1823.] Memoir oj the late Dr. Hut ton. 



tropolis, and bis election, soon after, searches, thouKb 

 as a fellow of the Royal Societ}', gave 

 him new opportunities for the advance- 

 ment and diffusion of the most useful 

 knowledge ; for, it should be observed, 

 that, at all times, bis attention was parti- 

 cularlydirected to those branches of the 

 mathematics which are most conducive 

 to the practical purposes of life. In a 

 short time, be became an important 

 contributor to the Philosophical Trans- 

 actions, wliicb, from the specimens he 

 gave, it is probable be would have en- 

 riched more than any other member 

 either ancient or modern, had not a 

 stop been jjut to his valuable labours 

 by unfortunate dissentions in the Royal 

 Society, which nearly gave a death- 

 blow to that excellent institution. 



It were tedious here to detail the 

 subjects of tlie several papers which 

 Dr. Hutton, in a few years, submitted 

 to the Royal Society, especially as 

 they may be seen in the Philosophical 

 Transactions of that period : but two 

 papers deserve particular notice, as 

 the most useful and important that, 

 perhaps, had been communicated since 

 the chair of that learned institution 

 was filled by Sir Isaac Newton. 



The first of these communications 

 was on the " Force of fired Gun- 

 powder, and the initial Velocities of 

 Cannon-hat Is." These results had 

 been determined by a series of expe- 

 riments, made with a new instrun^ent 

 of the Doctor's own invention ; and, so 

 sensible was the Royal Society of the 

 value of the communication, that the 

 annual gold prize-medal was imme- 

 diately voted as due to Dr. H. and itwas 

 accordingly presented to him by tlic Pre- 

 sident, Sir John Pringle, in an address 

 expressed in the most flattering terms. 



A proof of the high estimation of 

 this paper, even abroad, has been re- 

 cently published in the life of the cele- 

 brated Lagrange, by the Chevalier De- 

 lambre, who states, that, at the most 

 violent period of the French revolu- 

 tion, all foreigners were peremptorily 

 ordered to quit France, and Lagrange 

 was of course included ; but his col- 

 leagues of the Institute presented a 

 memorial to the Convention, soliciting 

 permission for him to remain at Pa- 

 lis, a.i he was then engaged in cxperi- 

 m<!ntsof the greatest importance to the 

 country, namely, ni)on " Dr. Hutton's 

 reports on the force of fired gun|)ow- 

 der." On this plea, an exception was 

 de<;reed in bis favour. He was tht re- 

 fore permitted to continue hi.'j rc- 



139 

 it does not appear 

 that be made any report on the subject ; 

 from which it may be inferred, that he 

 found no ground either for improve- 

 ment or animadversion. 



The other ])aper just alluded to, 

 among Dr. Hutton's communications, 

 was on the subject of the " Mean Den- 

 sity of the Earth," a laborious work, 

 deduced from experiments and sur- 

 veys of the mountain of Sehehallien, 

 in Perthshire. This operation, which 

 had always been considered a deside- 

 ratum in the scientific world, was 

 commenced in 1775, by order of the 

 Royal Society, and chiefly under the 

 direction of Dr. INIaskelyne, the 

 Astronomer Royal. After the dimen- 

 sions of the mountain had been taken, 

 and the deflections of the plumb-line 

 ascertained with great accuracy, and 

 verified by repeated experiments, the 

 most difficult and important part of the 

 undertaking yet remained to be exe- 

 cuted, namely, the calculations and 

 the deductions, which required pro- 

 found science, as well as immense 

 labour. The attention of the Royal 

 Society was at once directed to Dr. 

 H. as the person most competent to 

 this arduous undertaking. He un- 

 dertook the task ; and, in the course of 

 a year, presented Iiis report, which 

 will be found in the " Philosophical 

 Tramactions," of 1778, and again in 

 1821. The latter paper was drawn 

 up with a view of exposing certain 

 sinister attempts that had been made, 

 to transfer from Dr. H. the honour of 

 this important operation. 



Such were among the invaluable 

 but short-lived labours of Dr. H. in the 

 Royal Society: and here it may be pro- 

 per to state the circumstances by which 

 they were unfortunately terminated. 



When Dr. Hutton first entered the 

 Society, Sir John Pringle was the Pre- 

 sident. He was a person of great 

 acquirements, and eminently well- 

 qualified to fill the chair cf Newton. 

 He always manifested a particular re- 

 gard for the Doctor, which probably 

 excited the jealousy of many persons, 

 who were not attaclK^d to mathemati- 

 cal investigations : among the mem- 

 bers of this description, was Mr. (after- 

 wards Sir Joseph) Banks, agentlcmau 

 too well known to render it necessary 

 to add any thing further here concern- 

 ing him, except that he had ac(|uircd 

 .suHieient influence over the majority 

 of the mcmbrirs of the Society to ob- 

 tjun his election as President, upon 



the 



