--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - John A. Widtsoe collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 7 number: 2 published: 1903-12 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'John A. Widtsoe, "Joseph Smith as Scientist. II", *Improvement Era* 7, no. 2 (December 1903): 81–85.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0702unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0702unse start_page: 81 end_page: 85 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1903-12) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0702unse publication_year: 1903 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1903, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Joseph Smith as Scientist. II IMPROVEMENT ERA. Vol. VII. DECEMBER, 1903. No. 2. JOSEPH SMITH AS SCIENTIST. BY DR. JOHN A. WIDTSOE, DIRECTOR OF THE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, LOGAN, UTAH. II. -THE PERSISTENCE OF MATTER AND FORCE. It was believed by the philosophers of ancient and medieval times, especially by those devoted to the study of alchemy, that it was possible through mystical powers, often of a supernatural order, to annihilate matter or to create it from nothing. Men with such powers transcended all known laws of nature, and be- came objects of fear, often of worship to the masses of mankind. Naturally enough, systems of religion became colored with philo- sophical doctrines of the times; and it was held to be a funda- mental religious truth that God created the world from nothing. Certainly God could do what his creatures, the magicians, were able to do —that part of the reasoning was sound. In support of this doctrine, attention was called to some of the experiences of daily life. A piece of coal is placed in a stove, and in a short time disappears — it is annihilated. From the clear air of a summer's day raindrops frequently start — created out of nothing. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, facts and laws of ' 82 IMPROVEMENT ERA. chemistry were discovered, which enabled scientists to follow in great detail the changes, visible or invisible, to which matter in its various forms is subject. Then it was shown that the coal placed in a stove unites with a portion of the air entering through the drafts, and becomes an invisible gas, but that, were this gas col- lected as it issues from the chimney, it would be found to contain a weight of the elements of the coal just equal to the weight of the coal used. In a similar manner it was shown that the rain- drops are formed from the water found in the air, as an invisible vapor. Numerous investigations on this subject were made by the most skillful experimenters of the age, all of which showed that it is absolutely impossible to create or destroy the smallest particle of matter, that the most man can do is to change the form in which it exists. After this truth had been demonstrated, it was a necessary conclusion that matter is eternal, and that the quantity of matter in the universe cannot be diminished nor increased. This great generalization, known as the law of the Persistence of Matter or Mass, is the foundation stone of modern science. It began to find general acceptance among men about the time of Joseph Smith's birth, though most religious sects still hold that God, as the su- preme ruler, is able at will to create matter from nothing. The establishment of this law marked also the final downfall of alchemy and other kindred, occult absurdities. No doctrine taught by Joseph Smith is better understood by his followers than that matter in its elementary condition is eternal, and that it can neither be increased nor diminished. As early as May, 1833, the Prophet declared that "the elements are eternal,"* and in a sermon delivered in April, 1844, he said "Element had an existence from the time God had. The pure principles of element are principles which can never be destroyed; they may be organ- ized and reorganized, but not destroyed. They had no beginning, and can have no end."t It is thus evident that from the beginning of his work, Joseph Smith was in perfect harmony with the fundamental doctrine of * Doctrine and Covenants, 93: 33. t The Contributor, Vol. 4, p. 257. JOSEPH SMITH AS SCIENTIST. 83 science; and far in advance of the religious sects of the world, which are even at this time, slowly accepting the doctrine of the persistence of matter in a spiritual as well as in a material sense. Of equal value as a fundamental principle of nature with the law of the persistence of matter is the law of the Persistence of Force or Energy. A great variety of forces exist in nature, as, for instance, gravitation, electricity, chemical affinity, heat and light. These forces may all be made to do work; and energy, in fact, may be denned as the power of doing work. In early days these forces were supposed to be distinct and not convertible, one into the other, just as gold and silver, with our present knowledge, are dis- tinct and not convertible into other elements. As will be shown in the fourth paper of this series, students of light and heat began to demonstrate in the early part of the nineteenth century, that these two natural forces were different manifestations of one universal medium. This in turn led to the thought that possibly these forces, instead of being absolutely dis- tinct, could be converted one into the other. This idea was con- firmed in various experimental ways. Sir Humphrey Davey, about the end of the eighteenth century, rubbed together two pieces of ice until they were nearly melted. Precautions had been taken that no heat could be abstracted from the outside by the ice. The only tenable conclusion was that the energy expended in rubbing, had been converted into heat, which had melted the ice. About the same time Count Rumford, the distinguished American, was superintending the boring of a cannon at the arsenal at Munich, and was forcibly struck with the heating of the iron due to this process. He, like Davy, believed that the energy of the boring instruments had been converted into the heat.