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{{Short description|Scottish geologist (1726–1797)}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = James Hutton
| honorific_suffix  = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRSE}}
| image             = Sir Henry Raeburn - James Hutton, 1726 - 1797. Geologist - PG 2686 - National Galleries of Scotland.jpg
| alt               = University of Edinburgh James Hutton Statue
| caption           = Portrait by [[Henry Raeburn]], 1776
| birth_date        = 3 June 1726
| birth_place       = [[Edinburgh]], Scotland
| death_date        = 26 March 1797 (aged 70)
| death_place       = Edinburgh, Scotland
| alma_mater        = {{ubl|[[University of Edinburgh]]|[[University of Paris]]}}
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for         = {{hlist|[[Plutonism|Plutonic geology]]<br>[[Uniformitarianism]]<br>[[Unconformity]]<br>[[Deep time]]<br>}}
| signature         = 
| footnotes         = Member of the [[Royal Society of Agriculture of France]]
| field             = Geology
| work_institutions = 
| prizes            = 
}}

'''James Hutton''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRSE}} ({{IPAc-en|pron|ˈ|h|ʌ|t|ən}}; 3 June [[Old Style and New Style dates|O.S.]]<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Daly |first1=Sean |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nHNdDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22James+Hutton%22+3+June+O.S.+1726&pg=PA27 |title=From the Erzgebirge to Potosi: A History of Geology and Mining Since the 1500's |last2=Agricola |first2=Georgius |date=2018-05-10 |publisher=FriesenPress |isbn=978-1-5255-1758-7 |language=en}}</ref> 1726 – 26 March 1797) was a Scottish [[geologist]], [[Agricultural science|agriculturalist]], [[chemist|chemical manufacturer]], [[Natural history|naturalist]] and [[physician]].<ref name="Waterston">{{cite book |last1=Waterston |first1=Charles D |last2=Macmillan Shearer |first2=A |title=Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002: Biographical Index |url=http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf |volume=I |year=2006 |publisher=[[The Royal Society of Edinburgh]] |location=Edinburgh |isbn=978-0-902198-84-5 |access-date=17 July 2012 |archive-date=19 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919152306/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Often referred to as the "Father of Modern Geology,"<ref name="MillennialPlaque">{{cite web|url=http://www.ed.ac.uk/explore/people/plaques/jameshutton.html |title=Millennial Plaques: James Hutton |author=University of Edinburgh |publisher=Hutton's Millennial Plaque, which reads, "In honour of James Hutton 1726–1797 Geologist, chemist, naturalist, [[father of]] modern geology, [[alumnus]] of the University," is located at the main entrance of the [[King's Buildings|Grant Institute]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071101080843/http://www.ed.ac.uk/explore/people/plaques/jameshutton.html |archive-date= 1 November 2007 |author-link=University of Edinburgh }}</ref><ref name="Denby">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/10/11/041011crat_atlarge |title=Northern Lights: How modern life emerged from eighteenth-century Edinburgh |author=David Denby |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=11 October 2004 |quote=In 1770, James Hutton, an experimental farmer and the owner of a [[sal ammoniac]] works, began poking into the peculiar shapes and textures of the [[Salisbury Crags]], the looming, irregular rock formations in [[Edinburgh]]. Hutton noticed something astonishing—[[fossil]]ized fish remains embedded in the rock. The remains suggested that [[Volcano|volcanic activity]] had lifted the mass from some depth in the sea. In 1785, he delivered a lecture to the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]], which included the remarkable statement that "with respect to human observation, this world has neither a beginning nor an end." The book that he eventually published, ''[[Theory of the Earth]]'', helped to establish modern geology. }}</ref> he played a key role in establishing geology as a modern science.

Hutton advanced the idea that the physical world's [[history of Earth|remote history]] can be inferred from evidence in present-day rocks. Through his study of features in the landscape and coastlines of his native [[Scottish Lowlands]], such as [[Salisbury Crags]] or [[Siccar Point]], he developed the theory that geological features could not be static but underwent continuing transformation over indefinitely long periods of time. From this he argued, in agreement with many other early geologists, that the Earth could not be young. He was one of the earliest proponents of what in the 1830s became known as [[uniformitarianism]], the science which explains features of the [[Crust (geology)|Earth's crust]] as the outcome of continuing natural processes over the long [[geologic time scale]]. Hutton also put forward a thesis for a 'system of the habitable Earth' proposed as a [[deism|deistic]] mechanism designed to keep the world eternally suitable for humans,<ref name="Rudwick68" /> an early attempt to formulate what today might be called one kind of [[anthropic principle]].

