| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lesser Bourgeoisie by Honore de Balzac: rupture of the marriage we had proposed a questionable proceeding. The
matter was arranged, I may say, by mutual consent."
"And the trick he is going to play you by leaving the paper in the
lurch, and the debt he has saddled you with, what are they?"
"Monsieur Cerizet," continued Thuillier, still holding himself on the
reserve, "as I have said more than once to la Peyrade, no man is
indispensable; and if the editorship of my paper becomes vacant, I
feel confident that I shall at once meet with persons very eager to
offer me their services."
"Is it for me you say that?" asked Cerizet. "Well, you haven't hit the
nail; if you did me the honor to want my services it would be
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sanitary and Social Lectures by Charles Kingsley: the torments of the poor dog, who is kept at the Grotto del Cane,
near Naples, to be stupefied, for the amusement of visitors, by
the carbonic acid gas of the Grotto, and brought to life again by
being dragged into the fresh air; nay, you are inflicting upon
yourselves the torments of the famous Black Hole of Calcutta:
and, if there was no chimney in the room, by which some fresh air
could enter, the candles would soon burn blue, as they do, you
know, when ghosts appear; your brains become disturbed; and you
yourselves ran the risk of becoming ghosts, and the candles of
actually going out.
Of this last fact there is no doubt; for if, instead of putting a
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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 Master of the World by Jules Verne: while the first gave the afternoon of June twenty-sixth, as the time
of appearance, the second set it for the evening of the same day.
Now, these two points of the United States territory are not less
than eight hundred miles apart. Even granting the automobile this
unthinkable speed, greater than any it had yet shown, how could it
have crossed all the intervening country unseen? How could it
traverse the States of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin, from
end to end without anyone of our agents giving us warning, without
any interested person rushing to a telephone?
After these two momentary appearances, if appearances they were, the
machine again dropped out of knowledge. Mr. Ward did not think it
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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 Princess by Alfred Tennyson: To this great work, we purposed with ourself
Never to wed. You likewise will do well,
Ladies, in entering here, to cast and fling
The tricks, which make us toys of men, that so,
Some future time, if so indeed you will,
You may with those self-styled our lords ally
Your fortunes, justlier balanced, scale with scale.'
At those high words, we conscious of ourselves,
Perused the matting: then an officer
Rose up, and read the statutes, such as these:
Not for three years to correspond with home;
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