* From 1843 to 1849, Dr. Joule of Manchester, England, pub- lished the results of experiments on the relation between mechan- ical energy and heat. Dr. Joule attached a fixed weight to a string which was passed over a pulley, while the other end was connected with paddles moving in water. As the weight descended, the pad- r The Conservation of Heat — Stewart, pp. 38, 39. 84 IMPROVEMENT ERA. dies were caused to revolve; and it was observed that as the weight fell, and the paddles revolved, the water became warmer and warmer. Dr. Joule found further that for each foot of fall, the same amount of heat energy was given to the water. In fact, he determined that when a pound weight falls seven hundred and seventy two feet it gives out energy enough to raise the tempera- ture of one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit.* This experiment, frequently repeated, gave the same result and established largely the law of the convertibility of energy. About the same time, it was shown that light can be converted into heat; and later it was proved that electricity may be changed into heat or light. In all these cases it was found that the amount of energy changed was exactly equal to the amount of energy pro- duced. Thus, by countless experiments, it was finally determined that energy is indestructible; that when any form of energy dis- appears, it reappears immediately in another form. This is the law of the persistence of force or energy. In more recent days, it has been suggested that all known forces are variations of a great universal force, which may or may not be known. The very nature of force or energy is not understood. In the language of Spencer, "By the persistence of force, we really mean the persistence of some cause which transcends our knowledge and conception." f It need hardly be explained that energy cannot exist independ- ently of .matter; and that the law of the persistence of matter is necessary for the existence of the law of persistence of force. Joseph Smith was not a scientist; and he made no pretense of solving the scientific questions of this day. The discussion relative to the convertibility of various forms of energy was in all proba- bility not known to him. Still, in his writings is found a doctrine which in all respects resembles that of the conservation of energy. It will be shown in the fourth paper of this series that Joseph Smith taught, and the Church now teaches, that all space is filled with a subtle, though material substance of wonderful properties, by which all natural phenomena are controlled. This substance is *lhe Conservation of Energy —Stewart, pp. 44, 45. Recent Advances in Physical Science —Tait pp. 63, 65. f First Principles, Spencer, 4th ed., p. 200. : JOSEPH SMITH AS SCIENTIST. 85 known as the Holy Spirit. most important characteristic is Its intelligence. "Each atom of the Holy Spirit is intelligent, and like all other matter has solidity, form and size. It is because each acts in the most perfect unision with all the rest that the whole is considered one Holy Spirit." * "Its inherent properties embrace all the attributes of intelligence." f The property of intelligence is to the Holy Spirit what energy is to the gross material of our senses. In one of the generally ac- cepted works of the Church, the energy of nature is actually said to be the workings of the Holy Spirit. The passage follows "Man observes a universal energy in nature — organization and disorganization succeed each other —the thunders roll through the heavens; the earth trembles and becomes broken by earthquakes; fires consume cities and forests; the waters accumulate, flow over their usual bounds, and cause destruction of life and property; the worlds perform their revolutions in space with a velocity and power incomprehensible to man, and he, covered with a veil of darkness, calls this universal energy, God, when it is the workings of his Spirit, the obedient agent of his power, the wonder-working and life-giving principle in all nature." % The intelligence or enargy possessed by the Holy Spirit was declared by Joseph Smith in May, 1833, to be eternal: "Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be." § In the sermon already referred to, the Prophet said, "The intelligence of spirits had no beginning, neither will it have an end." These quotations show clearly that Joseph Smith taught the doctrine that the energy of the universe can in nowise be increased or diminished, though, as will be shown in a later paper, it may manifest itself in various forms. The great Latter-day prophet is thus shown to be in harmony with the second fundamental law of science. It is not a valid ob- jection to this conclusion to say that Joseph Smith did not use the accepted terms of science. Words stand only for ideas; the ideas * Absurdities of Immaterialism, 0. Pratt, ed. of 1849, p. 25. t Key to Theology, P. P. Pratt, 5th ed., p. 40. $ Compendium, Richards arid Little, 3rd ed., p. 150. § Doctrine and Covenants, 93:29.