| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Robert Louis Stevenson: part of what he suffered, for he was never given to complaint. But
indeed he had met this ugly trifle, as he met every thwart
circumstance of life, with a certain pleasure of pugnacity; and
suffered it not to check him, whether in the exercise of his
profession or the pursuit of amusement.
I.
'Birkenhead: April 18, 1858.
'Well, you should know, Mr. - having a contract to lay down a
submarine telegraph from Sardinia to Africa failed three times in
the attempt. The distance from land to land is about 140 miles.
On the first occasion, after proceeding some 70 miles, he had to
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) by Dante Alighieri: I therefore por'd upon the view. As one
Who vers'd in geometric lore, would fain
Measure the circle; and, though pondering long
And deeply, that beginning, which he needs,
Finds not; e'en such was I, intent to scan
The novel wonder, and trace out the form,
How to the circle fitted, and therein
How plac'd: but the flight was not for my wing;
Had not a flash darted athwart my mind,
And in the spleen unfolded what it sought.
Here vigour fail'd the tow'ring fantasy:
The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: The coolies are frequently possessed of physiques which would have
delighted Michael Angelo; and as for the phenomenal corpulency of
the wrestlers, it would have made of the place a very paradise for
Rubens. In regard to the doctors,--for to call them surgeons would
be to give a name to what does not exist,--a lack of scientific zeal
has been the cause of their not investigating what tempts too
seductively, we should imagine, to be ignored. Acupuncture, or the
practice of sticking long pins into any part of the patient's body
that may happen to be paining him, pretty much irrespective of
anatomical position, is the nearest approach to surgery of which
they are guilty, and proclaims of itself the in corpore vili
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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 The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: numberless threads, by which the various offerings, such as
cigars, bread, meat, pieces of cloth, etc., had been suspended.
Poor Indians, not having anything better, only pull a thread
out of their ponchos, and fasten it to the tree. Richer
Indians are accustomed to pour spirits and mate into a certain
hole, and likewise to smoke upwards, thinking thus to
afford all possible gratification to Walleechu. To complete
the scene, the tree was surrounded by the bleached bones
of horses which had been slaughtered as sacrifices. All
Indians of every age and sex make their offerings; they then
think that their horses will not tire, and that they themselves
The Voyage of the Beagle |
