Science: Death of a Titan

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After his death, while his corpse lay in a bronze, glass-topped coffin over which Edison employes stood guard, tributes to a unique personality, a magnificent and strange intelligence, came from all over the world. Henry Ford and Harvey Samuel Firestone, his closest friends, made plans to attend his funeral at East Orange, N. J. Said Henry Ford: "It has sometimes been said that we live in an industrial age. It might better be said we live in the age of Edison . . . in many ways, the greatest man since the world began. . . ." Said Harvey Firestone: "Mr. Edison, we all know, had the greatest mind of any man in our generation. . . ."

President Hoover sent a note of condolence to Mrs. Mina Edison which said: ''Mr. Edison . . . made the whole world his debtor. I mourn his passing not only as one of the greatest men our nation has produced but as a personal friend. . . ." Pope Pius XI cabled Cardinal Hayes to present his condolences to the inventor's family. Edison had once sent him a dictating machine, received a letter of thanks and a gold medal.