HUTTON. 235 



Hutton founded geology as a logical science ; and 

 although he was ignorant of the succession of the 

 forms of life on the globe, yet his method of 

 studying the past from the present has been, and 

 still is used as the way in which the extinct animals 

 and plants can be comprehended in the scheme of 

 nature. Hutton's works were carefully studied by, 

 and in after years they were the mainspring of the 

 toil of Lyell. 



There is a very interesting notice of the life of 

 this great man in the " Encyclopaedia Britannica," 

 by Professor Geikie, and in an essay by Playfair 

 in the " Transactions of the Royal Society of 

 Edinburgh " to which the author of this memoir is 

 indebted. 



