| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Essays of Francis Bacon by Francis Bacon: wart Hellespont. There be a thousand such like
examples; and the more they are, the less they
need to be repeated; because a man meeteth with
them everywhere. Therefore let all wise governors
have as great a watch and care over fames, as they
have of the actions and designs themselves.
[This essay was not finished]
A Glossary
OF ARCHAIC WORDS
AND PHRASES
Abridgment: miniature
Essays of Francis Bacon |
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 Faraday as a Discoverer by John Tyndall: it as the expression of natural law.
Volta himself knew nothing of the chemical phenomena of the pile;
but as soon as these became known, suggestions and intimations
appeared that chemical action, and not metallic contact, might be
the real source of voltaic electricity. This idea was expressed by
Fabroni in Italy, and by Wollaston in England. It was developed and
maintained by those 'admirable electricians,' Becquerel, of Paris,
and De la Rive, of Geneva. The Contact Theory, on the other hand,
received its chief development and illustration in Germany.
It was long the scientific creed of the great chemists and natural
philosophers of that country, and to the present hour there may be
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