| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: that we have experienced."
"Nonsense!" exclaimed the captain; "I know better than that, and so do you.
Is it not as clear as daylight that the earth and this comet have been
in collision, and the result has been that our little world has been split
off and sent flying far into space?"
Count Timascheff and the lieutenant looked at each other in silence.
"I do not deny your theory," said Procope after a while.
"If it be correct, I suppose we must conclude that the enormous disc
we observed on the night of the catastrophe was the comet itself;
and the velocity with which it was traveling must have been
so great that it was hardly arrested at all by the attraction
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Bucolics by Virgil: First Corydon, then Thyrsis in reply.
CORYDON
"Libethrian Nymphs, who are my heart's delight,
Grant me, as doth my Codrus, so to sing-
Next to Apollo he- or if to this
We may not all attain, my tuneful pipe
Here on this sacred pine shall silent hang."
THYRSIS
"Arcadian shepherds, wreathe with ivy-spray
Your budding poet, so that Codrus burst
With envy: if he praise beyond my due,
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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 Recruit by Honore de Balzac: aspect of Madame de Dey.
"Ah! monsieur," she said, leaning on Brigitte's husband, who had
entered the room, and feeling to its fullest extent an agony the fear
of which had already nearly killed her. "Monsieur, I cannot stay with
you longer. Allow my people to attend upon you."
She returned to her own room, half carried by Brigitte and her old
servant.
"Oh! madame," said Brigitte, as she undressed her mistress, "must that
man sleep in Monsieur Auguste's bed, and put on Monsieur Auguste's
slippers, and eat the pate I made for Monsieur Auguste? They may
guillotine me if I--"
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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 Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: to no one but Prince Albert, with a word or two to the Duke of
Norfolk, who was on her right, and is the first peer of the realm.
The dinner was rather quickly despatched, and when the Queen rose we
followed her back into the corridor. She walked to the fire and
stood some minutes, and then advanced to me and enquired about Mr.
Bancroft, his visit to Paris, if he had been there before, etc. I
expressed, of course, the regret he would feel at losing the honor
of dining with Her Majesty, etc. She then had a talk with Lady
Palmerston, who stood by my side, then with all the other ladies in
succession, until at last Prince Albert came out, soon followed by
the other gentlemen. The Prince then spoke to all the ladies, as
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