| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Philosophy 4 by Owen Wister: "Gentlemen," said Oscar, who had been listening to them with patient,
Oriental diversion, "I--"
"Oh," said Bertie, remembering him. "Look here. We mustn't keep you
up. We're awfully obliged for the way you are putting us on to this.
You're saving our lives. Ten to-morrow for a grand review of the whole
course."
"And the multiplicity of the ego?" inquired Oscar.
"Oh, I forgot. Well, it's too late tonight. Is it much? Are there
many dates and names and things?"
"It is more of a general inquiry and analysis," replied Oscar. "But it
is forty pages of my notes." And he smiled.
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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 Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: the third or fourth day I found my wife sad and asked her the
reason. I began to embrace her, which in my opinion was all that
she could desire. She put me away with her hand, and began to
weep.
"At what? She could not tell me. She was filled with sorrow,
with anguish. Probably her tortured nerves had suggested to her
the truth about the baseness of our relations, but she found no
words in which to say it. I began to question her; she answered
that she missed her absent mother. It seemed to me that she was
not telling the truth. I sought to console her by maintaining
silence in regard to her parents. I did not imagine that she
 The Kreutzer Sonata |