| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Reason Discourse by Rene Descartes: at least, by compliments and useless speeches, in which he cannot spend
any portion of his time without loss to himself. And as for the
experiments that others have already made, even although these parties
should be willing of themselves to communicate them to him (which is what
those who esteem them secrets will never do), the experiments are, for the
most part, accompanied with so many circumstances and superfluous
elements, as to make it exceedingly difficult to disentangle the truth
from its adjuncts- besides, he will find almost all of them so ill
described, or even so false (because those who made them have wished to
see in them only such facts as they deemed conformable to their
principles), that, if in the entire number there should be some of a
Reason Discourse |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Hero of Our Time by M.Y. Lermontov: a girl of about sixteen, and chanted to Pechorin
-- how shall I put it? -- something in the nature
of a compliment." . . .
[1] A kind of two-stringed or three-stringed guitar.
"What was it she sang -- do you remember?"
"It went like this, I fancy: 'Handsome, they
say, are our young horsemen, and the tunics they
wear are garnished with silver; but handsomer still
is the young Russian officer, and the lace on his
tunic is wrought of gold. Like a poplar amongst
them he stands, but in gardens of ours such trees
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