was held to be a fundamental 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 placed in a stove, in a short time disappear—it is annihilated. From the clear air of a summer's day raindrops start—created out of nothing. A fragment of gold placed in contact with sufficiently strong acids, disappears—it is destroyed.

[Sidenote: Matter is eternal, its form only can be changed.]

Towards the end of the eighteenth century, facts and laws of 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 collected 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 raindrops are formed from the water found in the air, as an invisible vapor. The gold dissolved in the acid, may be wholly recovered so that every particle is accounted for. 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 matter 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 many religious sects still hold that God, as the Supreme 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.

[Sidenote: Mormonism teaches that all things are material.]

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,"[A] 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 organized and reorganized, but not destroyed. They had no beginning, and can have no end."[B]

[Footnote A: Doctrine and Covenants, 93:33.]

[Footnote B: The Contributor, Vol. 4, p. 257.]

It is thus evident that from the beginning of his work, Joseph Smith was in perfect harmony with the fundamental doctrine of 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.

Mormonism has frequently been charged with accepting the doctrine of materialism. In one sense, the followers of Joseph Smith plead yes to this charge. In Mormon theology there is no place for immateralism; i.e. for a God, spirits and angels that are not material. Spirit is only a refined form of matter. It is beyond the mind of man to conceive of an immaterial thing. On the other hand, Joseph Smith did not teach that the kind of tangible matter, which impresses our mortal senses, is the kind of matter which is associated with heavenly beings. The distinction between the matter known to man and the spirit matter is very great; but no greater than is the difference between the matter of the known elements and that of the universal ether which forms one of the accepted dogmas of science.

Science knows phenomena only as they are associated with matter;
Mormonism does the same.

Chapter III.

THE INDESTRUCTIBILITY OF ENERGY.

[Sidenote: All forms of energy may be converted into each other.
Energy can not be destroyed.]

It is only when matter is in motion, or in the possession of energy, that it is able to impress our senses. The law of the indestructibility and convertibility of energy, is of equal fundamental value with that of the indestructibility of matter. 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. Energy, in fact, may be defined 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 distinct and not convertible into other elements.

In the early part of the nineteenth century students of light and heat began to demonstrate 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 distinct, could be converted one into the other. This idea was confirmed in various experimental ways. Sir Humphrey Davy, 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, a 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.[A]

[Footnote A: The Conservation of Heat—Stewart, pp. 38, 39.]

From 1843 to 1849, Dr. Joule of Manchester, England, published the results of experiments on the relation between mechanical 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 paddles 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 temperature of one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit.[A] This experiment, frequently repeated, gave the same result and established largely the law of the convertibility of energy.

[Footnote A: The Conservation of Energy—Stewart, pp. 44, 45. Recent
Advances in Physical Science—Tait, pp. 63, 65.]

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 produced.

Thus, by countless experiments, it was finally determined that energy is indestructible; that, when any form of energy disappears, 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