| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Criminal Sociology by Enrico Ferri: unadaptable, and dangerous to society. But I hold that, if we
would draw from the death penalty the only positive utility
which it possesses, namely, artificial selection, then we must
have courage enough to apply it resolutely in all cases where it
is necessary from this point of view, that is to say, to all born
criminals, who are the authors of the most serious crimes of
violence. In Italy, for example, it would be necessary to execute
at least one thousand persons every year, and in France nearly two
hundred and fifty, in place of the annual seven or eight.
Otherwise the death penalty must be considered as an unserviceable
and neglected means of terror, merely to be printed in the codes;
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Glinda of Oz by L. Frank Baum: disposition, was accustomed to abide by any decision
she had made and could not easily be turned from her
purpose. Moreover she could see no great danger to the
fairy Ruler of Oz in the undertaking, even though the
unknown people she was to visit proved obstinate. But
Dorothy was not a fairy; she was a little girl who had
come from Kansas to live in the Land of Oz. Dorothy
might encounter dangers that to Ozma would be as
nothing but to an "Earth child" would be very serious.
The very fact that Dorothy lived in Oz, and had been
made a Princess by her friend Ozma, prevented her from
Glinda of Oz |
