| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Secret Places of the Heart by H. G. Wells: of any great excesses of enterprise.
The written portions of this book were already in a highly
polished state. They combined a limitless freedom of proposal
with a smooth urbanity of manner, a tacit denial that the
thoughts of one intelligent being could possibly be shocking
to another. Upon this the doctor was very insistent. Conduct,
he held, could never be sufficiently discreet, thought could
never be sufficiently free. As a citizen, one had to treat a
law or an institution as a thing as rigidly right as a
natural law. That the social well-being demands. But as a
scientific man, in one's stated thoughts and in public
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Distinguished Provincial at Paris by Honore de Balzac: "Queer customers!" said Merlin.
"Fulgence used to be a good fellow," added Lousteau, "before they
perverted his morals."
"Who are 'they'?" asked Claude Vignon.
"Some very serious young men," said Blondet, "who meet at a
philosophico-religious symposium in the Rue des Quatre-Vents, and
worry themselves about the meaning of human life----"
"Oh! oh!"
"They are trying to find out whether it goes round in a circle, or
makes some progress," continued Blondet. "They were very hard put to
it between the straight line and the curve; the triangle, warranted by
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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 An Old Maid by Honore de Balzac: "Then let her starve!" cried Mademoiselle Cormon; "provided I marry,"
she thought to herself.
Hearing these words, which seemed to her like homicide, Josette stood
still for a moment, speechless. Then, at a gesture from her mistress,
she ran headlong down the steps of the portico.
"The devil is in her, Jacquelin," were the first words she uttered.
Thus all things conspired on this fateful day to produce the great
scenic effect which decided the future life of Mademoiselle Cormon.
The town was already topsy-turvy in mind, as a consequence of the five
extraordinary circumstances which accompanied Mademoiselle Cormon's
return; to wit, the pouring rain; Penelope at a gallop, in a lather,
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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 Daisy Miller by Henry James: "How pretty they are!" thought Winterbourne, straightening himself
in his seat, as if he were prepared to rise.
The young lady paused in front of his bench, near the parapet of the garden,
which overlooked the lake. The little boy had now converted his alpenstock
into a vaulting pole, by the aid of which he was springing about in the gravel
and kicking it up not a little.
"Randolph," said the young lady, "what ARE you doing?"
"I'm going up the Alps," replied Randolph. "This is the way!"
And he gave another little jump, scattering the pebbles
about Winterbourne's ears.
"That's the way they come down," said Winterbourne.
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