| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Gorgias by Plato: attempt, for of two miserables one cannot be the happier, but that he who
escapes and becomes a tyrant is the more miserable of the two. Do you
laugh, Polus? Well, this is a new kind of refutation,--when any one says
anything, instead of refuting him to laugh at him.
POLUS: But do you not think, Socrates, that you have been sufficiently
refuted, when you say that which no human being will allow? Ask the
company.
SOCRATES: O Polus, I am not a public man, and only last year, when my
tribe were serving as Prytanes, and it became my duty as their president to
take the votes, there was a laugh at me, because I was unable to take them.
And as I failed then, you must not ask me to count the suffrages of the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) by Dante Alighieri: commentators are not agreed.
v. 79. Of Farinata and Tegghiaio.] See Canto X. and Notes, and
Canto XVI, and Notes.
v. 80. Giacopo.] Giacopo Rusticucci. See Canto XVI, and Notes.
v. 81. Arrigo, Mosca.] Of Arrigo, who is said by the
commentators to have been of the noble family of the Fifanti, no
mention afterwards occurs. Mosca degli Uberti is introduced in
Canto XXVIII. v.
108. Consult thy knowledge.] We are referred to the following
passage in St. Augustin:--"Cum fiet resurrectio carnis, et
bonorum gaudia et malorum tormenta majora erunt. "--At the
The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) |
| 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: grateful when they find that they have done a thing which has
lifted them for a moment out of obscurity and caused wondering
talk. This common madness can develop, by nurture, into a hunger
for notoriety in one, for fame in another. It is this madness
for being noticed and talked about which has invented kingship
and the thousand other dignities, and tricked them out with
pretty and showy fineries; it has made kings pick one another's
pockets, scramble for one another's crowns and estates, slaughter
one another's subjects; it has raised up prize-fighters, and
poets, and villages mayors, and little and big politicians, and
big and little charity-founders, and bicycle champions, and
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 U. S. Project Trinity Report by Carl Maag and Steve Rohrer: Upon leaving the test area, individuals returned their film badges to
the check station. When the film badges were processed and
interpreted, the reading was entered on the individuals exposure data
card. In this manner, the number of times an individual entered the
test area and his cumulative exposure history were recorded and
maintained (1).
4.2 GAMMA RADIATION EXPOSURE
The safety and monitoring report lists film badge readings for about
700 individuals who participated in Project TRINITY from 16 July 1945
to 1 January 1946 (1). This list includes both military and
nonmilitary personnel who were involved with the TRINITY operation and
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