| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Profits of Religion by Upton Sinclair: is conceivable that he may master the bacteria which at present
prey upon his body, and so put an end to death. It is certain
that he will ascertain the laws of heredity, and create human
qualities as he has created the spurs of the fighting-cock and
the legs of the greyhound. He will find out what genius is, and
the laws of its being, and the tests whereby it may be
recognized. In the new science of psycho-analysis he has already
begun the work of bringing an infinity of subconsciousness into
the light of day; it may be that in the evidence of telepathy
which the psychic researchers are accumulating, he is beginning
to grope his way into a universal consciousness, which may come
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sanitary and Social Lectures by Charles Kingsley: warnings, go out on the first appearance of a strip of blue sky,
and come home wet through, with what she calls "only a chill," but
which really means a nail driven into her coffin--a probable
shortening, though it may be a very small one, of her mortal life;
because the food of the next twenty-four hours, which should have
gone to keep the vital heat at its normal standard, will have to
be wasted in raising it up to that standard, from which it has
fallen by a chill.
Ladies, these are subjects on which I must beg to speak a little
more at length, premising them by one statement, which may seem
jest, but is solemn earnest--that, if the medical men of this or
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