The Washington herald., 1920-01-18

this striking fact, that both EN-
manuel Swedenborg and Sir Oliver
Lodge came OF clerical and not sci
entific stock. Both of Sir divers
grandfathers were preachers. The
father of Swedenborg was Bishop OF
Skars. He believed himself in
constant communication with the
angels Sir divers ancestors, how
ever. were not nystics. The father
OF Swedenborg laid himself open 10
a charge of 'heresy' because of his
visions. The tastes of the youth
oliver and the youth Emmanuel ran
to the natural sciences; both were
endowed with unusual Intellectual
faculties: both had a dislike of
theology.
''swedenborg published in his thirty
second year a scientific periodical He
was a student OF mathematical in
ventions and engineering problems
At this very age, g. Sir Oliver Lodge
was a professor of physics at Univer-
sity College, Liverpool. Neither had
the slightest inkling of his extraor-
binary future and fame in a realm
that was not only far removed from
such material matters, but was the
very opposite Of them.
''Swedenborg was. in 1724. a matter
of-fact government inspector of mines.
His personality began to expand, or
prepare for a psychic somersault, in
1734, when he published a curious
treatise on the origin of things. based
on mechanics and geometry.
WANDERED ABOUT IN
REGION OF ABSTRACT.
h. t. ha
region of the abstract, leaving bridges.
mines and hydraulics behind him. He
was in his 5Sth year when his illumina-
ton came to him. In his 5sth year
Sir Oliver Lodge was still writing
about electrons and the properties Of
electricity. although. in 1906. in his
54th year, he had written a criticism
Of Haeckers The Riddle OF the Uni
verse He was beginning to thaw out
From the date of the opening OF
his spiritual sight Swedenborg under
went a series of Nominations which
resulted in the production OF those
! extraordinary books which have
founded a church and have been the
puzzle of all students of psychic phe-
! nomena. He died at 81. The mysti-
cal cells in him had conquered COM
pletely the physical groups. Not the
| triumph of mind over matter but Of
vision and Imagination over both
THE spiritual romance of Sir Oliver
: Lodge is not as inspiring or as fasci-
mating to the average person as the
romance OF Emmanuel Swedenborg,
because We live in a more practical,
| wide-awake age. But to the con-
noisseur of minds and the diIettantes
| of psychological biography. it Is just
as fascinating. To the imagination
| whatever is is wonderful. There is no
such thing as a commonplace being
read Dickens and o. Henry IL you
think there is. Sir Oliver Lodges
| imaginative evolution, or 'conver-
sion,' is an epic Kings and their do
ings no longer interest US. They are
| puppets and lowbrows. But II one
goes over the books of Sir Oliver
Lodge, from his theory Of fog to his
| latest message from the world be-
yond the tomb. and digs out all the
| factors of that growth. or CONVEX
sion,' one is present at as awesome a
spectacle as the world affords-the
saga of a soul
LONG CROPPING
TOWARD FANTASTIC.
"A close study of the work of the
Englishman would reveal the fact
that from his earliest years he was.
unconsciously, perhaps. cropping to-
| ward the fantastic, the irreal, the
| 'spooky.' He may be the forerunner
| of a Darwin of spiritism, one who
| will unite matter and spirit on COM
mon ground, unfolding the law Of
| their unity. weaving two opposing
systems of philosophy into one
stupendous and grandiose whole.
Sir Oliver Lodge, be it remembered,
nowhere claims that he has thrown
! science to the winds. He asserts that
his revelations have been tested
| with all the scientific Figor that Is
applied to the measurements Of the
distance of stars-before Einstein
| threw a monkey-wrench in the works.
He discusses his discoveries of the
! other life with the calmness of a
man discussing cubes. Like the late
William James, he says he had to be
shown He says he has not only
been shown but he has seen.
Another famous man who paral-
lels somewhat the career of Sir
Oliver Lodge Is Camille Flammarion.
The latter is a great poet; Sir oliver
f. not. II is difference in tempera-
ment, not in results.
-lIIInarIon was a great astron-
omer and mathematician before he
became converted to spiritism. He
used to measure Guns: now he
weighs souls. In F1ammarion's case