| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: The abbot of Doubleflask swore there was no money in his valise,
and Little John forthwith emptied it of four hundred pounds.
Thus was the abbot's perjury but of one minute's duration;
for though his speech was false in the utterance, yet was it no sooner
uttered than it became true, and we should have been participes
criminis to have suffered the holy abbot to depart in falsehood:
whereas he came to us a false priest, and we sent him away
a true man. Marry, we turned his cloak to further account,
and thereby hangs a tale that may be either said or sung;
for in truth I am minstrel here as well as chaplain;
I pray for good success to our just and necessary warfare,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Master of the World by Jules Verne: chief personages of Philadelphia, commonly called Uncle Prudent. Its
secretary was Mr. Phillip Evans. The members of the Institute were
devoted to the theory of the "lighter than air" machine; and under
their two leaders were constructing an enormous dirigible balloon,
the "Go-Ahead."
At a meeting in which they were discussing the details of the
construction of their balloon, this unknown Robur had suddenly
appeared and, ridiculing all their plans, had insisted that the only
true solution of flight lay with the heavier than air machines, and
that he had proven this by constructing one.
He was in this turn doubted and ridiculed by the members of the club,
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