| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: The geological structure of these islands is in mos
respects simple. The lower country consists of clay-slat
and sandstone, containing fossils, very closely related to, bu
not identical with, those found in the Silurian formation
of Europe; the hills are formed of white granular quart
rock. The strata of the latter are frequently arched wit
perfect symmetry, and the appearance of some of the masse
is in consequence most singular. Pernety [8] has devote
several pages to the description of a Hill of Ruins, th
successive strata of which he has justly compared to th
seats of an amphitheatre. The quartz rock must have bee
 The Voyage of the Beagle |
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 Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: heart of the family, and of which we shall presently make mention,
came as the precursor of renewed trials.
In January, 1826, on the day when Havre had unanimously chosen Charles
Mignon as its deputy, three letters, arriving from New York, Paris,
and London, fell with the destruction of a hammer upon the crystal
palace of his prosperity. In an instant ruin like a vulture swooped
down upon their happiness, just as the cold fell in 1812 upon the
grand army in Russia. One night sufficed Charles Mignon to decide upon
his course, and he spent it in settling his accounts with Dumay. All
he owned, not excepting his furniture, would just suffice to pay his
creditors.
 Modeste Mignon |