- Much material from Watt's personal geological collection survives in Guernsey, but still awaits historical analysis; see Howell A. Guernsey Museum and Art Gallery: Natural History Collections Journal of Biological Curation 1989 1 16 16
- Letter of Black to Watt of 1 October 1772, quoted in Partners in Science Robinson E. McKie D. London 1970 33 33 and 34.
- Dickinson , H.W. and Gomme , A. 1950 . A Catalogue of the Civil and Mechanical Engineering Designs 1741–1792 of John Smeaton FRS , 38 – 38 . London : Newcomen Society . and 39.
- Small , William . 1734–1775 . of whom we will hear more in Letter VII.
- Muirhead , J.P. 1858 . The Life of James Watt 245 – 245 . London
- Dickinson , H.W. 1936 . James Watt, Craftsman and Engineer 85 – 85 . London reprinted Newton Abbot, 1967
- Playfair , J. 1805 . Account of the late Dr James Hutton . Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh , 5 : 39 – 99 . pt 3 (p. 47), implies that Hutton and Watt together made this journey to Cheshire from Birmingham, but it seems more likely that they made a detour on their way south.
- Hutton , J. 1788 . Theory of the Earth . Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh , 1 : 209 – 304 . pt 2 (pp. 243, 244); Hutton expanded this paper into Theory of the Earth, with Proofs and Illustrations, I and II (Edinburgh and London, 1795), III (London, 1899). The reference to the Cheshire salt mines occurs in I, pp. 7 and 8.
- James Watt to his father, Birmingham, June 1, 1774; Doldowlod Papers. Dickinson (footnote 8) claims that Watt then returned to Glasgow to collect his two children, but Smiles Samuel Lives of Boulton and Watt London 1865 214 214 says that they remained in Glasgow until the following summer when a house was made ready for them on Harper's Hill near Soho. Watt's first wife, Margaret Miller, had died in 1773; he married Ann McGrigor in 1776.
- Darwin , E. 1788 . Frigorific Experiments on the Mechanical Expansion of Air . Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society , 78 : 43 – 52 . pt 1 (p. 44).
- John Playfair (1748–1819, professor of mathematics and then natural philosophy at Edinburgh University, was Hutton's disciple and most lucid advocate. It was his Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory London 1802 rather than Hutton's own writings, which won acceptance for Hutton's revolutionary ideas. Furthermore, Playfair's masterly biography remains our principal source of information about Hutton's life (see footnote 9).
- Playfair . 1805 . Account of the late Dr James Hutton . Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh , 5 : 48 – 48 . pt 3
- Hutton . 1795 . Theory of the Earth . Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh , 1 : 326 – 326 . pt 2 I
- Hutton . 1795 . Theory of the Earth . Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh , 1 : 300 – 300 . pt 2 I and 331.
- Playfair . 1805 . Account of the late Dr James Hutton . Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh , 5 : 94 – 94 . pt 3
- Playfair . 1805 . Account of the late Dr James Hutton . Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh , 5 : 93 – 93 . pt 3
- See James Hutton's Theory of the Earth: The Lost Drawings Craig G.Y. Edinburgh 1978
- Craig , G.Y. , ed. 1978 . James Hutton's Theory of the Earth: The Lost Drawings 44 – 45 . Edinburgh 68–74; Hutton (footnote 10; 1899), III, 1–90, 191–269; and Letter III below (lines 41).
- For example Gould S.J. Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle Cambridge, Mass. 1988 66 70
- Playfair . 1805 . Account of the late Dr James Hutton . Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh , 5 : 94 – 94 . pt 3
- Jones , J. 1984 . The Geological Collection of James Hutton . Annals of Science , 41 : 223 – 244 .
- F. X. Schwediaur to Sir Joseph Banks British Library, Add MSS 33978 1785 March 7 8 13
- Playfair . 1805 . Account of the late Dr James Hutton . Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh , 5 : 91 – 92 . pt 3
- Standard works on Watt's improvements are Dickinson H.W. Jenkins Rhys James Watt and the Steam Engine Oxford 1927 reprinted Ashbourne, 1981); Eric Robinson and A. E. Musson, James Watt and the Steam Revolution (London, 1969). By far the best succinct account is in Douglas Cardwell, Steam Power in the Eighteenth Century (London, 1963), where the mutual dependence of Watt and Black, so often argued, is distinctly clarified.
- Playfair , J. 1805 . Account of the late Dr James Hutton . Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh , 5 : 45 – 45 . pt 3
- Clerk , J. 1788 . Biographical Account of Sir George Clerk-Maxwell . Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh , 1 : 51 – 56 . pt. 1
- Jones , J. 1985 . James Hutton's agricultural research and his life as a farmer . Annals of Science , 42 : 573 – 601 .