Some reflections similar to those of Hutton can be found in publications of his contemporaries, such as the French naturalist [[Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon|Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon]],<ref name="Rudwick68">{{cite book|author=M. J. S. Rudwick|title=Earth's Deep History: How It Was Discovered and Why It Matters|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lYyRBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA68|date=15 October 2014|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-20393-5|pages=68–70}}</ref> but it is chiefly Hutton's pioneering work that established the field.<ref name="VestigeProspectAMNH">{{cite web|url=http://www.amnh.org/education/resources/rfl/web/essaybooks/earth/p_hutton.html |title=James Hutton: The Founder of Modern Geology |author=American Museum of Natural History |work=Earth: Inside and Out |year=2000 |quote="The result, therefore, of this physical enquiry", Hutton concluded, "is that we find no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end". |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225940/http://www.amnh.org/education/resources/rfl/web/essaybooks/earth/p_hutton.html |archive-date= 3 March 2016 |author-link=American Museum of Natural History }}</ref><ref name="TaylorReviewBaxter">{{cite news|url=https://archive.org/details/agesinchaosjames0000unse|title=''Ages in Chaos: James Hutton and the Discovery of Deep Time''|date=September 2006|work=[[The Historian (journal)|The Historian]] ([[Abstract (summary)|abstract]])|access-date=8 April 2017|publisher=[[Book review]] of [[Stephen Baxter (author)|Stephen Baxter]]|isbn=0-7653-1238-7|author=Kenneth L. Taylor|url-access=registration}}</ref>

==Early life and career==
Hutton was born in [[Edinburgh]] on 3 June O.S.<ref>{{Cite web |title=James Hutton (1726-1797) |url=https://www.edinburghgeolsoc.org/edinburghs-geology/geological-pioneers/james-hutton/ |access-date=2023-12-29 |website=Edinburgh Geological Society |language=en-GB}}</ref> 1726, as one of five children of Sarah Balfour and William Hutton, a merchant who was Edinburgh City Treasurer. Hutton's father died in 1729, when he was three.

He was educated at the [[Royal High School (Edinburgh)|High School of Edinburgh]] where he was particularly interested in [[mathematics]] and [[chemistry]], then when he was 14 he attended the [[University of Edinburgh]] as a "student of humanity", studying the [[classics]]. He was apprenticed to the lawyer George Chalmers [[Writer to the Signet|WS]] when he was 17, but took more interest in chemical experiments than legal work. At the age of 18, he became a physician's assistant, and attended lectures in medicine at the University of Edinburgh.

After a two-year stay in Paris, James Hutton arrived in Leiden in 1749, where he enrolled at the University of Leiden on 14 August 1749, at the home of the then rector magnificus Joachim Schwartz to obtain a doctorate in medicine. He stayed with the widow Van der Tas (née Judith Bouvat) at the Langebrug, which corresponds to the current address Langebrug 101 in Leiden. His supervisor was Professor Frederik Winter, who was not only a professor at Leiden University, but also court physician to the Stadholder. The Latin manuscript of Hutton's dissertation also contained 92 theses, two of which were successfully defended in public by James Hutton on 3 September 1749. On 12 September 1749, James Hutton obtained his doctorate in medicine from Leiden University with a physico-medical thesis entitled ''Sanguine et Circulatione Microcosmi.'' The thesis was printed by Wilhelmus Boot, book printer in Leiden. It is believed that James Hutton returned to Britain shortly after his promotion.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schuchmann |first=J.B. |title=James Hutton's stay in Leiden (1749) |publisher=Leidse Geologische Vereniging |year=2023 |isbn=9789090365442 |edition=1st |location=Leiden, The Netherlands |pages=1–86 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Dean">{{harvnb|Dean|1992}}</ref>{{rp|2}}

After his degree Hutton went to London, then in mid-1750 returned to Edinburgh and resumed chemical experiments with close friend, John Davie. Their work on production of [[ammonium chloride|sal ammoniac]] from [[soot]] led to their partnership in a profitable chemical works,<ref name=Dean/>{{rp|2}} manufacturing the crystalline salt which was used for dyeing, metalworking and as smelling salts and had been available only from natural sources and had to be imported from [[Egypt]]. Hutton owned and rented out properties in Edinburgh, employing a factor to manage this business.<ref name=ent1>{{cite web |url=http://www.james-hutton.org.uk/One/Entrepreneur/Frameset.htm |title=Business and Related Interests |access-date=3 August 2019 |publisher=James Hutton.org.uk|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726201516/http://www.james-hutton.org/One/Entrepreneur/Frameset.htm|archive-date=26 July 2011 }}</ref>

