| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: was thinking of his own self; he hankered after the meretricious
glory of a showy performance.
As, rounding a dark, wooded point, bathed in fresh air and
sunshine, we opened to view a crowd of shipping at anchor lying
half a mile ahead of us perhaps, he called me aft from my station
on the forecastle head, and, turning over and over his binoculars
in his brown hands, said: "Do you see that big, heavy ship with
white lower masts? I am going to take up a berth between her and
the shore. Now do you see to it that the men jump smartly at the
first order."
I answered, "Ay, ay, sir," and verily believed that this would be a
The Mirror of the Sea |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Alcibiades II by Platonic Imitator: the Lacedaemonians by reason of our much worship. The idea is
inconceivable that the Gods have regard, not to the justice and purity of
our souls, but to costly processions and sacrifices, which men may
celebrate year after year, although they have committed innumerable crimes
against the Gods or against their fellow-men or the state. For the Gods,
as Ammon and his prophet declare, are no receivers of gifts, and they scorn
such unworthy service. Wherefore also it would seem that wisdom and
justice are especially honoured both by the Gods and by men of sense; and
they are the wisest and most just who know how to speak and act towards
Gods and men. But I should like to hear what your opinion is about these
matters.
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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 The Complete Angler by Izaak Walton: you know our angles are like money put to usury; they may thrive,
though we sit still, and do nothing but talk and enjoy one another.
Come, come, the other fish, good master.
Piscator. But, scholar, have you nothing to mix with this discourse,
which now grows both tedious and tiresome ? Shall I have nothing from
you, that seem to have both a good memory and a cheerful spirit?
Venator. Yes, master, I will speak you a copy of verses that were made
by Doctor Donne, and made to shew the world that he could make soft
and smooth verses, when he thought smoothness worth his labour: and I
love them the better, because they allude to Rivers, and Fish and
Fishing. They be these:
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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 On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: varying thickness, crossing the successive geological formations in which
the species are found, the line will sometimes falsely appear to begin at
its lower end, not in a sharp point, but abruptly; it then gradually
thickens upwards, sometimes keeping for a space of equal thickness, and
ultimately thins out in the upper beds, marking the decrease and final
extinction of the species. This gradual increase in number of the species
of a group is strictly conformable with my theory; as the species of the
same genus, and the genera of the same family, can increase only slowly and
progressively; for the process of modification and the production of a
number of allied forms must be slow and gradual,--one species giving rise
first to two or three varieties, these being slowly converted into species,
On the Origin of Species |
