IV 



Sir James Hall 185 



tinned still to do so, with the great majority of the world, but 

 for my habits of intimacy with the author, the vivacity and 

 perspicuity of whose conversation formed a striking con- 

 trast to the obscurity of his writings. I was induced by 

 that charm, and by the numerous original facts which his 

 system had led him to observe, to listen to his arguments 

 in favour of opinions which I then looked upon as 

 visionary. After three years of almost daily warfare 

 with Dr. Hutton on the subject of his theory, I began 

 to view his fundamental principles with less and less 

 repugnance." * 



As his objections diminished, Hall's interest in the 

 details of the system increased. His practical mind soon 

 perceived that some of the principles, which Hutton had 

 established by reasoning and analogy, might be brought to 

 the test of direct experiment. And he urged his friend to 

 make the attempt, or allow him to carry out the necessary 

 researches. The proposal received little encouragement 

 from the philosopher. Hutton believed that the scale of 

 nature's processes was so vast that no imitation of them, 

 on the small scale of a laboratory, could possibly lead to 

 any reliable results, or as he afterwards expressed himself 

 in print, " there are superficial reasoning men who, without 

 truly knowing what they see, think they know those 

 regions of the earth which can never be seen, and who 

 judge of the great operations of the mineral kingdom from 

 having kindled a fire and looked into the bottom of a little 

 crucible." 2 



Sir James Hall, notwithstanding his veneration for his 



1 Trans. Rvy. Soc. Edin. vi. (1812), pp. 71-186. 

 2 The&rijqfthe Earth, vol. i. p. 251. 