===Farming and geology===
Hutton inherited from his father the [[Berwickshire]] farms of ''Slighhouses'', a lowland farm which had been in the family since 1713, and the hill farm of ''Nether Monynut''.<ref name=Dean/>{{rp|2&ndash;3}} In the early 1750s he moved to ''Slighhouses'' and set about making improvements, introducing farming practices from other parts of Britain and experimenting with plant and animal husbandry.<ref name=Dean/>{{rp|2&ndash;3}} He recorded his ideas and innovations in an unpublished treatise on ''The Elements of Agriculture''.<ref name=Dean/>{{rp|60}}
[[File:Slighhouses.jpg|thumb|Front entrance to Hutton's farm Slighhouses.   Location: {{Coord| 55.82675| -2.28586|display=inline|name=slighhouses}}]]

This developed his interest in [[meteorology]] and geology. In a 1753 letter he wrote that he had "become very fond of studying the surface of the earth, and was looking with anxious curiosity into every pit or ditch or bed of a river that fell in his way". Clearing and draining his farm provided ample opportunities. The mathematician [[John Playfair]] described Hutton as having noticed that "a vast proportion of the present rocks are composed of materials afforded by the destruction of bodies, animal, vegetable and mineral, of more ancient formation". His theoretical ideas began to come together in 1760. While his farming activities continued, in 1764 he went on a geological tour of the north of Scotland with George Maxwell-Clerk,<ref name=f&g>{{cite web |url=http://www.james-hutton.org.uk/One/Geology/Scr_Main.htm |title=Farming and Hutton the Geologist |access-date=3 August 2019 |publisher=James Hutton.org.uk|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726201817/http://www.james-hutton.org/One/Geology/Scr_Main.htm|archive-date=26 July 2011 }}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=q8gEAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22materials+afforded+by+the+destruction+of+bodies%2C+animal%2C+vegetable+and+mineral%2C+of+more+ancient+formation%22&pg=PA56 Playfair]</ref> ancestor of the famous [[James Clerk Maxwell]].<ref>{{cite book | title = The Life of James Clerk Maxwell | author = Campbell, Lewis |author2=Garnett, William | year = 1882 | publisher = Macmillan and Company | location = London | page = [https://archive.org/details/lifejamesclerkm01garngoog/page/n50 18] | url = https://archive.org/details/lifejamesclerkm01garngoog| quote = hutton George Clerk Maxwell. }}</ref>

===Edinburgh and canal building===
In 1768, Hutton returned to Edinburgh, letting his farms to tenants but continuing to take an interest in farm improvements and research which included experiments carried out at ''Slighhouses''. He developed a red dye made from the roots of the [[Rubia|madder]] plant.<ref name=ag5>{{cite web |url=http://www.james-hutton.org.uk/One/Agronomy/05.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120908110326/http://www.james-hutton.org.uk/One/Agronomy/05.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 September 2012 |title=Return to Edinburgh |access-date=11 April 2008 |publisher=James Hutton.org.uk }}</ref>

He had a house built in 1770 at St John's Hill, Edinburgh, overlooking [[Salisbury Crags]]. This later became the Balfour family home and, in 1840, the birthplace of the psychiatrist [[James Crichton-Browne]]. Hutton was one of the most influential participants in the [[Scottish Enlightenment]], and fell in with numerous first-class minds in the sciences including mathematician [[John Playfair]], philosopher [[David Hume]] and economist [[Adam Smith]].<ref name=soc1>{{cite web |url=http://www.james-hutton.org.uk/One/SocialContext/Frameset.htm |title=Hutton's Contemporaries and The Scottish Enlightenment |access-date=3 August 2019 |publisher=James Hutton.org.uk|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726201921/http://www.james-hutton.org/One/SocialContext/Frameset.htm|archive-date=26 July 2011 }}</ref> Hutton held no position in the University of Edinburgh  and communicated his scientific findings through the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]]. He was particularly friendly with physician and chemist [[Joseph Black]], and together with Adam Smith they founded the ''Oyster Club'' for weekly meetings.

