| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Astoria by Washington Irving: There were few reptiles; the only dangerous kinds were the
rattlesnake, and one striped with black, yellow, and white, about
four feet long. Among the lizard kind was one about nine or ten
inches in length, exclusive of the tall, and three inches in
circumference. The tail was round, and of the same length as the
body. The head was triangular, covered with small square scales.
The upper part of the body was likewise covered with small
scales, green, yellow, black, and blue. Each foot had five toes,
furnished with strong nails, probably to aid it in burrowing, as
it usually lived under ground on the plains.
A remarkable fact, characteristic of the country west of the
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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 Case of the Golden Bullet by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: "Send him in, then."
The attendant disappeared, and the commissioner looked up at the
clock. It was just striking eleven, but the fellow official who
was to relieve him at that hour had not yet appeared. And if this
should chance to be a new case, he would probably be obliged to
take it himself. The commissioner was not in a very good humour
as he sat back to receive the young man who entered the room in
the wake of the attendant. The stranger was a sturdy youth, with
an unintelligent, good-natured face. He twisted his soft hat in
his hands in evident embarrassment, and his eyes wandered helplessly
about the great bare room.
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