- Captain James Keir (b. Edinburgh 1735, d. West Bromwich 1820) studied medicine at Edinburgh; spent eleven years in the army; had a major share in the glass works at Stourbridge and, with Alexander Blair, founded the chemical works at Tipton. He was a prominent member of the Lunar Society. See Coley N.G. James Keir: Soldier, Chemist and Gentleman West Midland Studies 1971 4 1 22 J. L. Moillet and Barbara D. Smith, A Mighty Chemist: James Keir of the Lunar Society (Privately printed 1982; available from the authors). Stourbridge lies on the road from Birmingham to Bridgnorth via Dudley, which Hutton passed through, so he may well have visited Keir on route.
- The coal of Dudley had long been famous, while the fossiliferous nature of the [Silurian] limestones here was also well known by the time of Hutton's visit. The whinstone is the Rowley Ragstone. Their first general description was in Keir James Mineralogy of the South-West part of Staffordshire The History and Antiquities of Staffordshire Shaw S. London 1798 I 116 125 2 vols
- On Rouelle, see Desmarest's article ‘Rouelle’ in the Encyclopèdie Mèthodique—Gèographie Physique Paris 1795–1832 I 409 422 5 vols For a modern appraisal, see F. Ellenberger, ‘L'enseignement geologique de Guillaume-François Rouelle (1703–1770)’, in Papers of the 5th Symposium of INHIGEO (Madrid, 1974), pp. 209–21.
- See de Saussure H.D. Voyages dans les Alpes Neuchatel 1779–1796 I 533 533 4 vols (1779), and Abraham Gottlob Werner's 1786 ‘Short Classification and Description of the Various Rocks’ edited by A. M. Ospovat (New York, 1971), pp. 20 and 21.
- Robinson and McKie . 1970 . Partners in Science Edited by: Robinson , E. and McKie , D. 8 – 8 . London
- Robinson and McKie . 1970 . Partners in Science Edited by: Robinson , E. and McKie , D. 8 – 12 . London
- In the 1740s Cookworthy found china stone (petunze) and china clay (kaolin), both products of the decomposition of granite, in Cornwall. He subsequently started to manufacture true porcelain, patenting his process in 1768. Before it was issued, he was in touch with Black. For Cookworthy and the Cornish China-Clay industry at this time, see Barton R.M. A History of the Cornish China-Clay Industry Truro 1966 17 52 In 1775, Josiah Wedgwood made a similar journey into Cornwall and his diary of the journey has been published. It makes an interesting comparison with Hutton's comments. See Proceedings of the Wedgwood Society, 1 (1956), 34–57 and 2 (1957), 80–103.
- Robinson and McKie . 1970 . Partners in Science Edited by: Robinson , E. and McKie , D. 11 – 11 . London
- For Keir James Keir: Soldier, Chemist and Gentleman West Midland Studies 1971 4 1 22
- Keir , J. 1776 . On the Crystallizations Observed in Glass . Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society , 66 : 530 – 542 . For Desmarest, see K. L. Taylor, ‘Nicholas Desmarest and Geology in the Eighteenth Century’, in Toward a History of Geology, edited by C. J. Schneer (Cambridge, Mass. and London, 1969), pp. 339–56.
- See also Smith C.S. Porcelain and Plutonism Schneer C.J. Cambridge, Mass. and London 1969 317 338
- Anon Blake Authentic Account of a late unfortunate Transaction, with respect to a Diving Machine at Plymouth Annual Register for the Year 1774 17 245 248 and ‘An authentic account of the rise and consequence of a new experiment to live under water, as lately tried at Plymouth’, Gentleman's Magazine, 44 (July 1774), 304–5.
- 1774 . Gentleman's Magazine , 44 August : 385 – 385 . and 387.
- For example the article by Hutton's friend Clerk John Scheme for Weighing up Ships sunk under water Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1794 3 7 12
- Ars Poetica , 139 – 139 . Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.
- Annual Register for the Year 1774 Vol. 17 , 146 – 146 . 142. Falck published his own observations in A philosophical dissertation on the diving Vessel projected by Mr Day, and sunk in Plymouth Sound; containing an historical account of MrDay… an appendix, shewing the various methods of weighing Ships, etc (London, 1775). This was reviewed in the Gentleman's Magazine 45 (July 1775), 337–8. There are other references to Day and Falck under ‘Country News’ for 24 July and 12 August 1774 in the Bath Chronicle of 4 August 1774, p. 3, and 18 August 1774, p. 3.
- The Pelican Inn in Walcot Street, Bath, was then an inn for the quality. It was there that Samuel Johnson stayed in 1776, and Boswell also lodged there when he arrived to visit Johnson. See Peach R.E. Historic Houses in Bath and their Associations London 1883 6 6 and J. F. Meehan, ‘Famous Buildings of Bath and District, No. 18, The Pelican’, The Beacon (July 1899), 120–2.
