| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: modifications of structure, by which the innumerable beings on the face of
this earth are enabled to struggle with each other, and the best adapted to
survive.
Chapter VI
Difficulties on Theory
Difficulties on the theory of descent with modification -- Transitions --
Absence or rarity of transitional varieties -- Transitions in habits of
life -- Diversified habits in the same species -- Species with habits
widely different from those of their allies -- Organs of extreme perfection
-- Means of transition -- Cases of difficulty -- Natura non facit saltum --
Organs of small importance -- Organs not in all cases absolutely perfect --
On the Origin of Species |
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 Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: avenue of trees, which mingle their foliage with that of the young
elms on the sidewalk of the boulevard. But for the blue-and-gold dome
of the Invalides and its gray stone mass, you might be in a wood.
The style of decoration in these rooms, together with their situation,
indicates that they were the old show suite of the duchesses, while
the dukes must have had theirs in the wing opposite. The two suites
are decorously separated by the two main blocks, as well as by the
central one, which contained those vast, gloomy, resounding halls
shown me by Philippe, all despoiled of their splendor, as in the days
of my childhood.
Philippe grew quite confidential when he saw the surprise depicted on
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