| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: forward with great expedition, and, indeed, fear having entirely
engrossed our minds, we were perhaps less sensible of all our
labours and difficulties; so violent an apprehension of one danger
made us look on many others with unconcern; our pains at last found
some intermission at the foot of the mountains of Duan, the frontier
of Abyssinia, which separates it from the country of the Moors,
through which we had travelled.
Here we imagined we might repose securely, a felicity we had long
been strangers to. Here we began to rejoice at the conclusion of
our labours; the place was cool and pleasant, the water was
excellent, and the birds melodious. Some of our company went into
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: colour to please the eye, and to be a natural source of delight. The
entire circuit of the wall, which went round the outermost zone, they
covered with a coating of brass, and the circuit of the next wall they
coated with tin, and the third, which encompassed the citadel, flashed with
the red light of orichalcum. The palaces in the interior of the citadel
were constructed on this wise:--In the centre was a holy temple dedicated
to Cleito and Poseidon, which remained inaccessible, and was surrounded by
an enclosure of gold; this was the spot where the family of the ten princes
first saw the light, and thither the people annually brought the fruits of
the earth in their season from all the ten portions, to be an offering to
each of the ten. Here was Poseidon's own temple which was a stadium in
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from What is Man? by Mark Twain: greyhound's complex engine; from personal labor to slave labor;
from wigwam to palace; from the capricious chase to agriculture
and stored food; from nomadic life to stable government and
concentrated authority; from incoherent hordes to massed armies.
The ant has observation, the reasoning faculty, and the
preserving adjunct of a prodigious memory; she has duplicated
man's development and the essential features of his civilization,
and you call it all instinct!
Y.M. Perhaps I lacked the reasoning faculty myself.
O.M. Well, don't tell anybody, and don't do it again.
Y.M. We have come a good way. As a result--as I understand it--
What is Man? |
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 Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: more demonstrative. "Gentlemen," he said, "with these franc
pieces I obtain the means of determining accurately both a meter
and a kilogramme."
CHAPTER VII
GALLIA WEIGHED
A quarter of an hour later, the visitors to the _Hansa_ had reassembled
in the common hall of Nina's Hive.
"Now, gentlemen, we can proceed," said the professor.
"May I request that this table may be cleared?"
Ben Zoof removed the various articles that were lying on the table,
and the coins which had just been borrowed from the Jew were placed
|
