--- 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: 10 published: 1904-08 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'John A. Widtsoe, "Joseph Smith as Scientist. X," *Improvement Era* 7, no. 10 (August 1904): 737–742.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0710unse 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: improvementera0710unse start_page: 737 end_page: 742 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1904-08) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0710unse 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. --- # Joseph Smith as Scientist. X Vol. VII. AUGUST, 1904. M). 10. JOSEPH SMITH AS SCIENTIST. BY DR. JOHN A. WIDTSOE, DIRECTOR OF THE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, LOGAN, UTAH. X.— SOME FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES RE-STATED. Questions that have been asked concerning several of the earlier articles of this series seem to make it desirable that some of the fundamental principles of science, and the corresponding doctrines taught by the Prophet Joseph, be restated. Science is held together by numerous great laws which are simply the concentrated expressions of certain portions of man's knowledge. The laws of science themselves are connected by more comprehensive and, therefore, more fundamental laws, until it is found that ultimately, a very few great laws express in a general way all existing knowledge. These most fundamental laws of nature are naturally the most important, since all second- ary or simpler laws are in general correct, to the extent only that the greater laws are correct. One of the fundamental laws of nature is that matter is in- destructible, and that its total quantity in the universe is con- stant, that is, that it has always been and always will be the same in quantity that it is today. The matter of the universe exists in more than seventy-five distinct forms or elements, as silver, gold, iron, copper, zinc, tin, magnesium, etc. It has been the dream of many students of nature that, sometime in the future, it would be possible to convert any one of these elements into any other, as for instance, iron into gold, or tin into silver; and numerous un- successful efforts have been made to solve the problem. At the present time there is no evidence of real scientific value that in- dicates that it is or shall be possible for man to convert one form of matter into another. What the future may do to make possi- ble the transmutation of the elements, we do not know; but many scientists of high repute hold that the various elements are only manifestations of one fundamental element, so firmly organized that it is beyond man's power to resolve them into the primeval element. The doctrine of the persistence of matter and the eternal nature of the elements is properly ranked as the funda- mental doctrine of science. Another fundamental scientific law deals with energy. Matter alone is dead; it becomes living only when it is in motion. Matter in motion has the power to do work, that is, it possesses energy. The quantity of energy in the universe is also constant; that is, it is the same today as it has been in the past, and shall be in the future. The energy of the universe manifests itself in various forms, as heat, light, electricity, gravitation, magnetism and chemical affinity. One of the great achievements of the last century Was the proof that although energy is indestructible, it may be changed from one form into another, and thus at one moment be capable of af- fecting man's senses, and in the next incapable of so doing. Light may easily be changed into heat, heat into electricity, electricity into magnetism, magnetism into light, and so on through the numerous forms of energy known to man. For many years it has been evident that there must be one form of energy which is fun- damental and to which all other forms revert, under the ordinary prevailing conditions. This form of energy, which is behind all the phenomena of nature, has not yet been discovered, but it is the hope of scientists that it may be revealed in the near future. A third fundamental natural law deals with the material which fills all space. The passage of light from the sun and stars to the earth, the transference of electrical forces from place to place, without man's intervention, and other similar phenomena, led to the belief that the whole universe is filled with some ma- JOSEPH SMITH AS SCIENTIST. 739 though subtle, substance which enables energy to be carried terial, from place to place. Later investigation made it necessary to ac- cept the hypothesis that such a substance actually exists, and to it has been given the name luminiferous ether, or simply the ether. It is now believed that the whole universe, including the space be- tween the ultimate particles .of the elements, is filled with this wonderful world-ether. According to this doctrine, pieces of iron or gold or wood or water or flesh contain, uniformly distributed throughout them, a certain quantity of ether; light becomes noth- ing more than a definite kind of vibration of the ether; heat be- comes simply another kind of vibration, electricity still another, gravitation still another, and so on. Light is carried from the sun to the earth by waves in the ethereal ocean; electrical currents envelop and penetrate the earth, in the form of similar ether waves. The ether holds all things in the universe together; by it, happening things upon the most distant stars will be felt in one form or another by all other heavenly bodies. Many believe that even thought itself is simply a peculiar vibration or motion of the ether, and that a thought once produced will radiate to the limits of space, and may even be intercepted and understood by those who are in possession of the proper receiving apparatus. Many scientists believe that this world-ether is the original mat- ter from which the various elements have been produced, and their hope is that man shall be able, at some future day, to organize this ether into any element that he may desire. These conceptions, then, are fundamental in modern science: the indestructible nature of matter, and the present impossibility to convert one element into another; the indestructibility of en- ergy, and the possibility of converting one form of energy into an- other; the evidences of a medium, the ether, by which all particles of the universe are held together, and which enables the transfer- ence of all kinds of energy from one part of space to any other part of space. These laws represent, also, the substance