Joseph Smith as Scientist: A Contribution to Mormon Philosophy

by John Andreas Widtsoe

The light which passes through the lenses of the telescope and microscope, is the light which is ordinarily recognized by the eye. The instruments effect no change in the light; they merely arrange the waves so as to produce a clear and distinct outline of the objects from which the light comes. Likewise, the sound waves entering the ear-trumpet are in nowise changed in their essential nature, but are simply rearranged or concentrated to produce a more definite impression on the ear. Instruments similar to those here mentioned are the simplest aids to man's senses.

With respect to many forces of nature, the unaided senses of man are helpless. The subtle force of magnetism, for instance, appears incapable of affecting directly any of the senses. A person may hold a powerful lodestone in his hand and feel no influence different from that coming from a piece of sandstone. A person may work near a wire carrying a current of electricity, and, though it is well known that peculiar conditions exist in the universal ether around such a wire, yet, through his five senses, he may never become aware of the existence of this current. A piece of uranium ore, as has been found in recent years, emits various kinds of rays related to the now famous X- or Roentgen rays, yet no indication comes directly through any of the five senses that such is the case. In fact, men of science worked with the ores of uranium for many years before discovering the emission of ether waves. In the light which comes from the sun are numerous forms of energy that do not directly affect the senses, and therefore remained unknown for many centuries. Numerous other illustrations might be quoted to show the existence of natural forces that are beyond the direct recognition of man. In the great ocean of the unknown, lie, undoubtedly, countless forces that shall never be known by a direct action upon the senses of man.[A]

[Footnote A: The writer is aware of the beliefs held by many students regarding the so-called touch sense, heat sense, magnetic sense, electrical sense, spiritual sense, etc. So little is known of these subdivisions of the sense of feeling, that they are not considered in this popular writing. There is, moreover, no evidence that the magnetic sense, as an example, if it exists, is a direct effect of magnetic forces; it is as easily believed that the body somehow converts magnetic forces, under certain circumstances, into other forces that may be sensed by man.]

[Sidenote: The advance of knowledge requires instruments that convert natural phenomena into intelligible forms. Thus the unknown is revealed.]

As is well understood, however, even these apparently unknowable manifestations of nature may be known, if proper aids be secured. In every case the problem is this: To obtain some medium, be it natural or manufactured, which transforms the unknown force into a known force, that is capable of affecting the senses of man. The search for such media is one of the most important labors of science. For instance, sunlight has been known from the beginning of the human race, and its nature has been studied by almost every generation of thinkers. To the time of Newton, it was only white light—or little more. Newton discovered that if a ray of white light be allowed to fall upon a triangular prism or glass, it is dispersed or broken into a number of colored rays known as the spectrum. All sunlight, passed through a glass prism, produces this colored spectrum; and the colors are arranged invariably in the same order; namely from violet through the intermediate colors to red. By passing this spectrum through another prism, white light is produced. Sunlight was thus proved to consist of a number of kinds of colored light. The eye alone is incapable of resolving white light into its elements: the glass prism thus becomes an aid to the sense of sight, by which a new domain of science is laid open to view.

Above the red end of the spectrum, obtained from white light, nothing is visible, yet if a delicate thermometer be placed there, the increase in temperature shows the presence of certain invisible heat rays, and by moving the thermometer, it may be shown that the invisible heat spectrum is longer than the light spectrum itself. This, again, makes known to man a world that the five senses can recognize only with difficulty; and in this case, the thermometer is the necessary aid.

Even more interesting is the violet end of the spectrum. Like the red end, it is invisible. In fact, for centuries it was believed that the light spectrum represented the whole spectrum. During the last century it was found that if a photographic plate be placed below the violet end of the spectrum, it is affected by invisible light rays, which are popularly denominated chemical rays. By placing the photographic plate in various positions, it has been discovered that the chemical spectrum is as long as the visible part. Since the days of Newton, therefore, the known part of the spectrum of sunlight has been trebled in length, and there is no certainty that all is now known concerning the matter. In this particular, the photographic plate has become a means of revealing an unknown world to the senses.

If a low tension current of electricity passes through a wire, it cannot be sensed directly by man; but if a delicately adjusted magnetic needle be placed above and parallel to such wire, the current will turn the needle to one side and keep it there. The magnetic needle then makes known the presence of a current of electricity which has no appreciable effect upon any of man's five senses. Similarly, the magnetic currents passing over the earth are not felt by man in such a way as to be recognized, but a magnetic needle, properly adjusted, will immediately assume an approximately north and south direction, in obedience to the pull of the magnetic currents. In this manner the magnetic needle, again, reveals to man the existence and presence of forces that he cannot sense directly.

A piece of glass into which has been incorporated a small amout of the element uranium, is an instrument which reveals many wonders of the unsensed world. If the uranium glass be brought near the violet end of the spectrum of sunlight, it immediately glows, because it has the power of changing the invisible chemical rays into ordinary, white light rays. With such an instrument, darkness can be literally changed into light. Similarly, many of the class of rays to which belong the X-rays, and which are dark to the eye, and do not directly affect any of the other senses, are converted by uranium glass into visible rays. This glass, then, becomes another means whereby the world which does not directly affect our senses, may be made known.

The X- or Roentgen rays have been mentioned several times. It is generally known that they have the power of passing through the body and various other opaque bodies. The rays themselves are invisible, both before entering and after leaving the body; moreover, they do not affect any of the other senses of man. Were it not that the power is possessed of changing these rays to light rays, man could know nothing of the Roentgen rays. In fact, a screen, covered with powdered crystals of a chemical compound known as barium platinocyanide, is held behind the object through which the rays are passing, and the moment they touch this substance they are changed to light rays, and the screen glows. Or, instead, a photographic plate may be used, for the Roentgen rays affect the materials from which these plates are made. The screen of barium platinocyanide is, therefore, another means for revealing the unknown world.