| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Protagoras by Plato: gentlemen and men of education, you will see no flute-girls, nor dancing-
girls, nor harp-girls; and they have no nonsense or games, but are
contented with one another's conversation, of which their own voices are
the medium, and which they carry on by turns and in an orderly manner, even
though they are very liberal in their potations. And a company like this
of ours, and men such as we profess to be, do not require the help of
another's voice, or of the poets whom you cannot interrogate about the
meaning of what they are saying; people who cite them declaring, some that
the poet has one meaning, and others that he has another, and the point
which is in dispute can never be decided. This sort of entertainment they
decline, and prefer to talk with one another, and put one another to the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from La Grenadiere by Honore de Balzac: last.
Louis had worked at night, unknown to his mother, and made immense
progress between June and September. In algebra he had come as far as
equations with two unknown quantities; he had studied descriptive
geometry, and drew admirably well; in fact, he was prepared to pass
the entrance examination of the Ecole polytechnique.
Sometimes of an evening he went down to the bridge of Tours. There was
a lieutenant there on half-pay, an Imperial naval officer, whose manly
face, medal, and gait had made an impression on the boy's imagination,
and the officer on his side had taken a liking to the lad, whose eyes
sparkled with energy. Louis, hungering for tales of adventure, and
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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 Blix by Frank Norris: its own circle of thoughts and words and actions; and yet the
solitude was profound, the desolation complete. the stillness
unbroken by a single echo.
The night--the last night of the old year--was fine; the white,
clear light from a moon they could not see grew wide and clear
over the city, as the last gleam of the sunset faded. It was just
warm enough for the window to be open, and for nearly three hours
Condy and Blix sat looking down upon the city in these last
moments of the passing year, feeling upon their faces an
occasional touch of the breeze, that carried with it the smell of
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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 At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: superfluous witness of the scene. This personage was, of all the
Colonels in the army, the youngest, the most fashionable, and the
finest man. His face, full of life and youth, but already expressive,
was further enhanced by a small moustache twirled up into points, and
as black as jet, by a full imperial, by whiskers carefully combed, and
a forest of black hair in some disorder. He was whisking a riding whip
with an air of ease and freedom which suited his self-satisfied
expression and the elegance of his dress; the ribbons attached to his
button-hole were carelessly tied, and he seemed to pride himself much
more on his smart appearance than on his courage. Augustine looked at
the Duchesse de Carigliano, and indicated the Colonel by a sidelong
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