Between 1767 and 1774 Hutton had close involvement with the construction of the [[Forth and Clyde canal]], making full use of his geological knowledge, both as a shareholder and as a member of the committee of management, and attended meetings including extended site inspections of all the works. At this time he is listed as living on Bernard Street in [[Leith]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://digital.nls.uk/directories/browse/archive/83036831|title=Williamson's directory for the City of Edinburgh, Canongate, Leith and suburbs|date=1773–1774|website=[[National Library of Scotland]]|page=36|access-date=2 December 2017}}</ref> In 1777 he published a pamphlet on ''Considerations on the Nature, Quality and Distinctions of Coal and Culm'' which successfully helped to obtain relief from excise duty on carrying small coal.<ref name=ent2>{{cite web |url=http://www.james-hutton.org.uk/One/Entrepreneur/02.htm |title=The Forth and Clyde Canal |access-date=3 August 2019 |publisher=James Hutton.org.uk|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726202004/http://www.james-hutton.org/One/Entrepreneur/02.htm|archive-date=26 July 2011 }}</ref>

In 1783, he was a joint founder of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]].<ref name=":0">{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|access-date=21 November 2016|archive-date=24 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124115814/http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Later life and death==
[[File:The memorial to James Hutton at his grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard.JPG|thumb|upright=1.3|The memorial to James Hutton at his grave in [[Greyfriars Kirkyard]] in [[Edinburgh]]. Location: {{Coord| 55.945626| -3.192200|display=inline|name=slighhouses}}]]
From 1791 Hutton suffered extreme pain from [[Bladder stone|stones in the bladder]] and gave up field work to concentrate on finishing his books. A dangerous and painful operation failed to resolve his illness.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/science-and-technology/geology-and-oceanography-biographies/james-hutton|title=James Hutton &#124; Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> He died in Edinburgh and was buried in the vault of Andrew Balfour, opposite the vault of his friend [[Joseph Black]], in the now sealed south-west section of [[Greyfriars Kirkyard]] in Edinburgh, commonly known as the Covenanter's Prison.

Hutton did not marry and had no legitimate children.<ref name=":0" /> Around 1747, he had a son by a Miss Edington, and though he gave his child, James Smeaton Hutton, financial assistance, he had little to do with the boy, who went on to become a post-office clerk in London.<ref name=bio4>{{cite web |url=http://www.james-hutton.org.uk/One/Biography/04.htm |title=Settled and Unsettled |access-date=3 August 2019 |publisher=James Hutton.org.uk|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726201430/http://www.james-hutton.org/One/Biography/04.htm|archive-date=26 July 2011 }}</ref>

==Theory of rock formations==
Hutton developed several hypotheses to explain the [[rock formations]] he saw around him, but according to Playfair he "was in no haste to publish his theory; for he was one of those who are much more delighted with the contemplation of truth, than with the praise of having discovered it". After some 25 years of work,<ref name=geo3>{{cite web |url=http://www.james-hutton.org.uk/One/Geology/03.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120908090215/http://www.james-hutton.org.uk/One/Geology/03.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 September 2012 |title=Theory of the Earth |access-date=11 April 2008 |publisher=James Hutton.org.uk }}</ref> his ''[[Theory of the Earth]]; or an Investigation of the Laws observable in the Composition, Dissolution, and Restoration of Land upon the Globe'' was read to meetings of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]] in two parts, the first by his friend [[Joseph Black]] on 7 March 1785, and the second by himself on 4 April 1785. Hutton subsequently read an abstract of his dissertation ''Concerning the System of the Earth, its Duration and Stability'' to Society meeting on 4 July 1785,<ref name=TOE/> which he had printed and circulated privately.<ref name=abstract/> In it, he outlined his theory as follows;

{{blockquote|The solid parts of the present land appear in general, to have been composed of the productions of the sea, and of other materials similar to those now found upon the shores. Hence we find reason to conclude:<br />
1st, That the land on which we rest is not simple and original, but that it is a composition, and had been formed by the operation of second causes.<br />
2nd, That before the present land was made, there had subsisted a world composed of sea and land, in which were tides and currents, with such operations at the bottom of the sea as now take place. And,

Lastly, That while the present land was forming at the bottom of the ocean, the former land maintained plants and animals; at least the sea was then inhabited by animals, in a similar manner as it is at present.<br />
Hence we are led to conclude, that the greater part of our land, if not the whole had been produced by operations natural to this globe; but that in order to make this land a permanent body, resisting the operations of the waters, two things had been required;<br />
1st, The consolidation of masses formed by collections of loose or incoherent materials;<br />
2ndly, The elevation of those consolidated masses from the bottom of the sea, the place where they were collected, to the stations in which they now remain above the level of the ocean.}}

