| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: by evident ignorance of something which as a yellow man I should
have known; but before we reached the city gate I was to learn
the purpose of that grim shaft and the meaning of the mighty
accumulation beneath it.
We had come almost to the gate when one of the party called to
his fellows, at the same time pointing toward the distant
southern horizon. Following the direction he indicated, my eyes
descried the hull of a large flier approaching rapidly from above
the crest of the encircling hills.
The Warlord of Mars |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Z. Marcas by Honore de Balzac: must be a very serious matter. I should kill myself if I allowed
myself to be duped; for I should be to blame, not you."
Then we heard the humblest entreaties, the most fervent adjuration,
not to deprive the country of such superior talents. The man spoke of
patriotism, and Marcas uttered a significant "/Ouh! ouh!/" He laughed
at his would-be patron. Then the statesman was more explicit; he bowed
to the superiority of his erewhile counselor; he pledged himself to
enable Marcas to remain in office, to be elected deputy; then he
offered him a high appointment, promising him that he, the speaker,
would thenceforth be the subordinate of a man whose subaltern he was
only worthy to be. He was in the newly-formed ministry, and he would
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