| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: body,carried it down on to the floor below, and arranged it
in the manner agreed upon for deceiving the insurance company.
Pitezel, he said, had taken his life by lying on the floor and
allowing chloroform to run slowly into his mouth through a rubber
tube placed on a chair. The three children, Holmes now stated,
had gone to England with a friend of his, Miss Minnie Williams.
Miss Minnie Williams was the lady, from whom Holmes was said to
have acquired the property in Texas which he and Pitezel had set
about developing. There was quite a tragedy, according to
Holmes, connected with the life of Miss Williams. She had come
to Holmes in 1893, as secretary, at a drug store which he was
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Disputation of the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences by Dr. Martin Luther: 10. Indocte et male faciunt sacerdotes ii, qui morituris
penitentias canonicas in purgatorium reservant.
11. Zizania illa de mutanda pena Canonica in penam purgatorii
videntur certe dormientibus episcopis seminata.
12. Olim pene canonice non post, sed ante absolutionem
imponebantur tanquam tentamenta vere contritionis.
13. Morituri per mortem omnia solvunt et legibus canonum mortui
iam sunt, habentes iure earum relaxationem.
14. Imperfecta sanitas seu charitas morituri necessario secum fert
magnum timorem, tantoque maiorem, quanto minor fuerit ipsa.
15. Hic timor et horror satis est se solo (ut alia taceam) facere
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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 Tales and Fantasies by Robert Louis Stevenson: and through you.'
Van Tromp began to understand.
'You speak a great deal about being a father, Mr. Naseby,'
said he; 'I believe you forget that the appellation is common
to both of us. I am at a loss to figure to myself, however
dimly, how any man - I have not said any gentleman - could so
brazenly insult another as you have been insulting me since
you entered this house. For the first time I appreciate your
base insinuations, and I despise them and you. You were, I
am told, a manufacturer; I am an artist; I have seen better
days; I have moved in societies where you would not be
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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 Menexenus by Plato: king, Cyrus, by his valour freed the Persians, who were his countrymen, and
subjected the Medes, who were their lords, and he ruled over the rest of
Asia, as far as Egypt; and after him came his son, who ruled all the
accessible part of Egypt and Libya; the third king was Darius, who extended
the land boundaries of the empire to Scythia, and with his fleet held the
sea and the islands. None presumed to be his equal; the minds of all men
were enthralled by him--so many and mighty and warlike nations had the
power of Persia subdued. Now Darius had a quarrel against us and the
Eretrians, because, as he said, we had conspired against Sardis, and he
sent 500,000 men in transports and vessels of war, and 300 ships, and Datis
as commander, telling him to bring the Eretrians and Athenians to the king,
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