| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Unconscious Comedians by Honore de Balzac: is going through his paces in the tribune. Being an honest man who
never lies on his own account, he whispered to me as he mounted the
breach: 'Heaven knows what I shall say to them.' A mad desire to laugh
overcame me, and as one mustn't laugh on the ministerial bench I
rushed out, for my youth does come back to me most unseasonably at
times."
"At last," cried Gazonal, "I've found an honest man in Paris! You must
be a very superior man," he added, looking at the stranger.
"Ah ca! who is this gentleman?" said the ci-devant young man,
examining Gazonal.
"My cousin," said Leon, hastily. "I'll answer for his silence and his
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: or of a fainting-fit, or of death, the pupils are drawn
upwards and inwards; and he believes that "when we are wrapt
in devotional feelings, and outward impressions are unheeded,
the eyes are raised by an action neither taught nor acquired."
and that this is due to the same cause as in the above
cases.[26] That the eyes are upturned during sleep is,
as I hear from Professor Donders, certain. With babies,
whilst sucking their mother's breast, this movement of the eyeballs
often gives to them an absurd appearance of ecstatic delight;
and here it may be clearly perceived that a struggle is going
on against the position naturally assumed during sleep.
 Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals |