RECORDS 



Memorials of Hutton and Playfair. 



Prof. Stevenson after speaking of the conditions prevailing in 

 in British geology prior to the publication of Hutton's memoir 

 ""i 1785, gave briefly the characteristic features of Hutton's doc- 

 trines, and accounted for the ease with which his work could be 

 misunderstood and misinterpreted. He described the conflict 

 to which the memoir led, and emphasized the bitterness of those 

 who opposed the doctrines on theological grounds. The pre- 

 paration of Playfair's work was due as much to a desire to 

 defend Hutton as to support his theory. Playfair appealed to 

 those opponents whose knowledge of the theory had been 

 derived chiefly from attacks made upon it. For them he 

 showed that the theory was beautiful, symmetrical and in no 

 sense inconsistent with the Scriptures. In dealing with the 

 other class of opponents, led by Kirwan and DeLuc, he used 

 vigorous language, exposing their ignorance and insincerity, and 

 denouncing the virulence with which they had given a theologi- 

 cal turn to the controversy. In defending Hutton's theory, 

 Playfair brought his own great resources to bear, now correct- 

 ing errors, now elaborating the doctrine, and in some places 

 hardly anticipating some of the great works of later days. 



The inviting style gained many readers for Playfair's book, 

 among them Greenough and his associates, who founded the 

 Geological Society of London, that theory might be replaced 

 by observation. Hutton's theory obtained final triumph in 

 1830, when Lyell published his "Principles." Playfair's work 

 hastened the birth of geology as now understood by a full 

 quarter of a century, and finally divorced our science from 

 cosmogeny. 



Professor Kemp's memorial was more in the nature of a re- 

 view of Hutton's personal history. He said in part : James 

 Hutton was born in 1726, and, after his school and university 

 course, entered a lawyer's office to prepare for the bar. He 

 disliked the law, however, and gave up the study after a year. 

 Being greatly interested in chemistry, he took up the study 

 of medicine, attending lectures at Edinburgh and Paris and tak- 

 ing his degree at Leyden in 1749. The career of a physician 



