| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from New Arabian Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson: Suicide Club. The President was a man of fifty or upwards; large
and rambling in his gait, with shaggy side whiskers, a bald top to
his head, and a veiled grey eye, which now and then emitted a
twinkle. His mouth, which embraced a large cigar, he kept
continually screwing round and round and from side to side, as he
looked sagaciously and coldly at the strangers. He was dressed in
light tweeds, with his neck very open in a striped shirt collar;
and carried a minute book under one arm.
"Good evening," said he, after he had closed the door behind him.
"I am told you wish to speak with me."
"We have a desire, sir, to join the Suicide Club," replied 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 Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: or governor of Dover Castle, which he surrendered to William the
Conqueror, after the battle in Sussex, and Pain Peverell, his
youngest, who was lord of Cambridge. When the eldest son delivered
up the castle, the lady, his mother, above named, who was the
celebrated beauty of the age, was it seems there, and the Conqueror
fell in love with her, and whether by force or by consent, took her
away, and she became his mistress, or what else you please to call
it. By her he had a son, who was called William, after the
Conqueror's Christian name, but retained the name of Peverell, and
was afterwards created by the Conqueror lord of Nottingham.
This lady afterwards, as is supposed, by way of penance for her
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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 Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: venture to remonstrate with his pearl of a Wilhelmine. His was the
most ingenious unintelligent tenderness in the world. A good man, but
a stupid one! 'What will become of them when I am gone?' he said, as
he lay dying; and when he was left alone for a moment with Wirth, his
old man-servant, he struggled for breath to bid him take care of his
mistress and her two daughters, as if the one reasonable being in the
house was this Alsacien Caleb Balderstone.
"Three years afterwards, in 1826, Isaure was twenty years old, and
Malvina still unmarried. Malvina had gone into society, and in course
of time discovered for herself how superficial their friendships were,
how accurately every one was weighed and appraised. Like most girls
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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 Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: respect.
"We, therefore, decree that within a limit of ten years this
injurious filth shall be completely swept away. We further order
the Council of State to consider means of prohibition both of
growing the poppy and smoking the opium."
The Council of State at once drew up regulations designed to
carry out this decree. They were among others:
That all opium-smokers be required to report and take out a
license.
Officials using the drug were divided into two classes. Young men
must be cured of the habit within six months, while for old men
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