A Geological Betrospect of the Year 1802. 197 



a remote country manse and in the duties of a parish minister he 

 spent ten years of his life, supporting his mother and educating his 

 younger brothers. But at the end of that time he resigned his 

 living, and as his scientific tastes remained as strong as ever, he 

 obtained in 1785 the appointment of Joint- Professor of Mathematics 

 in the University of Edinburgh. His gentle and kindly nature, 

 his high mental endowments, and his social charm soon gained for 

 him an honoured place in the circle of philosophers, men of science, 

 and of letters who at that time shed such lustre on the Scottish 

 capital. Among the friendships which he specially cherished there 

 was that of Hutton, who in the Spring of the same year (1785) 

 read to the Eoyal Society of Edinburgh the first sketch of his 

 famous " Theory of the Earth." Playfair's philosophic mind appears 

 to have been early fascinated by the breadth and profundity of 

 Button's views of Nature. As he used to accompany the geologist 

 on his excursions in Scotland, and had abundant opportunities of 

 listening to his enthusiastic disquisitions, Playfair enjoyed special 

 facilities for gaining a fuller appreciation of Hutton's doctrine than 

 could easily be gathered from the master's own writings, which, 

 from their cumbrous and obscure style, had met with less recognition 

 than their intrinsic originality and importance deserved. When, 

 therefore, Hutton died, his admiring disciple determined to draw up 

 a popular and perspicuous sketch of his friend's geological system. 

 After working at the task for five years he published in the Spring 

 of 1802 his well-known " Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory." 

 Playfair's subsequent career was as uneventful as the years that 

 had already passed. In 1805 he was transferred to the Chair of 

 Natural Philosophy in Edinburgh University, an appointment which 

 he continued to fill up to the end of his life. He contributed many 

 articles and memoirs to the current literature of the day, and in his 

 later years undertook many journeys at home and abroad in pursuit 

 of geological studies. Btit an internal ailment brought his life to 

 a close on 19th July, 1819, at the age of 71. 



Playfair's loyalty to his great teacher, and his earnest desire to 

 set the Huttonian system in a clear and attractive guise before the 

 world, led him to keep himself in the background and to take little 

 heed that men should notice the fresh observations, deductions, and 

 illustrations which he himself contributed towards the confirmation 

 of Hutton's doctrines. Hence less credit has perhaps been assigned 

 to him than he deserved as an independent and original observer. 

 The extraordinary merit of his volume was at once recognised, and 

 it gave a powerful impulse to the acceptation of Hutton's views. 

 Its admirably ordered presentation of facts, its luminous and 

 persuasive conduct of argument, its restrained caution in the 

 statement of theoretical propositions, its caustic yet courteous 

 treatment of Hutton's adverse critics, and its pervading grace and 

 elegance of diction have long since given to Playfair's treatise 

 a place among the choicest classics of English scientific literature. 

 It consists of two parts. Of these the first contains a broad and 

 interesting outline of the whole geological system propounded by 



