| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: right angle of a wall, as high as the sixth story, if need be;
an art which has rendered so celebrated and so alarming that corner
of the wall of the Conciergerie of Paris by which Battemolle,
condemned to death, made his escape twenty years ago.
Jean Valjean measured with his eyes the wall above which he espied
the linden; it was about eighteen feet in height. The angle
which it formed with the gable of the large building was filled,
at its lower extremity, by a mass of masonry of a triangular shape,
probably intended to preserve that too convenient corner from
the rubbish of those dirty creatures called the passers-by. This
practice of filling up corners of the wall is much in use in Paris.
Les Miserables |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Criminal Sociology by Enrico Ferri: their punitive remedies, as easy as they are illusory, how they
might, as far as circumstances will permit, apply a genuine social
remedy to crime.
After these preliminary observations, it is time that we should
take a closer view of the general statistics of the movement of
crime in Europe, so far as they may be followed in official
figures.
Whilst we have no intention of offering a body of comparative
statistics, but only of giving a simple indication of the periodic
movement of crime, these data, which do not render it easy to
compare one country with another, though they are intimately
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Koran: God; nor do I know the unseen; nor do I say, "Verily, I am an
angel;" nor do I say of those whom your eyes despise, "God will
never give them any good!"- God knows best what is in their souls-
verily, then should I be of the unjust.'
They said, 'O Noah! thou hast wrangled with us, and hast
multiplied wranglings with us; bring us then what thou hast threatened
us with, if thou art of those who tell the truth.' Said he, 'God
will only bring it on you if He pleases, nor can ye make Him helpless;
nor will my advice profit you, should I wish to. advise you, if God
wish to lead you into error. He is your Lord, and unto Him shall ye be
returned.'
The Koran |
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 Nada the Lily by H. Rider Haggard: and he grew great and fat in cattle and wives, and none dared to
gainsay him. From time to time, indeed, a man ventured to stand up
before him in fight, but none could conquer him, and in a little while
no one sought to face Groan-Maker when he lifted himself to peck.
Galazi also was great among the people, but dwelt with them little,
for best he loved the wild woods and the mountain's breast, and often,
as of old, he swept at night across the forest and the plains, and the
howling of the ghost-wolves went with him.
But henceforth Umslopogaas the Slaughterer hunted very rarely with the
wolves at night; he slept at the side of Zinita, and she loved him
much and bore him children.
Nada the Lily |
