The Washington herald., 1920-02-11
soul STRUGGLE
GOES ON AND ON,
SAYS PHYSICIST
Sir Oliver Lodge Tells D. c.
Audience I'VE Are At
tached to Ourselves"
UNIVERSE IS RIDDLE
Veil Between World Of De-
parted Ones Getting
Thinner, He Claims.
UNIVERSE IS RIDDLE
ny GEORGE PERRY MORRIS.

BY GEOHGE fEhhh mOhhiSs
For better or, worse we are at
tached to ourselves through all eter-
nifty. Some people are alarmed at this
thought. They would like to have the
soul and the personality cease with
death. They are tired OF existence.
But they must struggle on in other
states than this. why, do not know.
save that the struggle for existence in
higher forms here has proved good
for humanity. and presumably 1t also
will in the stages beyond"
This was one of the keynote utter
ances OF Sir Oliver Lodge, the emf
nent British physicist, author. and
member Of the Society OF Psychical
Research. as he addressed 200 per-
sons in Polls Theater yesterday aft
ernoon. He had before him a typical
audience of men and women, fairly
equally divided as to the sexes and
many Of them at the stage Of life
where thoughts of death are natural.
Mixed Audience.
There was the group of persons of
the leisure class. who pride themselves
on seeing all celebrities" that come
to town. The personality of the man
more than the message interests them.
There was the group Of war workers
and naval and military men of all
ranks for whom the war has brought
a new interest In both life and death.
There were the adherents OF all the
local chapters OF the many esoteric
and transcendental cults whose creeds
are other-worldly. There were many
women. garbed in mourning, intensely
keen to hear what a scientist has to
give in the way OF assurance and
comfort. Clergymen, Roman Catholic.
Protestant and Jewish came to note
the measure Of the mans orthodoxy or
heterodoxy and his possible influence
as an ally or as a destructive critic in
days when the laity are going after
unconventional answerers of old rid
dies. Cabinet officers and heads Of
government departments were IN evil
dence, and the city's many scientists.
men eminent as. physicists. astrono-
mers and chemists paid their profess
sional associate the compliment of
listening to his argument sympathetic
cally il not always approvingIy.
Difference Of Views.
Sir Oliver spent the major part OF
the first half of his lecture in build
ing up the thesis that reality lies
in the unseen. unheard and unfeIt:
that If mans surest KNOWLEDGE
came from his senses he would be
without that which makes him dif-
ferent from animals and that gives
him personality, character and a
perduring character as a created be-
ing.
This thesis of the un reality of what
seems to be true he illustrated by
the difference of the view of the
modern man from that of the me-
dieval man with respect to the glop-
ular form OF the earth. it's motion
through space, and its relation to
the solar and stellar systems. 1t
he showed most clearly his mastery
of the facts of science and his abiI-
ity to state them IaconicaIIy, logical
ly. and withal charmingIy. As an
eXpositor of scientific knowledge he
has the lucidity of Huxley, if not his
pungency.
Material Is ImmateriaI.
Later. by his reference to poetry.
Hi nh
closed the other interesting side of
his personality, like unto that of
William Osler. But as a scientist
he at first attempted to show that
what seems to be the truth about
nature is not the truth. and that the
real is not the material, but the
immaterial.
Coming more closely to his adver-
tised theme. The Reality of the
Unseen" as 1t has to do with the
problem of Immortality, Sir oliver
admitted that the universe seemed
to be riddle, utterly rnexplica BILE,
if only the wonders and immensi
ties of the solar and stellar systems
are dwelt upon, and il the human
struggle is interpreted in their
terms. But here faith. love, and hope
intrude and insist upon being rech-
oned with. We cannot dogmaticaIN,
rule them out. We have come
through use of them to have ideals
and spiritual convictions which we
apply to the work of mans design
In music. art. and the higher ranges
of literature.
That which we apply to human
creations we certainly have a right
CONTINUED ON FACE THREE