| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Laches by Plato: he will go on to learn the complete art of the general. There is no
difficulty in seeing that the knowledge and practice of other military arts
will be honourable and valuable to a man; and this lesson may be the
beginning of them. Let me add a further advantage, which is by no means a
slight one,--that this science will make any man a great deal more valiant
and self-possessed in the field. And I will not disdain to mention, what
by some may be thought to be a small matter;--he will make a better
appearance at the right time; that is to say, at the time when his
appearance will strike terror into his enemies. My opinion then,
Lysimachus, is, as I say, that the youths should be instructed in this art,
and for the reasons which I have given. But Laches may take a different
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An International Episode by Henry James: to get the young ladies to attend to him now."
There was something very friendly, Beaumont perceived,
in the attitude of the company; they looked at the young Englishmen
with an air of animated sympathy and interest; they smiled,
brightly and unanimously, at everything either of the visitors said.
Lord Lambeth and his companion felt that they were being made
very welcome. Mrs. Westgate seated herself between them, and,
talking a great deal to each, they had occasion to observe
that she was as pretty as their friend Littledale had promised.
She was thirty years old, with the eyes and the smile of a girl
of seventeen, and she was extremely light and graceful,
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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 Soul of Man by Oscar Wilde: which, bad and well-meaning as it is when it tries to control
action, is infamous and of evil meaning when it tries to control
Thought or Art.
Indeed, there is much more to be said in favour of the physical
force of the public than there is in favour of the public's
opinion. The former may be fine. The latter must be foolish. It
is often said that force is no argument. That, however, entirely
depends on what one wants to prove. Many of the most important
problems of the last few centuries, such as the continuance of
personal government in England, or of feudalism in France, have
been solved entirely by means of physical force. The very violence
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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 Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: ourselves some day rolling along on a railway!"
They then set to work, beginning with the most difficult thing, for, if
they failed in that, it would be useless to manufacture the battery and
other accessories.
The iron of Lincoln Island, as has been said, was of excellent quality,
and consequently very fit for being drawn out. Harding commenced by
manufacturing a drawplate, that is to say, a plate of steel, pierced with
conical holes of different sizes, which would successively bring the wire
to the wished-for tenacity. This piece of steel, after having been
tempered, was fixed in as firm a way as possible in a solid framework
planted in the ground, only a few feet from the great fall, the motive
The Mysterious Island |
