- 1967 . “ Thus Edward Battersby Bailey ” . In James Hutton—the Founder of Modern Geology Amsterdam, London, and New York follows earlier opinion in writing that ‘The publication of the Royal Society of Edinburgh's edition of the Theory of the Earth, 1788, attracted very little comment, appreciative or the reverse, outside of Edinburgh’ (p. 61). But Rhoda Rappaport had already noted (History of Science, 1964, 3, 76n18) that Playfair's assertion ‘needs investigation’, and Gordon L. Davies (The Earth in Decay: A History of British Geomorphology, 1578–1878 [London, 1969], pp. 185–186) precedes me in ascertaining that there was in fact ‘widespread comment and criticism’. Though the present article extends our bibliographical knowledge of Hutton's early reputation, it claims only to be representative, not complete.
- Playfair , John . 1802 . Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth iii – iii . Edinburgh I quote from the facsimile reprint, intro. George W. White (Urbana, 1956). In his biographical account of Hutton (1803; pub. 1805), Playfair comments twice on Hutton's style, both times negatively (pp. 61–62; 83).
- Reprinted in James Hutton's System of the Earth 1785 Theory of the Earth, 1788; Observations on Granite, 1794; together with Playfair's Biography of Hutton (Facsimiles of the Original Editions), intro. Victor A. Eyles, foreword George W. White; Darien, Conn.: Hafner, 1970. The valuable introduction supplements and, except for one or two details, supersedes two earlier articles by Eyles: ‘Note on the Original Publication of Hutton's Theory of the Earth, and on the Subsequent Forms in which it was Issued’, Proceedings, Section ‘B’ of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1950, 63, 4, 377–386 (which also reprints the ‘Abstract’, as Hutton called it, though not in facsimile); and ‘A Bibliographical Note on the Earliest Printed Version of James Hutton's Theory of the Earth, Its Form and Date of Publication’, J. Soc. Bibl. Nat. Hist., 1955, 3, 105–108. See also Bailey, op. cit., pp. 27–31. It should be stressed that this ‘Abstract’ is not the full text of the oral presentation of 1785. We do not have that fuller text.
- This quotation, noticed by Rappaport, appears in Freshfield Douglas W. The Life of Horace Benedict de Saussure London 1920 466a 466a (with Henry F. Montagnier) The letter is in private hands.
- First noted by Schofield Robert E. The Lunar Society of Birmingham Oxford 1963 280 280 note 2, but inaccurately. I am grateful to W. A. Taylor, City Librarian, Birmingham Public Libraries, for a photocopy of the original letter, which is in their Boulton and Watt collection.
- This version contains 93 pp. of text. Most copies are dated 1788, which makes an appearance in the fall of 1787 quite likely, since advanced dating of that sort was common. One copy, however, seems to be dated 1786. Perhaps this date was that of Hutton's manuscript. I would guess that printing began in 1786 with the title page, that production was delayed (a year in press was not unheard of), and that a new title page was then decided upon. See Eyles 1970 xxii (note 12a); and (1950), 382, 385.
- 1788 . Trans. R. Soc. Edinb. , 1 : 209 – 304 . Now available in facsimile (note 3 above), with slightly reduced page size and the transfer of five lines from 209 to a separate title page. See also Bailey, 32–50..
- Bailey . 1967 . James Hutton—the Founder of Modern Geology 28 – 28 . Amsterdam, London, and New York Hutton published a separate article on granite in 1794 (note 3 above).
- 1788 . Trans. R. Soc. Edinb. , 1 : 304 – 304 . The same quotation is in Theory of the Earth, vol. i, p. 200. Hutton's ‘Abstract’ affirms more bluntly that, ‘with respect to human observation, this world has neither a beginning nor an end’ (p. 28).
- 1788 . Monthly Rev. , 79 : 36 – 38 . I quote pp. 37 and 37–38.
- 1788 . Analytical Rev. , 1 : 424 – 425 . This review and the following one were brought to my attention by Davies.
- 1788 . Critical Rev. , 66 : 115 – 120 . I quote p. 115.
- 1788 . Cricical Rev. Vol. 66 , 116 – 116 .
- 1788 . Cricical Rev. Vol. 66 , 120 – 120 .
- Williams , John . 1789 . The Natural History of the Mineral Kingdom Vol. 2 , xxiv – xxv . Edinburgh For Hutton, see pp. xxiii–lxii. It is a measure of Playfair's influence that these remarks do not appear in Williams' second edition (1810).
- Williams . 1789 . The Natural History of the Mineral Kingdom Vol. 2 , lix – lix . Edinburgh The following decade is particularly noted for its sensitivity toward religion and corresponding intolerance of free thought.
- 1791 . Monthly Rev. Vol. 6 , 121 – 131 . (n.s.) Williams's own theory is also rejected by the Monthly. For an unpublished criticism of Hutton by John Thomson in 1790 or 1791, see Patsy A. Gerstner, ‘The Reaction to James Hutton's Use of Heat as a Geological Agent’, Brit. J. Hist. Sci., 1971, 5, 353–362.
- 1781 . Monthly Rev. , 64 : 487 – 487 .
