GEOLOGICAL CHANGE, AND TIME. 115 



now lonii so L;i(';it a pait oltlic <lr> land, liis I'ollowci's "vnc nickiiauRHl 

 riiitoiiists. On the other liainl, as tlic a.u('ii(*\()f Avatcv was almost 

 alone admitted by Werner, wlio belie\e(l tlie rocks oftlie eaitli's crust 

 to liave been cUietly chemical precii)itates from a primeval universal 

 ocean, those who adopted bis views received the equally descriptive 

 name of ]Sre])tunists. The battle of these two contendinii- schools raged 

 liercely here for some years, and tliougb mainly from the youth, zeal, 

 and energy of Jameson, and the intluence which his position as ])ro- 

 fessor in the university gave him, the Wernerian doctrines continued 

 to hold their ])la('e they were eventually abandoned even l)y flanu'son 

 himself, and the debt due to the memory of Ifntton and Playfair was 

 tardilv acknowledged. 



The })ursuits and the (juarrels of philosphcrs have from early times 

 been a favorite subject of merriment to the outside world. Sucli a feud 

 as that between the Plutonists and Xeptuuists would be sure to furnish 

 abundant matter for the gratification of this propensity. Turning over 

 the ])ages of Kay's "Portraits," where so much that was distinctive of 

 Edinburgh society a. hundred years ago is embalmed, we find Hutton's 

 personal iieculiaritiesand jtursuits touched off in good-humored carica- 

 ture. In one plate he stands with arms folded and hammer in hand, 

 meditating on the face of a clifi', from which rocky prominences in 

 shape of human faces, perhaps grotes(pie likeiu'sses of his scientific 

 o[)ponents, grin at him. In another engraving he sits in conchue with 

 his friend Black, possibly arranging for that famous banquet of garden 

 snails which the two worthies had persuaded themselves to look upon 

 as a strangely neglected form of liuraan food. More than a generation 

 later, when the lluttonists and Wernerists weie at the height of their 

 antagonism, the humorous side of the controversy did not escape the 

 notice of the author of ''AVaverley,'' who, you will remember, when he 

 makes Meg Dods recount the various kinds of wise folk brought by 

 Lady Peneloi)e Pennfeather from Edinburgh to St. Konan's Well, does 

 not f(»rget to include those who "rin upliill and down dale, knapping 

 the chucky-stanes to pieces wi' hammers (like sae mony road-makers 

 run dalt), to see how the \varld was mad*'." 



Among the names of the friends and followers of Hutton there is one 

 wlMcli on this occasion deserves to be hehl in especial Inmor, that of 

 Sir .James Ilall, of Dunglass. Having acconq»aiiied Hutton in some 

 of his excursions, and having discussed w ith him the i>i()l)]ems pre- 

 sented l)y the rocks of S(M»tland, Hall was fanuliar with the views of 

 iiis master, and was able to sui)ply him with fresh illustrations of them 

 from dirterent parts of the country. (Jifted with remarkable originality 

 and ingenuity, he soon ])erceived that some of the questions involved 

 in the theory of the earth could probably be solved by direct physical 

 experiment. Hutt<Mi however mistrusted any attempt "to ju<lge of 

 tiie great operations of nature by merely kindling a tii-e aiul looking 

 into the bottom of a little crucible." Out of deference to this preju- 



