| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Pathology of Lying, Etc. by William and Mary Healy: anemic, but later color was very good. Temperature was taken
regularly, but no significant observations made. Petite, pretty
features, and unusually beautiful eyes. Complaint of frontal
dull headaches, soreness of scalp, cold hands and pain ``about
the heart.'' Menstruated at 15 years, then much irregularity for
two years. Several badly carious teeth and great crowding in a
narrow upper dental arch.
This girl was several times observed during a period of about 5
years. She developed into an unusually attractive young woman,
showing at times various mild nervous disturbances as well as
character difficulties. Only occasionally has she worn the
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson: "But come," quoth the Earl's daughter, "this is a very strange
thing, that you would have me wed for a shoe of a horse, and it
rusty."
"In my thought," quoth the man, "one thing is as good - "
"Oh, spare me that," said the Earl's daughter, "and tell me why I
should marry."
"Listen and look," said the man.
Now the wind blew through the Poor Thing like an infant crying, so
that her heart was melted; and her eyes were unsealed, and she was
aware of the thing as it were a babe unmothered, and she took it to
her arms, and it melted in her arms like the air.
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Ursula by Honore de Balzac: town house.
In opposition to this very insignificant Faubourg St. Germain was a
group of a dozen rich families, those of retired millers, or former
merchants; in short a miniature bourgeoisie; below which, again, lived
and moved the retail shopkeepers, the proletaries and the peasantry.
The bourgeoisie presented (like that of the Swiss cantons and of other
small countries) the curious spectacle of the ramifications of certain
autochthonous families, old-fashioned and unpolished perhaps, but who
rule a whole region and pervade it, until nearly all its inhabitants
are cousins. Under Louis XI., an epoch at which the commons first made
real names of their surnames (some of which are united with those of
|
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 Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas: "Monsieur d'Artagnan," said the cardinal, on perceiving him,
"I have not forgotten with what zeal you have served me. I
am going to prove to you that I have not."
"Good," thought the Gascon, "this is a promising beginning."
"Monsieur d'Artagnan," he resumed, "do you wish to become a
captain?"
"Yes, my lord."
"And your friend still longs to be made a baron?"
"At this very moment, my lord, he no doubt dreams that he is
one already."
"Then," said Mazarin, taking from his portfolio the letter
Twenty Years After |
