Evening star., 1940-08-28
Sir Oliver Lodqe

Sir Oliver Lodge has died before
the results of the second World War
can be known. The struggle of 1914
1918 and the sorrows which were its
inevitable consequence found in him
a great interpreter for whom vast
numbers of plain and humble people
were thankful. His fame arose pre-
dominantly from the circumstance
of his interest in the riddle of human
survival. He had been, he still was
a distinguished mathematician. To
the problem of immortality he
brought an intelligence disciplined
in pure reason. A former president
of the Physical Society of London
and soon to be the principal officer
of the British Association, his ap-
proach to the relation of life with
its antithesis necessarily was realistic
and philosophical. He was no
dreamer. Rather, his reputation was
that of an uncompromising devotee
to proven truth. It was the custom
of his career that he should have
nothing whatever to do with theories
undemonstrable.
There was, then, a considerable
fluttering in the dovecots of refined
society in England when Sir Oliver
first engaged himself with "psychical
research" His concern for COM
munication with departed friends, it
shortly was made clear, must be re-
garded seriously. There was nothing
casual about his attitude toward
Mans mysterious fate. He was
Solemnly in earnest when he applied
his talents to the task of trans
cendental exploration. BY 1918 he
was prepared to announce his con-
viction that Occurrences now re-
garded as occult can be examined
and reduced to order by the methods
Of science carefully and persistently
applied" that "the facts so examined
have convinced me that memory
and affection are not limited to that
association with matter by which
alone they can manifest themselves
here and now" and that personality
persists beyond bodily DEATH"
Such sentiments were welcomed by
the community of mourners for the
fallen in the conflict of a quarter
century ago. They likewise are re-
ceived with appreciation by the help
less bystanders of the tragedy of
today. When Sir Oliver reaffirmed
the law that nothing really finally
perishes that is worth keeping" he
encouraged millions of his contem-
poraries, including a multitude be-
longing to the younger generation,
to believe anew in elemental justice.
Evil, he declared, does not triumph
under any deity. In stolid prose he
set forth the conclusion: $50 far as
we can tell, there need be no real
waste, no real loss, no annihilation;
but everything sufficiently valuable,
be it beauty, artistic achievement,
knowledge, unselfish affection, may
be thought of as enduring henceforth
and forever, if not with an individual
and personal existence, yet as part
of the eternal Being of God"
Sir Oliver was eighty-nine years
OF age when he departed. He had
lived to see wireless telegraphy, to
which he gave the creative labor of
his youth, become, in cruel hands, a
destructive force; and his experience
disheartened him. But also he had
survived long enough to be satisfied
that two and two are four for a
cosmic purpose and not uselessly.
Granted that he may have been
mistaken when he thought that his
martyred Raymond had spoken to
him, he still had logic on his side
when he argued for mercy in the
universe.