BUSTS OF GEOLOGISTS. 
7 
Coal and Culm.” During 30 years, Dr. Hutton’s attention was 
centred in the discussion of great geological problems, and at length 
he communicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh his famous 
“ Theory of the Earth,” a most remarkable and original work, 
which was in truth the foundation of modern geology. In 1795 
this was re-published in an amplified form in two volumes. 
Dr. Hutton died in 1797, and of him, his biographer, Prof. Play- 
fair, has said : — “ The acquisitions of fortune never excited more 
lively expressions of joy in other men than hearing of a new in- 
vention, or being made acquainted with a new truth, would at 
any time do in Dr. Hutton.” “ He would rejoice over Watts’ 
improvements on the steam engine, or Cook’s discoveries in the 
South Sea, with all the warmth of a man who was to share in 
the honour or the profit about to accrue from them.” “Dr. 
Hutton possessed in an eminent degree, the talents, the acquire- 
ments and the temper which entitle a man to the name of a 
philosopher.” 
Dr. Hutton’s bust stands on one side of the base of the 
statue of Hercules, and is mounted upon a column of marble 
from Ipplepen, in Devonshire (No. 120). 
Professor J. Playfair. — After Sir F. Chantrey , by M. Noble . 
No. 208. 
John Playfair was born at Ben vie, in Forfarshire, March 
10, 1748. Dr. Wilkie, the Professor of Natural Philosophy at 
St. Andrews, finding himself unable to discharge the duties of 
his office, delegated them to Playfair, then a student ; a fact 
which proves the estimation in which he was then held. In 
1773 Playfair obtained the living of Liff and Benvie, and 12 
years afterwards he was appointed Professor of Mathematics, 
jointly with Dr. Ferguson, in the University of Edinburgh : and 
on the death of Mr. Robison, in 1805, he succeeded him in the 
chair of Natural Philosophy in that University. He was the 
intimate friend of Hutton and the strenuous supporter of the 
geological theory which bears that philosopher’s name. Play- 
fair’s “ Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth,” is a 
work justly admired for the clearance and elegance with which 
the system is expounded. His works were of a varied character, 
chiefly connected with mathematics and the higher branches of 
natural philosophy. The death of Professor J ohn Playfair took 
place at Edinburgh on the 19th July 1819. 
The bust stands on a pedestal of grey granite from the 
Cheese wring, in Cornwall (No. 209). 
Sir James Hall. — An original bust by Patric Parl\ 
No. 200. 
There were few men who united with more advantage 
chemistry and geology than Sir James Hall, of D unglass. At a 
period when the theories of the earth’s formation were zealously 
