| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Alexandria and her Schools by Charles Kingsley: generation has often nothing to show for its existence but one solitary
gem which some one man--often unnoticed in his time--has picked up for
them, and so given them "a local habitation and a name."
Eratosthenes had heard that in Syene, in Upper Egypt, deep wells were
enlightened to the bottom on the day of the summer solstice, and that
vertical objects cast no shadows.
He had before suggested, as is supposed, to Ptolemy Euergetes, to make
him the two great copper armillae, or circles for determining the
equinox, which stood for centuries in "that which is called the Square
Porch"--probably somewhere in the Museum. By these he had calculated
the obliquity of the ecliptic, closely enough to serve for a thousand
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: gentleman's gold watch and chain, a five-chambered revolver, a
keen-edged butcher's knife, and a mask.
Butler served his term of imprisonment in Victoria, "an
unmitigated nuisance" to his custodians. On his release in 1904,
he made, as in Dunedin, an attempt to earn a living by his pen.
He contributed some articles to a Melbourne evening paper on the
inconveniences of prison discipline, but he was quite unfitted
for any sustained effort as a journalist. According to his own
account, with the little money he had left he made his way to
Sydney, thence to Brisbane. He was half-starved, bewildered,
despairing; in his own words, "if a psychological camera could
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: gentlemen had just left the pump-room.
"And which way are they gone?" said Isabella,
turning hastily round. "One was a very good-looking
young man."
"They went towards the church-yard."
"Well, I am amazingly glad I have got rid of them!
And now, what say you to going to Edgar's Buildings
with me, and looking at my new hat? You said you should
like to see it."
Catherine readily agreed. "Only," she added,
"perhaps we may overtake the two young men."
Northanger Abbey |
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 Lin McLean by Owen Wister: "She's hard to beat, ain't she?" inquired Lin, admiringly, of me.
In my opinion she was. She had her wish, too about Texas; for we found
him waiting on the railroad platform, dressed in his best, to say
good-bye. The friendly things she told him left him shuffling and
repeating that it was a mistake to go, a big mistake; but when she said
the butter was not good enough, his laugh cracked joyously up into the
treble. The train's arrival brought quick sadness to her face, but she
made herself bright again with a special farewell for each acquaintance.
"Don't you ride any more cow-catchers," she warned Billy Lusk, "or I'll
have to come back and look after you."
"You said you and me were going for a ride, and we ain't," shouted the
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