124: A CENTURY OF SCIENCE 



sure (1740-1799), the sponsor for the term, " Geology," 

 (1779) who saw in the intimate relation of Alpine 

 streams and valleys the evidence of erosion by running 

 water (1786). 



The work of these acknowledged leaders of geological 

 thought attracted singularly little attention on the Con- 

 tinent, and Lamarck's volume on denudation (Hydro- 

 geologie), which appeared in 1802, although an important 

 contribution, sank out of sight. But the seed of the French 

 school found fertile ground in Edinburgh, the center of 

 the geological world during the first quarter of the nine- 

 teenth century. Button's "Theory of the Earth, with 

 Proofs and Illustrations," in which the guidance of 

 DeSaussure and Desmarest is gratefully acknowledged, 

 appeared in 1795. The original publication aroused only 

 local interest, but when placed in attractive form by Play- 

 fair's "Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory" (1802), 

 the problem of the origin and development of land forms 

 assumed a commanding position in geological thought. 

 Hutton was peculiarly fortunate in his environment. He 

 had the support and assistance of a group of able scien- 

 tific colleagues as well as the bitter opposition of Jameson 

 and of the defenders of orthodoxy. His views were 

 discussed in scientific publications and found their way to 

 literary and theological journals. Button's conception 

 of the processes of land sculpture slow upheaving and 

 slow degradation of mountains, differential weathering, 

 and the carving of valleys by streams has a very 

 modern aspect. Playf air's book would scarcely be out of 

 place in a twentieth century class room. The following 

 paragraphs are quoted from it: 3 



" ... A river, of which the course is both serpentine and 

 deeply excavated in the rock, is among the phenomena, by 

 which the slow waste of the land, and also the cause of that 

 waste, are most directly pointed out. 



The structure of the vallies among mountains, shews clearly to 

 what cause their existence is to be ascribed. Here we have first 

 a large valley, communicating directly with the plain, and wind- 

 ing between high ridges of mountains, while the river in the 

 bottom of it descends over a surface, remarkable, in such a 

 scene, for its uniform declivity. Into this, open a multitude of 

 transverse or secondary vallies, intersecting the ridges on either 



