| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mansion by Henry van Dyke: three or four times what I paid for it. That was a good
purchase,
a very good bargain."
He dropped into the revolving chair before his big library table.
It was covered with pamphlets and reports of the various
enterprises
in which he was interested. There was a pile of newspaper
clippings
in which his name was mentioned with praise for his sustaining
power as
a pillar of finance, for his judicious benevolence, for his
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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: by other manifestations of public opinion. In any case, as
Bentham said, it is better to have our remedy in the law than in
the subversion of the law.
As for private conviction, we willingly admit that no system of
legal proof is acceptable. But it is one thing to substitute for
the legal and artificial assurance of the law the assurance of the
judge who tries the case, and quite another thing to substitute
for conviction founded on argument, and for a critical examination
of the evidence collected during the trial, the blind and simple
promptings of instinct or sentiment.
Even apart from technical notions, which we consider necessary to
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