| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe: the hypochondriac, might find relief (for the history of mental
disorder is full of similar anomalies) even in the extremeness of
the folly which I should read. Could I have judged, indeed, by
the wild overstrained air of vivacity with which he
hearkened, or apparently hearkened, to the words of the tale, I
might well have congratulated myself upon the success of my
design.
I had arrived at that well-known portion of the story where
Ethelred, the hero of the Trist, having sought in vain for
peaceable admission into the dwelling of the hermit, proceeds to
make good an entrance by force. Here, it will be remembered, the
The Fall of the House of Usher |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Louis Lambert by Honore de Balzac: VI
The Will acts through organs commonly called the five senses,
which, in fact, are but one--the faculty of Sight. Feeling and
tasting, hearing and smelling, are Sight modified to the
transformations of the Substance which Man can absorb in two
conditions: untransformed and transformed.
VII
Everything of which the form comes within the cognizance of the
one sense of Sight may be reduced to certain simple bodies of
which the elements exist in the air, the light, or in the elements
of air and light. Sound is a condition of the air; colors are all
Louis Lambert |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: this unlooked-for dereliction of duty had its cause in domestic
trouble. Since the year 1875, the year in which Peace came to
Darnall, the domestic peace of Mr. Dyson had been rudely
disturbed by this same ugly little picture-framer who lived a few
doors away from the Dysons' house. Peace had got to know the
Dysons, first as a tradesman, then as a friend. To what degree
of intimacy he attained with Mrs. Dyson it is difficult to
determine. In that lies the mystery of the case Mrs. Dyson is
described as an attractive woman, "buxom and blooming"; she was
dark-haired, and about twenty-five years of age. In an
interview with the Vicar of Darnall a few days before his
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
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 Dawn O'Hara, The Girl Who Laughed by Edna Ferber: paper, all quite rationally and calmly. But they must
first be sure. Max went to New York a week ago. Peter
was gone. The hospital authorities were frightened and
apologetic. Peter had walked away quite coolly one day.
He had gone into the city, borrowed money of some old
newspaper cronies, and vanished. He may be there still.
He may be--"
"Here! Ernst! Take me home! O God; I can't do it!
I can't! I ought to be happy, but I'm not. I ought to
be thankful, but I'm not, I'm not! The horror of having
him there was great enough, but it was nothing compared
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