GEOLOGICAL CHANGE, AND TIME. 113 



floor be elevated into new land than it must necessarily become a prey 

 t<» this universal and unceasing' de.uradati()n. He perceived that as the 

 transport of disintegrated material is carried on chiefly by runninu' 

 water, rivers must slowly dig out for themselves the channels in which 

 they How, and thus that a system of valleys, radiating from the water 

 l)arting of a country, must necessarily result from the descent of the 

 streams from the mouutaiu crests to the sea. lie discerned that this 

 ceaseless and wide-spread decay would eventually lead to the entire 

 demolition of the dry land, but he contended that from time to time 

 this catastrophe is prevented by the operation of the under-ground 

 forces, whereby new continents are upheaved from the bed of the ocean. 

 And thus in his system a due proportion is maintained between laud 

 and water, and the condition of the earth as a habitable globe is pre- 

 served. 



A theory of the earth so simple in outline, so bold in conception, so 

 full of suggestion, and resting on so broad a base of obser\ation and 

 retlectiou, ought (we might think) to have commanded at once the atten- 

 tion of men of science, even if it did not immediately awaken the inter- 

 est of the outside world; but, as Playfair sorrowfully admitted, it 

 attracted u_otice only very slowly, and several years elapsed before any 

 one sliowed himself publicly concerned about it, either as an enemy or 

 a friend. Some of its earliest critics assailed it for what they asserted 

 to be its iireligious tendency, — an accusation which Hutton repudiated 

 with niucli warmth. The sneer levelled by Cowper a few years earlier 

 at all in(|uiries into the history of the universe was perfectly natural 

 and intelligible from that poet's point of view. There Avas then a wide- 

 spread belief that this world came into existence some six thousand 

 years ago, and that any attempt greatly to inci'ease that antiquity was 

 meant as a blow to the authority of Holy Writ. So far however from 

 aiming at the overthrow of orthodox beliefs, Hutton evidently regarded 

 liis "Theory" as an important contribution in aid of natural religion. 

 He dwelt with unfeigned pleasure on the multitude of proofs which he 

 was able to accumulate of an orderly design in the operations of nature, 

 decay and renovation being so nicely balanced as to maintain the hab- 

 itable^ condition of the planet. But as he refused to admit the pre- 

 dominance of violent a(;tion in terrestrial changes, ami on the contrary 

 contended for the etiicacy of the (piict, continuous processes which we 

 can even now see at work around us, lie was constrained to require an 

 uidimitcd duration of ])ast time for the production of those revolutions 

 ot which he i)erceived such clear and abundant i)roofs in the crust of 

 the earth. The general i)ul)lic, howcvei'. failed to comprehend that the 

 doctrine of the high anti({uity of the glol)e was not inconsistent with 

 the conq)arative]y recent ai)pearance of man, — a distinction which seems 

 so obvious now. 



Hutton died in 171>7, beloved and regTetted by the circle of friends 

 who had learned to ai»i)reciate his estimable character and to admire his 

 H. Mis. 114 8 



