68 HISTORY OF GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY. 



James Hutton, the author of the famous Theory of the Earth, 

 was the son of a merchant, and was born in Edinburgh on 

 3rd June 1726. He received an excellent education at the 

 High School and University of his native city. His strong 

 bent for chemical science induced him to select medicine as a 

 profession. He studied at Edinburgh, Paris, and Ley den, and 

 took his degree at Leyden in 1749, but on his return to 

 Scotland he did not follow out his profession. Having in- 

 herited an estate in Berwickshiie from his father, he went to 

 reside there, and interested himself in agriculture and in 

 chemical and geological pursuits. The success of an industrial 

 undertaking in which he had a share afforded him ample 

 means, and in 1768 he retired to Edinburgh, where he lived 

 with his three sisters. He actively engaged in scientific inquiry, 

 and enjoyed the cultured social intercourse open to him in 

 Edinburgh. The literary fruits of his life in the country 

 include several papers on meteorology and agriculture, and a 

 large philosophical work. 



From his early days he had always taken a delight in study- 

 ing the surface forms and rocks of the earth's crust, and had 

 lost no opportunity of extending his geological knowledge 

 during frequent journeys in Scotland, England, in Northern 

 France, and the Netherlands. On his tours into the neigh- 

 bourhood of Edinburgh he was often accompanied by his 

 friends, who realised the originality of many of Hutton's views 

 on geological subjects, and begged him to put them into 

 writing. At last Hutton set himself to the work of shaping 

 his ideas into a coherent, comprehensive form, and in 1785 

 read his paper on the " Theory of the Earth " before the Royal 

 Society of Edinburgh. Three years later it was published in 

 the Transactions. 



The publication of the work attracted little favourable notice. 

 This may have been due partly to the title, which was the 

 same as that of so many valueless publications, and partly to 

 the involved, unattractive style of writing; in larger measure, 

 however, it was due to the fact that the learning of the schools 

 had no part in Hutton's work. Hutton's thoughts had been 

 borne in upon him direct from nature; for the best part of his 

 life he had conned them, tossed them in his mind, tested them, 

 and sought repeated confirmation in nature before he had even 

 begun to fix them in written words, or cared to think of any- 

 thing but his own enjoyment of them. 



