper, who had long looked forward to his final development.
The difficulty of breeding these worms is probably due to their formation.
When in a state of nature they can by expansion and contraction of
the body working upon the sides of their holes, push their horny jaws
against the opposing mass of paper. But when freed from the restraint,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: last resource. Unfortunates, who ought to begin with God, do
not have any hope in him till they have exhausted all other
means of deliverance.
Dantes asked to be removed from his present dungeon into
another; for a change, however disadvantageous, was still a
change, and would afford him some amusement. He entreated to
be allowed to walk about, to have fresh air, books, and
writing materials. His requests were not granted, but he
went on asking all the same. He accustomed himself to
speaking to the new jailer, although the latter was, if
possible, more taciturn than the old one; but still, to
The Count of Monte Cristo |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Mayflower Compact: All of the original Project Gutenberg Etexts from the
1970's were produced in ALL CAPS, no lower case. The
computers we used then didn't have lower case at all.
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These original Project Gutenberg Etexts will be compiled into a
file
containing them all, in order to improve the content ratios of
Etext
to header material.
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#STARTMARK#
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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 The Battle of the Books by Jonathan Swift: concluded: why, if it be as you say, I may safely drink on, and
defy the parson. From which, and many the like instances easy to
be produced, I think nothing can be more manifest than that the
quarrel is not against any particular points of hard digestion in
the Christian system, but against religion in general, which, by
laying restraints on human nature, is supposed the great enemy to
the freedom of thought and action.
Upon the whole, if it shall still be thought for the benefit of
Church and State that Christianity be abolished, I conceive,
however, it may be more convenient to defer the execution to a time
of peace, and not venture in this conjuncture to disoblige our
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