| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: In the midst of her happiness, she was still the simple child who had
lived in obscurity in the Rue Saint-Denis, and who never thought of
acquiring the manners, the information, the tone of the world she had
to live in. Her words being the words of love, she revealed in them,
no doubt, a certain pliancy of mind and a certain refinement of
speech; but she used the language common to all women when they find
themselves plunged in passion, which seems to be their element. When,
by chance, Augustine expressed an idea that did not harmonize with
Theodore's, the young artist laughed, as we laugh at the first
mistakes of a foreigner, though they end by annoying us if they are
not corrected.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: balloon is burnt to ashes. Still, reluctant as I am to acknowledge it,
I confess that I feel our sole hope of safety rests in our getting free
from this comet."
"If the chances were ten thousand to one against us,"
said Servadac, "I think the attempt ought to be made."
"But have we hydrogen enough to inflate a balloon?" asked the count.
"Hot air will be all that we shall require," the lieutenant answered;
"we are only contemplating about an hour's journey."
"Ah, a fire-balloon! A montgolfier!" cried Servadac. "But what are you
going to do for a casing?"
"I have thought of that. We must cut it out of the sails of the _Dobryna_;
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