of all that is known of the universe by modern science. Using these and other similar laws as a basis, Herbert Spencer developed his system of philosophy, which attempts to account for the ceaseless change in nature. He aimed at the law of evo- lution, which in its essence affirms that the world, or any portion of it, is either progressing or retrograding, and that the normal pro- cess is that of progression or evolution. After having developed this principle, he confesses that some all-pervading principle must underlie this all-pervading process, and determines this ultimate principle to be the persistence of force; that is, the operation by- means of the universal ether of .the universal, incomprehensible force which appears as gravitation, light, heat, electricity, mag- netism, chemical affinity, and other forms of energy. All modern philosophers, who have worked according to rational methods, have come ultimately to the operation of the ultimate force as the ultimate explanation of all the phenomena of nature. Now, it is a most marvelous truth that the philosophy inaug- urated by Joseph Smith contains all the essentials of these funda- mental laws of nature, and gives them the same weight as is given them by natural science. It seems even more marvelous, as has been pointed out in previous papers of this series, that in the great majority of cases the Prophet Joseph anticipated the works of science in the enunciation of these fundamental laws of the world. For instance, the Prophet Joseph most emphatically declared that matter cannot be destroyed, that it has existed from the be- ginning, and that it will He says also that the ele- always exist. ments are eternal. may be a deep meaning in this state- There ment, well worthy of close investigation. By elements, he no doubt means the different forms of matter in elementary conditions, such as iron, gold, silver, etc., and when he makes the statement that these elements are eternal, it may be that he is simply voicing the truth of science, that the elementary forms of matter cannot by any known means be converted from one state to another. This is not the place to make predictions, but it may be as well to remind the readers of this writing that the words of Joseph were always rich in meaning, and that in all likelihood this great prophet of God has told the world of science that there is no need to hope, under present conditions, that it will ever be possible to transmute the elements. Joseph Smith likewise taught that the energy of the universe is indestructible. He spoke of energy as intelligence, and said that intelligence is eternal, and had never been created nor could ever JOSEPH SMITH AS SCIENTIST. 741 be destroyed; and he went further, and said that the ultimate form of energy is the intelligence of the so-called Holy Spirit, and that light, heat, electricity, and more evident forms of energy, are simply manifestations of this great form of energy. A discussion of this subject will be found in the second article of this series. Then again, the "Mormon" Prophet teaches that the space in the universe is filled with a substance known as the Holy Spirit, which corresponds in all of its particulars with the ether of the scientists. As a word of warning, it must be said that this Holy Spirit is not the Holy Ghost, the third member of the Godhead, but is simply the medium whereby God is able to work his will through- out the vastness of space. According to the doctrines of "Mor- monism," the Lord is able to speak to any part of the universe by means of the Holy Spirit which fills all substances, whether ani- mate or inanimate, and by its means also any or all forms of en- ergy, as electricity in the form of lighting, or in the form of the still small voice, may be directed to any part of the universe. It is also a most remarkable fact that in this conception of a univer- sal substance holding all things together, the "Mormon" Prophet should have anticipated the clear thinkers and most profound stu- dents of external nature. Then again, the modern doctrine of evolution which says that the world is normally progressing, and that it must either progress or retrograde, is in perfect harmony with the views advanced by the Prophet Joseph, and he does not hesitate to teach that it is only through the intelligent operation of the Holy Spirit that the phenomena of life are controlled. The intelligent operation of the Holy Spirit means, in the terms of science, simply the action of the fundamental form of energy upon the universal ether; thus again, then, the "Mormon" prophet is in perfect harmony with the most learned of modern philosophers, and, as has been shown in other articles, anticipated them by many years. Should the natural scientists of today construct a God accord- ing to the best known scientific facts, they would assume the existence of a great central force radiating energy into space, ac- cording to definite principles, and by means of the universal ether. This is precisely the "Mormon" view. To the "Mormon," God h the greatest of all intelligent beings. By his intelligence and will, 742 IMPRO VEMENT ERA he directs the universe by sending any force that he may choose to different parts of space by means of the Holy Spirit. By that same medium every uttered word could otherwise be known to the governing God. The parallelism between the foundation structure of modern science and that of the philosophy of "Mormonism" is so strong as to be finally convincing to all candid, unprejudiced minds. One cannot apply logic to these facts, and arrive at an understanding of the means whereby the unlearned boy prophet acquired his knowledge. Something transcending human power must be as- sumed to be in "Mormonism;" in science that which transcends human power is simply something not yet known, but not essen- tially different from that which man now possesses. This bringing together of facts already discussed in earlier articles of this series has been done as a result of numerous ques- tions that have been asked; and it furnishes perhaps a clearer and more compact survey of the field. Viewed in its philosophic aspect, the structure of "Mormon- ism" becomes luminously clear and simple. It is free from useless theories and assumptions. It is a large and world-encompassing structure, making the intelligence of God and man the center about which all other phenomena revolve. Of simple brilliancy must have been the mind of the Prophet which was able to dis- cover in the forgotten corners of thought the priceless gems of controlling, universal truth. (to be continued.)