| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Drama on the Seashore by Honore de Balzac: Batz, which arrested the eye by its immense pile placed there like a
pyramid; but a slender, delicately outlined pyramid, a pyramid so
poetically ornate that the imagination figured in it the earliest ruin
of a great Asiatic city.
We advanced a few steps and sat down upon the portion of a large rock
which was still in the shade. But it was now eleven o'clock, and the
shadow, which ceased at our feet, was disappearing rapidly.
"How beautiful this silence!" she said to me; "and how the depth of it
is deepened by the rhythmic quiver of the wave upon the shore."
"If you will give your understanding to the three immensities which
surround us, the water, the air, and the sands, and listen exclusively
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of War by Frederick A. Talbot: the enemy, so as to assist the heavier arms in the plan of
campaign. On the other hand, the fighting corsair of the skies
might be likened to the cruiser or battleship. It need not
possess such a high turn of speed, but must be equipped with
hard-hitting powers and be protected against attacking fire.
One attempt to secure the adequate protection against gun-fire
from the ground assumed the installation of bullet-proof steel
plating, about one fifth of an inch thick, below the tank and the
motor respectively. The disposition of the plating was such as
to offer the minimum of resistance to the air and yet to present
a plane surface to the ground below. So far as it went this
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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 Hellenica by Xenophon: reached Gorgopas, who sallied out to the rescue with the Aeginetans
and the marines of his vessels, being further accompanied by eight
Spartans who happened to be with him. Not content with these he issued
orders inviting any of the ships' crews, who were free men, to join
the relief party. A large number of these sailors responded. They
armed themselves as best they could, and the advance commenced. When
the vanguard were well past the ambuscade, Chabrias and his men sprang
up from their hiding-place, and poured a volley of javelins and stones
upon the enemy. At the same moment the hoplites, who had
disembarked,[9] were advancing, so that the Spartan vanguard, in the
absence of anything like collective action, were speedily cut down,
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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 Lesser Hippias by Plato: oil flask, which you had made yourself; you said also that you had made the
shoes which you had on your feet, and the cloak and the short tunic; but
what appeared to us all most extraordinary and a proof of singular art, was
the girdle of your tunic, which, you said, was as fine as the most costly
Persian fabric, and of your own weaving; moreover, you told us that you had
brought with you poems, epic, tragic, and dithyrambic, as well as prose
writings of the most various kinds; and you said that your skill was also
pre-eminent in the arts which I was just now mentioning, and in the true
principles of rhythm and harmony and of orthography; and if I remember
rightly, there were a great many other accomplishments in which you
excelled. I have forgotten to mention your art of memory, which you regard
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