| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Faraday as a Discoverer by John Tyndall: all, I think it will be conceded that Michael Faraday was the
greatest experimental philosopher the world has ever seen; and I
will add the opinion, that the progress of future research will
tend, not to dim or to diminish, but to enhance and glorify the
labours of this mighty investigator.
Chapter 16.
Illustrations of Character.
Thus far I have confined myself to topics mainly interesting to the
man of science, endeavouring, however, to treat them in a manner
unrepellent to the general reader who might wish to obtain a notion
of Faraday as a worker. On others will fall the duty of presenting
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: Just a Family of Failure,--they never even tried!
"They're jes', George, exactly what I'm not. Exactly. It isn't
suitable.... All this living in the Past.
"And I want a bigger place too, George. I want air and sunlight
and room to move about and more service. A house where you can
get a Move on things! Zzzz. Why! it's like a discord--it
jars--even to have the telephone.... There's nothing, nothing
except the terrace, that's worth a Rap. It's all dark and old
and dried up and full of old-fashioned things--musty old
idees--fitter for a silver-fish than a modern man.... I don't
know how I got here."
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett: "When we was young together his mother didn't favor the match, an'
done everything she could to part us; and folks thought we both
married well, but't wa'n't what either one of us wanted most; an'
now we're left alone again, an' might have had each other all the
time. He was above bein' a seafarin' man, an' prospered more
than most; he come of a high family, an' my lot was plain an' hard-
workin'. I ain't seen him for some years; he's forgot our youthful
feelin's, I expect, but a woman's heart is different; them feelin's
comes back when you think you've done with 'em, as sure as spring
comes with the year. An' I've always had ways of hearin' about
him."
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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 Bucolics by Virgil: Such wide confusion fills the country-side.
See, sick at heart I drive my she-goats on,
And this one, O my Tityrus, scarce can lead:
For 'mid the hazel-thicket here but now
She dropped her new-yeaned twins on the bare flint,
Hope of the flock- an ill, I mind me well,
Which many a time, but for my blinded sense,
The thunder-stricken oak foretold, oft too
From hollow trunk the raven's ominous cry.
But who this god of yours? Come, Tityrus, tell.
TITYRUS
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