| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: composed, are also indicated,--the Judaizing disposition of
"Matthew," the Pauline sympathies of "Luke," the compromising or
Petrine tendencies of "Mark," and the advanced Hellenic character
of "John." Those best acquainted with the results of modern
criticism in Germany will perhaps be most surprised at finding
such speculations in a book written many years before either
Strauss or Baur were born.
But such results, as might have been expected, did not satisfy
the pastor Goetze or the public which sympathized with him. The
valiant pastor unhesitatingly declared that he read the
objections which Lessing opposed to the Fragmentist with more
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: in a most significant manner, apparently in order to judge
with more exactness from what point the sound proceeds.
But I have seen a dog greatly surprised at a new noise, turning,
his head to one side through habit, though he clearly perceived
the source of the noise. Dogs, as formerly remarked, when their
attention is in any way aroused, whilst watching some object,
or attending to some sound, often lift up one paw (fig. 4)
and keep it doubled up, as if to make a slow and stealthy approach.
A dog under extreme terror will throw himself down, howl, and void
his excretions; but the hair, I believe, does not become erect
unless some anger is felt. I have seen a dog much terrified
Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Koran: And his mate shall say, 'This is what is ready for me (to attest).
'Throw into hell every stubborn misbeliever!-who forbids good, a
transgressor, a doubter! who sets other gods with God-and throw him,
ye twain, into fierce torment!'
His mate shall say, 'Our Lord! I seduced him not, but he was in a
remote error.'
He shall say, 'Wrangle not before me; for I sent the threat to you
before. The sentence is not changed with me, nor am I unjust to my
servants.'
On the day we will say to hell, 'Art thou full? and it will say,
'Are there any more?'
The Koran |
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 Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: with a pyremide [conical roof], and a row of ballesters round it
raised from the top of the staircase, into which they have mounted a
fyne clock. There be four lanes which pass from the principall
street; one is called the Black Vennel, which is steep, declining to
the south-west, and leads to a lower street, which is far larger than
the high chiefe street, and it runs from the Kirkland to the Well
Trees, in which there have been many pretty buildings, belonging to
the severall gentry of the countrey, who were wont to resort thither
in winter, and divert themselves in converse together at their owne
houses. It was once the principall street of the town; but many of
these houses of the gentry having been decayed and ruined, it has
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