LIFE of Dr HVrTON. 6i 



accurate indudtion, and which opened up fo many views, intere fl- 

 ing not to mineralogy alone, but to philofophy in general, that it 

 would have produced a fudden and vifible efFedl, and that men 

 of fcicnce would have been every where eager to decide con- 

 cerning its real value. Yet the truth is, that it drew their at- 

 tention very flowly, fo that feveral years elapfed before any one 

 Ihewed himfelf publicly concerned about it, either as an ene- 

 my or a friend. 



Several caxifes probably contributed to produce this indif- 

 ference. The world was tired out with \infuccefsful attempts 

 to form geological theories, by men often but ill informed of 

 the phenomena which they propofed to explain, and who pro- 

 ceeded alfo on the fuppofition that they could give an account 

 of the origin of things, or the firft eflablifliment of that fyftem 

 which is now the order of nature. Men who guided their in- 

 quiries by a principle fo inconfiftent with the limits of the hu- 

 man faculties, could never bring their fpeculations to a fatisfac- 

 tory conclufion, and the world readily enough perceived their 

 failure, without taking the trouble to inquire into the caufe 

 of it. 



Truth, however, forces me to add, that other reafons cer- 

 tainly contributed not a little to prevent Dr Hutton's theory 

 from making a due impreflion on the world. It was propofed 

 too briefly, and with too little detail of fadls, for a fyftem which 

 involved fo much that was new, and oppofite to the opinions 

 generally received. The defcriptions which it contains of the 

 phenomena of geology, fuppofe in the reader too great a know- 

 ledge of the things defcribed. The reafoning is fometimes em- 

 barraffed by the care taken to render it flri<5lly logical ; and the 

 tranfitions, from the author's peculiar notions of arrangement, 

 are often unexpefted and abrupt. Thefe defe(5ls run more or 

 lefs through all Dr Hutton's writings, and produce a degree of 

 obfcurity aftonifhing to thofe who knew him, and who heard 



him. 



