| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Lover's Complaint by William Shakespeare: 'But quickly on this side the verdict went;
His real habitude gave life and grace
To appertainings and to ornament,
Accomplish'd in himself, not in his case,:
All aids, themselves made fairer by their place,
Came for additions; yet their purpos'd trim
Pierc'd not his grace, but were all grac'd by him.
'So on the tip of his subduing tongue
All kind of arguments and question deep,
All replication prompt, and reason strong,
For his advantage still did wake and sleep:
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Faraday as a Discoverer by John Tyndall: oxides, and metals, without any essential change in its character?'
Even copper, he urges, offers a resistance to the transmission of
electricity. The action of its particles differs from those of an
insulator only in degree. They are charged like the particles of
the insulator, but they discharge with greater ease and rapidity;
and this rapidity of molecular discharge is what we call conduction.
Conduction then is always preceded by atomic induction; and when,
through some quality of the body which Faraday does not define, the
atomic discharge is rendered slow and difficult, conduction passes
into insulation.
Though they are often obscure, a fine vein of philosophic thought
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: for washing clothes. As I did not wish to screw on the
fresh-water pump so late, I went forward whistling, and
with a key in my hand to unlock the forepeak scuttle,
intending to serve the water out of a spare tank we kept
there.
"The smell down below was as unexpected as it was
frightful. One would have thought hundreds of par-
affin-lamps had been flaring and smoking in that hole
for days. I was glad to get out. The man with me
coughed and said, 'Funny smell, sir.' I answered negli-
gently, 'It's good for the health, they say,' and walked
Youth |
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 King Henry VI by William Shakespeare: KING HENRY.
And shall I stand, and thou sit in my throne?
YORK.
It must and shall be so.
Content thyself.
WARWICK.
Be Duke of Lancaster; let him be king.
WESTMORELAND.
He is both king and Duke of Lancaster;
And that the Lord of Westmoreland shall maintain.
WARWICK.
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