- The appalling state of the roads has been described in Dodd A.H. The Roads of North Wales 1750–1850 Archaeologia Cambrensis 1925 80 122 148
- Martyn , T. 1790 . An Enquiry into the nature and use of Pozzolana Earth… . Annals of Agriculture , 14 : 378 – 403 . The Blue Lias Lime, abundant at Bath, was the lime used in such cements, and it was at Bath that good quality water-setting cements were pioneered in Britain. See H. S. Torrens, ‘The Somersetshire Coal Canal Caisson Lock’, Bristol Industrial Archaeological Society Journal, 8 (1975), 5.
- Muirhead . 1858 . The Life of James Watt 170 – 170 . London
- Robinson and Musson . 1927 . James Watt and the Steam Engine 53 – 54 . Oxford 61; Dickinson (footnote 8), pp. 41, 53, reproduces the drawings of the steam wheel prepared for, but not used in, the 1769 patent.
- Robinson and Musson . 1927 . James Watt and the Steam Engine 68 – 68 . Oxford
- Robinson and Musson . 1927 . James Watt and the Steam Engine 67 – 67 . Oxford
- Dickinson and Jenkins . 1927 . James Watt and the Steam Engine 146 – 148 . Oxford
- Dickinson and Jenkins . 1927 . James Watt and the Steam Engine Oxford pl. 39; Robinson and Musson (footnote 26), pp. 69–76.
- Muirhead . 1858 . The Life of James Watt 285 – 285 . London
- Muirhead . 1858 . The Life of James Watt 413 – 413 . London
- See Harding W.J. Barker's Mills to Turbines being the Quest for the perfect Rotary Steam Engine London 1911 More than forty years later Watt revised John Robison's Encyclopaedia Britannica articles on the Steam Engine and completely removed the section describing his own steam wheel experiments, suggesting he had changed his view of their importance; see J. Watt, The articles Steam and Steam Engines written… by the late John Robison (Edinburgh: printed privately for John Murray, 1818), p. 149.
- Even Black did not know of the existence of James Hutton junior, until he appeared in Edinburgh after Hutton's death. Black seems to have realized who his mother was, however, writing to Watt ‘he is not like [the Doctor] in the face, having more the features of his mother’: Robinson McKie Partners in Science Robinson E. McKie D. London 1970 277 277
- The hot springs were the magnet that first attracted fashionable society to Bath, and architects and builders in their wake Torrens H.S. Geological communication in the Bath area in the last half of the eighteenth century Images of the Earth Jordanova L.J. Porter R. British Society for the History of Science Monograph 1 Chalfont St Giles 1979 215 247 G. P. Durant and W. D. I. Rolfe, ‘William Hunter (1718–1783) as Natural Historian: his “geological” interests’, Earth Sciences History, 3 (1984), 9–24 (p. 15) point out the wide interest in the question of mineral waters in the eighteenth century and their significance for the student of geology. The rest of this passage, and the identity of those who had been ‘shitting snowballs’, remains obscure. R. S. Neale has discussed pornographic publishing in Bath and much else in Bath: A Social History 1680–1880 (London, 1981).
- For the dates at which the fashionable parts of Bath were built, see Neale R.S. Society, Belief and the Building of Bath 1700–1793 Rural and Urban Growth 1500–1800 Chalkin C.W. Havinden M.A. London 1974 253 280 and Neale (footnote 75).
- This was one of Hutton's favourite expressions for his geological specimens. See V.A. Eyles J.M. Some Geological Correspondence of James Hutton Annals of Science 1951 7 316 339 (p. 326); A. Ferguson, ‘Life of Doctor Black’, Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 5, pt 3 (1805), 101–109 (p. 115).
- Pozzolana earth, see Martyn T. An Enquiry into the nature and use of Pozzolana Earth… Annals of Agriculture 1790 14 378 403
- In 1774, Sir Ashton Lever (1729–1788) moved his renowned collection of shells, fossils, stuffed birds, and tribal artefacts to Leicester Square, London. Owing to financial difficulties he disposed of it, by lottery, in 1788. The winner, James Parkinson, displayed it at a site near Blackfriars Bridge until 1806, when it was dispersed by auction. See Smith W.J. The Life and Activities of Sir Ashton Lever Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society 1965 72 61 92
- The geology of the Wrekin is described by Pocock R.W. Whitehead T.H. Wedd C.B. Robertson T. Shrewsbury District—Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain London 1938 Quartzite and rhyolite tuffs with intrusive dolerite and basalt are characteristic. For a survey of the geological debate about these rocks, see D. R. Oldroyd, ‘The Archaean Controversy in Britain: Part II—The Malverns and Shropshire’, Annals of Science, 49 (1992), 404–7.