- 1790 . Monthly Rev. , 2 : 206 – 227 . (n.s.) 1790, 2 (n.s.), 582–601; 1791, 3 (n.s.), 573–586; 1791, 5 (n.s.), 564–585. These were public letters, of course, and do not indicate an actual correspondence. In his biography of Hutton (note 3 above), Playfair uncertainly recalls that Hutton sent a reply to De Luc's letters which the Monthly would not print (pp. 85–86n).
- 1790 . Monthly Rev. , 2 : 207 – 207 .
- Darwin , Erasmus . 1806 . Poetical Works Vol. 3 , London The twelve references are as follows: vol. i, pp. 83; 304–305; 314–315; 319; 321; 322; 324; 330; 350; 357; 363; vol. ii, p. 130.
- Darwin , Erasmus . 1806 . Poetical Works Vol. i , 357 – 357 . London
- Darwin , Erasmus . 1806 . Poetical Works Vol. i , 76 – 76 . London
- Griggs , Earl Leslie , ed. 1956–1971 . Collected Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Vol. i , 177 – 177 . Oxford 6 vols. I am preparing a book-length study of the influence of geology upon British writers between 1765 and 1825, in which I discuss Coleridge and others.
- 1793 . Mem. Sci. & Arts. , 1 : 295 – 302 . The British Museum has a copy.
- 1793 . Trans. R. Irish Acad. , 5 : 51 – 81 . I quote p. 52. Hutton's paper on rain (1788) was attacked by De Luc. See Playfair's biography of Hutton, pp. 62–65, and Bailey, op. cit., pp. 59–60. Kirwan again mentions Hutton in Trans. R. Irish Acad., 1797, 6, 261.
- These points appear on pp. 54, 55, 56, 56, and 58, respectively, the last three being direct quotations from Hutton. See also Bailey James Hutton—the Founder of Modern Geology Amsterdam, London, and New York 1967 64 67
- Sulivan , Richard Joseph . 1794 . A View of Nature, in Letters to a Traveller among the Alps Vol. ii , 185 – 186 . London 6 vols. Only the first two volumes are geological. ‘Doctor Hutton … gives too implicitly into the belief of the eternity of the world; not-withstanding, he is satisfactory and perspicuous in many parts of his system. For instance, the decomposition and waste of the surface of the rocks and strata of mountains and cavernous shores, and the formation of strata under the waves of the ocean, are points which are to me evident, and which I shall have occasion to insist upon largely hereafter.’ (Vol. i, pp. 92–93.)
- See Eyles 1955 107 108 and Bailey op. cit., p. 27. In his preface (1970) Eyles notes the French translation of Hutton's ‘Abstract’ that appeared in 1793; see pp. xviii–xix and xxii, note 16. Aside from these French items of 1793 and 1794, and the letter to Saussure cited earlier, we know very little about his European reputation. According to Kirwan (1793), Hutton's theory was ‘but little known or at least noticed on the continent’ (p. 52). Yet Eyles has also found significant German reviews, including a complete translation of the 1788 paper, from 1790 and 1792 (Cecil J. Schneer, ed., Toward a History of Geology [Cambridge, Mass., and London, 1969], p. 167). Davies, op. cit., notes an American item from 1798 (p. 186).
- 1797 . Ency. Brit. , 3rd ed. Vol. vi , 241 – 252 . (summary); pp. 254–260 (commentary). I quote pp. 254–255.
- Quoting , 255 – 256 . 256, and 258.
- Quoting , 260 – 260 . as with the following quotation.
- Bailey . 1967 . James Hutton — the Founder of Modern Geology 68 – 152 . Amsterdam, London, and New York A portion of Hutton's third volume was preserved in his own manuscript and finally published in 1899, together with an index for all three volumes. Vols. i and ii were reprinted by facsimile in 1959 (second printing, 1960).
- 1796 . Brit. Critic , 8 : 337 – 352 . 466–480; 598–606. De Luc poses an interesting question to Hutton scholars in dating the latter's Theory 1796 (p. 337).
- 1796 . Brit. Critic , 8 : 338 – 338 .
- 1796 . Brit. Critic , 8 : 474 – 474 .
- 1796 . Brit. Critic. , 8 : 477 – 477 .
- Howard , Philip . 1797 . The Scriptural History of the Earth and of Mankind, Compared with the Cosmogonies, Chronologies, and Original Traditions of Ancient Nations … London review in Monthly Rev., 1798, 25, 241–254 (see p. 253).
- Kirwan , Richard . 1799 . Geological Essays 433 – 433 . London (both quotes). For Hutton, see pp. 433–499.
- Kirwan , Richard . 1799 . Geological Essays 3 – 3 . London
- The Presbyterian church was official in Scotland, the Anglican in England. For eighteenth-century deism, see Stephen Leslie History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century New York 1962 2 orig. pub. 1876) and Basil Willey, The Eighteenth Century Background (London, 1965). Neither mentions Hutton, however.
- Playfair, with characteristic modesty, nowhere reveals that between 1797 and 1802 he and a few others regularly spoke out on Hutton's behalf. See Geikie Archibald The Founders of Geology , 2nd ed. 1905 repr. Dover); Charles Coulston Gillispie, Genesis and Geology (repr. Harper, 1959); and Gordon L. Davies, The Earth in Decay (London, 1969), passim.
Annals of Science
Volume 30, 1973 - Issue 1