| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Illustrious Gaudissart by Honore de Balzac: must listen to him with great attention. Put away your mathematics and
talk to him."
On hearing these words the lunatic rose, looked at Gaudissart, made
him a sign to sit down, and said, "Let us converse, Monsieur."
The two women went into Madame Margaritis' bedroom, leaving the door
open so as to hear the conversation, and interpose if it became
necessary. They were hardly installed before Monsieur Vernier crept
softly up through the field and, opening a window, got into the
bedroom without noise.
"Monsieur has doubtless been in business--?" began Gaudissart.
"Public business," answered Margaritis, interrupting him. "I
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Phaedrus by Plato: transformed into the other, or how soon the noble but fleeting aspiration
may return into the nature of the animal, while the lower instinct which is
latent always remains. The intermediate sentimentalism, which has
exercised so great an influence on the literature of modern Europe, had no
place in the classical times of Hellas; the higher love, of which Plato
speaks, is the subject, not of poetry or fiction, but of philosophy.
Secondly, there seems to be indicated a natural yearning of the human mind
that the great ideas of justice, temperance, wisdom, should be expressed in
some form of visible beauty, like the absolute purity and goodness which
Christian art has sought to realize in the person of the Madonna. But
although human nature has often attempted to represent outwardly what can
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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 Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: from George Sumner, which I thought might interest you: "My dear
Mrs. Bancroft: I hasten to congratulate you upon an event most
honorable to Mr. Bancroft and to our country. The highest honor
which can be bestowed in France upon a foreigner has just been
conferred on him. He was chosen this afternoon a Corresponding
Member of the Institute. Five names were presented for the vacant
chair of History. Every vote but one was in favor of Mr. Bancroft
(that one for Mr. Grote of London, author of the 'History of
Greece'). A gratifying fact in regard to this election is that it
comes without the knowledge of Mr. Bancroft, and without any of
those preliminary visits on his part, and those appeals to
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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 Shadow out of Time by H. P. Lovecraft: from a large asteroid on which had survived much of the archaic
life and lore of the primal planet whereof it formed a fragment.
At the same time I recalled that this level of the archives was
devoted to volumes dealing with the non-terrestrial planets.
As
I ceased poring over this incredible document I saw that the light
of my torch was beginning to fail, hence quickly inserted the
extra battery I always had with me. Then, armed with the stronger
radiance, I resumed my feverish racing through unending tangles
of aisles and corridors - recognising now and then some familiar
shelf, and vaguely annoyed by the acoustic conditions which made
Shadow out of Time |
