1,823.] Memoir of the 



as tliat of the barley mentioned, be 

 made to be equally productive in its 

 effects. These are hints thrown out 

 for the consideration of wlioever may 

 think well to take them up. It ap- 

 pears to nie impossible but tliat we 

 must have some dreadful re-action 

 succeeding to the present state of de- 

 mand and supply in the article of food. 

 The common working of natural 

 events will always subject us to occa- 

 sional and alarming fluctuations; and, 

 experience woefully teaches us, that 



lale Dr. Hutton. 



137 



tlie blundering mismanagement of ve- 

 nal and short-sighted rulers, will be 

 more likely to aggravate the evil than 

 to lessen it. While the danger is re- 

 mote, we should prepare for its ap- 

 proach ; when the enemy is at our 

 gates, there is no time for speculation. 

 The times are ominous ; and the next 

 five years will probably bring forward 

 a crisis which defies present calcula- 

 tion, and baffles all attempt at con- 

 jecture. James Li'ckcock. 

 Birniinyliam. 



BIOGRAPHY OF EMINENT PERSONS. 



MEMOIR of the LIFE and WRITINGS of 



the late DR. HUTTON. 



CHARLES Hutton, ll.d. and f.r.ss. 

 of London and Edinburgh, also 

 an honorary member of several other 

 learned societies, both in Europe and 

 America, was born at Newcastle-upon- 

 Tyne, on the 14th of August, 1737. He 

 was descended from a family in West- 

 moreland, which had the honour of be- 

 coming connected, by marriage, with 

 that of Sir Isaac Newton. His father, 

 who was a viewer or superintendaut, 

 of mines, gave his children such edu- 

 cation as his circumstances would per- 

 mit, which was confined to the ordinary 

 branches; but Charles, tlie youngest 

 of his sons, (the subject of this Me- 

 moir) early manifested an extraordi- 

 nary predilection for mathematical 

 studies, in which he made considera- 

 ble progress, while yet at school, with 

 very little aid from his master; for, like 

 most other eminent mathematicians, he 

 was in a groat measure self-taught. 

 After the death of his parents, which 

 took place in his early youth, he deter- 

 mined on undertaking the profession 

 of a teacher, and commenced his la- 

 bours at the neighbouring village of 

 Jesmond, before he was twenty years 

 of age ; his master, who was a clergy- 

 man, havir^, upon being presented to 

 a living, resigned the school in his 

 favour. 



In the year 1760, Dr. Hutton re- 

 moved to Newcastle, where he soon 

 experienced great encouragement ; 

 and, among his earliest pupils, was 

 the present Lord Chancellor, a circum- 

 stance which will be farther noticed 

 towards the conclusion of this Memoir. 

 We here call him Doctor i)rematiirely, 

 he not having received the diploma of 

 LL.u. until the year 1779, when that 



Monthly Mag. No. 379. 



honour was conferred upon him by the 

 university of Edinburgh ; but, as it is 

 the title by which he is best known in 

 the scientific world, we thus early 

 adopt it. 



It appears, that neither the duties 

 of his profession, nor the cares of an 

 increasing family, interrupted his fa- 

 vourite studies, as he devoted all his 

 leisure hours to mathematical pursuits. 

 In 1764 he published " A Treatise on 

 Arithmetic and Book-keeping," which 

 soon passed through numerous editions, 

 and is still held in high estimation. 

 His next publication was "a Trea- 

 tise on Me7isuratio7i, both in theory 

 and practice," and is considered the 

 most complete work on the subject 

 ever published. It established his 

 reputation as a mathematician, al- 

 though numerous proofs of liis supe- 

 rior talents and acquirements had 

 been already manifested, by his able 

 solutions of mathematical questions in 

 various scientific journals. Among 

 these repositories, the celebrated 

 Almanac, under the title of the Ladies' 

 Diary, particularly attracted his atten- 

 tion. This work had been conducted 

 with great ability, from its commence- 

 ment in 1704 ; numerous learned cor- 

 respondents contributing, annually, 

 curious mathematical questions, and 

 answers, with enigmas, &c. Dr. 

 Hutton collected the Diaries of fifty 

 years, and republished their Questions 

 and Solutions, in five volumes, with 

 notes and illustrations, which form a 

 very useful and interesting miscellany. 

 He some time afterwards became the 

 editor of the Diary, and conducted it 

 for nearly half a century, with such 

 ability and judgment, as greatly to 

 increase the numberof eminent mathe- 

 maticians, and to enlarge the bouuda- 

 T ries 



