| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Reign of King Edward the Third by William Shakespeare: Your acceptable greeting to my king.
[Exit Lorrain.]
KING DAVID.
Now, Douglas, to our former task again,
For the division of this certain spoil.
DOUGLAS.
My liege, I crave the Lady, and no more.
KING DAVID.
Nay, soft ye, sir; first I must make my choice,
And first I do bespeak her for my self.
DOUGLAS.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pathology of Lying, Etc. by William and Mary Healy: must always be definitely reckoned with. It is hardly necessary
to say more than a word on this subject. Even the individual, as
in Cases 8, 9, and 10, comes to strongly realize it.
Particularly is this point to be estimated in considering the
possibilities of a rapid cure.
Special Mental Abilities. Once more, for the sake of
completeness in giving a category of causes, we should call
attention to the fact acknowledged by all thorough students of
this subject, namely, that, other things being equal, it is
particularly the individual who has linguistic abilities, who is
especially good at verbal composition, that seems to have most
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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 Theaetetus by Plato: SOCRATES: But their essence and what they are, and their opposition to one
another, and the essential nature of this opposition, the soul herself
endeavours to decide for us by the review and comparison of them?
THEAETETUS: Certainly.
SOCRATES: The simple sensations which reach the soul through the body are
given at birth to men and animals by nature, but their reflections on the
being and use of them are slowly and hardly gained, if they are ever
gained, by education and long experience.
THEAETETUS: Assuredly.
SOCRATES: And can a man attain truth who fails of attaining being?
THEAETETUS: Impossible.
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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 The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: of Europe, lived whilst the sea was peopled with most
of its present inhabitants; and we have confirmed that remarkable
law so often insisted on by Mr. Lyell, namely, that
the "longevity of the species in the mammalia is upon the
whole inferior to that of the testacea." [3]
The great size of the bones of the Megatheroid animals,
including the Megatherium, Megalonyx, Scelidotherium, and
Mylodon, is truly wonderful. The habits of life of these
animals were a complete puzzle to naturalists, until Professor
Owen [4] solved the problem with remarkable ingenuity. The
teeth indicate, by their simple structure, that these Megatheroid
The Voyage of the Beagle |