- See Harris J.R. Michael Hughes of Sutton: The influence of Welsh Copper on Lancashire Business 1780–1815 Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire & Cheshire 1950 101 137 167 J. Rowlands, ‘Copper Mountain’, Studies in Anglesey History (1966; reprinted 1981, i; W. H. Chaloner ‘Charles Roe of Macclesfield (1715–81): an Eighteenth Century Industrialist’, Transactions of the Lancashire & Cheshire Antiquarian Society, 62, pt 1 (1953), 133–56, and 63, pt 2 (1954), 52–86.
- Jones . 1984 . The Geological Collection of James Hutton . Annals of Science , 41 : 231 – 233 .
- The partnership between Boulton and Fothergill (Fothergirl is a deliberate misspelling) lasted from 1762 until Fothergill's death in 1782. Boulton's original toy and button manufactory was expanded, and around 1766 they also began producing fine silver and then silver plate. The partners always faced strong competition from London and Sheffield, and Boulton let the business drop away as he became increaingly preoccupied with building steam engines. See Quickenden K. Boulton & Fothergill silver: business plans and miscalculations Art History 1980 3 274 294 and Eric Hopkins, ‘Boulton before Watt: The Earlier Career Reconsidered’, Midland History, 9 (1984), 43–58.
- Sir Ashton Lever: see Jones The Geological Collection of James Hutton Annals of Science 1984 41 231 233
- J. D. is John Davie, joint owner with Hutton of a lucrative sal ammoniac works in Edinburgh. It was Davie who looked after the day-to-day management: Playfair Account of the late Dr James Hutton Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1805 5 40 40 pt 3 99. On another occasion Hutton had specimens from John Strange directed to Davie under the address ‘Mr John Davie mercht, Halleys Wharf (British Library, MSS Eg 2001, f.29).
- Charles Francis Greville (1749–1809), now best known as the nephew of Sir William Hamilton and the first protector of Emma Hart. He was a keen mineralogist, a distinguished botanist and founder member of the Horticultural (later the Royal Horticultural) Society, and as Member of Parliament for Warwick and then Petersfield held many high political offices. See Edwards P. Clumban, M.P. and Botanist: Charles Francis Greville Country Life 1983 November 1489 1490
- The open-cast copper mine at Fahlun, north-west of Uppsala, Sweden, was then the largest copper mine in the world. Its enormous size is well conveyed by Coxe William Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden and Denmark London 1791 186 192 A good account in English was later given by Thomas Thomson in Travels in Sweden during the autumn of 1812 (London, 1813), chapter 12.
- Robert Mackell, or Mckell, was employed with Watt in 1767 to survey a possible route for the Forth and Clyde canal via Loch Lomond. Later he succeeded Smeaton as supervising engineer on the chosen route. In 1772, some committee members—perhaps including Hutton—tried, but failed, to have him dismissed on the grounds that he had falsified the accounts. According to George Clerk-Maxwell, writing to Watt on 19 February 1775 (Doldowlod Papers) he was engaged to repair and improve a canal in the neighbourhood of St Petersburg. Clerk-Maxwell added that he hoped ‘the Russians will keep him in good order’. Mackell was one of several British scientists and engineers engaged by the Russians, who had already attempted to recruit Watt and Joseph Black. See Robinson Eric The Transference of British Technology to Russia, 1760–1820 Great Britain and her World, 1750–1914: Essays in Honour of W. O. Henderson Ratcliife B.M. Manchester 1975 1 27 Z. A. Siemaszko, ‘James Watt and the Brain Drain’, New Scientist, 34 (1967), 405–6; I. G. Lindsay and M. Cosh, Inverary and the Dukes of Argyll (Edinburgh, 1973), pp. 360 and 423; and A. Cross, ‘A Russian Engineer in Eighteenth Century Britain: The Journal of N. I. Korsakov 1776–7’, The Slavonic and East European Review, 55 (1977), 6–7.
- John Robison (1739–1805), newly returned from his post as Professor of Mathematics to the Imperial Cadets at St Petersburg to become Professor of Mathematics at Edinburgh University. He had been a friend of Watt and Black since his student days at Glasgow, where Black was his teacher and Watt was instrument maker to the University. His letters to Black and Watt are reproduced alongside the Watt-Black correspondence in Partners in Science Robinson E. McKie D. London 1970 33 33
- Robinson and McKie . 1970 . Partners in Science Edited by: Robinson , E. and McKie , D. 142 – 142 . London
- Robinson and McKie . 1970 . Partners in Science Edited by: Robinson , E. and McKie , D. 158 – 158 . London
Annals of Science
Volume 51, 1994 - Issue 6