--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - J. X. Allen collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 7 number: 8 published: 1904-06 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'J. X. Allen, "Suggestive Thoughts for the Mildly Skeptical," *Improvement Era* 7, no. 8 (June 1904): 589–592.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0708unse 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: improvementera0708unse start_page: 589 end_page: 592 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1904-06) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0708unse publication_year: 1904 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 1904, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Suggestive Thoughts for the Mildly Skeptical — SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS FOR THE MILDLY SKEPTICAL. BY DR. J. X. ALLEN, OGDEN, UTAH. II. There is unlimited intelligence in the mineral kingdom:* You are wandering in the mountains, and incidentally you come upon a crystal — may be of any it size, from an ounce to pounds —you pick itup and examine it minutely, you find that it has a given number of faces, and the same number of angles — that all the faces have the same inclination to each other: that all the angles are of ex- actly the same size, eontainkig exactly the same number of de- grees. The crystal is perfect. If you are not versed in miner- alogy, nor in chemistry, you wonder what it is composed of. If you have a friend whom you know to have studied the natural sciences, you take your crystal home, and subsequently you inter- rogate your friend about your find. After trying to scratch it with his pocket knife, and noting its faces and angles, he tells you that * There is a possibility that some readers will misunderstand Dr. Allen, and identify the form of the intelligence occurring in the mineral kingdom with that occurring in living things. The intelligent action of the Spirit of God undoubtedly stands behind every phenomenon in the universe, yet there is an essential difference between the organized in- telligence capable of volition, and the non-living material, which, under the influence of universal intelligence, is made to assume forms of symmetry. The living thing grows from within; the thing not alive grows by additions from the outside. Editors. it is crystalized silicon, or a quartz crystal. He speaks with such positiveness that you are satisfied that your friend knows what he is talking about. You then want to know how it came to have that beautiful form. And he tells you that it did not always have that form, that at some past period it was amorphous, that is, that it had no organized form, but that it was in a liquid state, so that the molecules of which it is composed could move freely among themselves, the frictional resistance not being too great to impede their natural propensity, they arranged themselves in the order in which you now see them; that on becoming colder with time, the friction was too great for further movement, and they have remained in the delightful shape into which they once mar- shaled themselves. "But," you say, "how could the molecules move themselves? I have always heard it said that the earth and all that compose it are dead, having neither life nor intelligence. How then could the molecules, as you call them, move themselves?" He will then, most likely, tell you that there was a time when itwas generally believed that God worked all the wonders in the earth at the time of the creation. And later on, it was supposed that the angels performed miracles of this kind, and that even now there are many who attribute to the fairies the many wonders re- vealed by mother earth. Have you ever examined a light flake of snow with a. magni- fying glass, and noticed the beautiful crystals contained therein? Snow crystals are composed of water. They are all six-sided, and they present many beautiful figures. A piece of charcoal, graphite, and the diamond, are all composed of the same substance, carbon; but carbon acts differently under different conditions. Scientists call condition the environment. A great deal depends upon the environment. You take a little sugar or a little salt and pulver- ize it, leave it in a dry place and atmosphere ; and, at the expiration of a month, you examine it under a magnifying glass, and you will find that it has undergone no perceptible change. But you dissolve your sugar or alum, as the case may be, and leave it in a place where the water can evaporate, and, after it has been evaporated to dryness, you again examine it with your magnifying glass, and you will find that beautiful crystals have formed. All matter has THO UGHTS FOR THE MILDL Y SKEP TICAL. 591 a certain power of motion. In the dry state, the molecules of sugar cannot overcome the friction of the neighboring particles, which prevents it from moving so as to assume the crystalized form. Now, when you look at a crystal, you see an intelligent form or design. You then ask yourself, "Can there be an intelligent re- sult independent of an intelligent cause?" Now, if with the scien- tist you discard the miraculous, you have to conclude that the intelligence must of necessity reside in the molecules themselves. Geologists understand that there is no such thing as inert matter, but that all atoms possess a certain power of motion and a certain sphere of action. Intelligence in the vegetable kingdom: If you have the time and the patience to carefully note the leaf of a tree, you will find that it performs the functions attributed to the stomach and lungs of an animal. It digests the food of the plant or tree; it also absorbs the atmosphere just as do our lungs, with this difference: The lungs of the animal appropriate the oxygen of the atmosphere, and exhale the carbonic acid which is brought to the lungs in the venous blood, while the leaf of the plant (when green and in sunlight) absorbs the common atmos- phere and appropriates the carbon dioxide for the upbuilding of its tissues. Perhaps it would not be amiss to give a very brief epitome of vegetable physiology: The rootlets absorb the water from the soil. Soil-water is impregnated with the sal^s con- tained in the neighborhood of the rootlets, so that not only water, but the necessary salts for the nourishment of the tree or vege- table, are absorbed by the rootlets, and by them, to some extent, pumped through the trunk of the tree to the leaves. The leaves are provided with breathing tubes, by which they take in the oxy- gen and carbon dioxide (with some nitrogen) which is dissolved in the water, and by the aid of the sun's rays, they manufacture liv- ing protoplasm. The excess of water is evaporated, by the leaves generating capillary attraction, thereby greatly assisting the process of the circulation of the sap, and the digested food, proto- plasm, is distributed to wherever it is needed. When the sunlight strikes the leaves, they do not consume all of the oxygen absorbed, and, therefore, they exhale much oxygen into the surrounding air. But in the night-time, they exhale car- bon dioxide, the same as animals. Perhaps it is time that we should define what we mean by "Intelligence." One of the definitions given by Webster is: "The act of knowing." I have met some pretty well-posted men who say that intelligence is spirit. With many people spirit and soul are syn- onymous. I call to mind the saying of a German philosopher who puts forth this saying: "The soul is asleep in vegetation; dreaming in the brute creation; and is awake in man." It would seem that the three words — intelligence, spirit and soul, were understood to be synonymous with him.* I do not propose to either defend or attack this philosopher's statement. The first definition of Web- ster will answer my purpose very well. Why do the roots of the tree always travel in the direction of water? No matter in what direction the moisture may be — east, west, north or south, or per- pendicular, that is the direction in which the roots travel. It is because they know how to act. That is intelligence. Some one will say, "It is their nature to feel after the water." True enough! But, seriously, don't you think that there must, of necessity, be a something at the back of and beyond nature? The leaves supply the whole tree with oxygen. They manu- facture all that is essential for the tree's well-being. They make living protoplasm, which no living man can do. They know how to act. That is intelligence. I do not say that the vegetable world possesses conscious intelligence, but intelligence is there, all the same. You pick up a leaf that has lain in a damp place for a long time. All the flesh (mesophyl) has fallen from it. You have a wondrou.'ly formed skeleton leaf. Every rib and vein and veinlet is so beautifully and intelligently arranged! Can you for a moment imagine that this artistic design was by accident, or even self- designed? You may say nature did it. God walks through nature. Nature's laws are God's laws, and nature is his workshop or laboratory. * The identification of intelligence with the soul and the spirit is, perhaps, questionable. Intelligence is a quality, a form of energy. Spirit is a form of matter. Intelligence is not spirit, but a quality of spirit. Editors.