===Search for evidence===
[[File:Hutton's Glen Tilt exposure at Dail-an-eas Bridge.jpg|thumb|upright|Hutton's [[Glen Tilt]] exposure at collapsed Dail-an-eas Bridge upstream from Forest Lodge, drawn by John Clerk of Eldin in 1785. The bridge collapsed in approximately 1973.   Location: {{Coord| 56.851082| -3.741822|display=inline|name=Dail-an-eas bridge}}]]
[[File:Dike in Tay near Stobhall.jpg|thumb|Intrusive dike eroded by the [[River Tay]] near Stobhall described by Hutton.    Location: {{Coord| 56.48964| -3.42455|display=inline|name=dike near Stobhall}}]]
[[File:Dike_in_Garry_at_Dalnacardoch.jpg|thumb|Geological dike eroded by the [[River Garry, Perthshire|River Garry]] at Dalnacardoch described by Hutton and drawn by Clerk.    Location: {{Coord| 56.880493| -4.09473|display=inline|name=Dalnacardoch dikes}}]]
[[File:Hutton's Section, Salisbury Crags.jpg|thumb|right|Hutton's Section on Edinburgh's [[Salisbury Crags]].  Location: {{Coord| 55.9432| -3.1672|display=inline|name=Hutton's Section at Salisbury Crags}}]]
In the summer of 1785 at [[Glen Tilt]] and other sites in the [[Cairngorms|Cairngorm mountains]] in the [[Scottish Highlands]], Hutton found [[granite]] penetrating [[metamorphic rock|metamorphic]] [[schist]]s, in a way which indicated that the granite had been [[molten]] at the time. This was Hutton's first geological field trip and he was invited by the Duke of Atholl to his hunting lodge, Forest Lodge. The exposures at the Dail-an-eas Bridge demonstrated to him that granite formed from the cooling of molten rock rather than it [[Precipitation (chemistry)|precipitating]] out of water as others at the time believed, and therefore the granite must be younger than the schists.<ref name="Macfarlane">{{cite news |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-109847321/glimpses-into-abyss-time.html |title=Glimpses into the abyss of time |author=Robert Macfarlane |publisher=[[The Spectator]] |date=13 September 2003 |quote=Hutton possessed an instinctive ability to reverse physical processes – to read landscapes backwards, as it were.  Fingering the white quartz which seamed the grey granite boulders in a Scottish glen, for instance, he understood the confrontation that had once occurred between the two types of rock, and he perceived how, under fantastic pressure, the molten quartz had forced its way into the weaknesses in the mother granite. }}</ref><ref name=tilt>{{cite web |url=http://www.scottishgeology.com/geo/regional-geology/grampian/glen-tilt/ |title=Glen Tilt |publisher=Scottish Geology |access-date=3 May 2011 |archive-date=6 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506211517/https://www.scottishgeology.com/geo/regional-geology/grampian/glen-tilt/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Hutton presented his theory of the earth on 4 March and 7 April 1785, at the Royal Society of Edinburgh.<ref>Stephen J. Gould, page 70, Time's Arrow, Time's Circle, 1987</ref>

He went on to find a similar penetration of [[volcanic rock]] through [[sedimentary rock]] in [[Edinburgh]], at [[Salisbury Crags]],<ref name="Denby"/> adjoining [[Arthur's Seat]] – this area of the Crags is now known as Hutton's Section.<ref>[https://archive.today/20061023161737/http://www.scottishgeology.com/outandabout/classic_sites/locations/huttons_section.html Scottish Geology – Hutton's Section at Salisbury Crags]<br />[http://www.scottishgeology.com/geo/regional-geology/midland-valley/salisbury-crags-edinburgh/ Scottish Geology – Hutton's Rock at Salisbury Crags] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180809112754/http://www.scottishgeology.com/geo/regional-geology/midland-valley/salisbury-crags-edinburgh/ |date=9 August 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Cliff Ford |url=http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/undergraduate/field/holyrood/huttonsloc.html |title=Hutton's Section at Hoyrood Park |publisher=Geos.ed.ac.uk |date=1 September 2003 |access-date=3 May 2011 |archive-date=24 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110624115935/http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/undergraduate/field/holyrood/huttonsloc.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> He found other examples in [[Galloway]] in 1786, and on the [[Isle of Arran]] in 1787.

[[File:Hutton's Unconformity - geograph.org.uk - 68546.jpg|thumb|right|Hutton's Unconformity on Arran]]
[[Image:Hutton Unconformity, Jedburgh.jpg|thumb|right|Hutton Unconformity at [[Jedburgh]].  Photograph (2003) below [[John Clerk of Eldin|Clerk of Eldin]] illustration (1787).   Location: {{Coord| 55.4721| -2.5545|display=inline|name=Hutton Unconformity, Jedburgh}}]]
The existence of [[unconformity|angular unconformities]] had been noted by [[Nicolas Steno]] and by French geologists including [[Horace-Bénédict de Saussure]], who interpreted them in terms of [[Neptunism]] as "primary formations". Hutton wanted to examine such formations himself to see  "particular marks" of the relationship between the rock layers. On the 1787 trip to the [[Isle of Arran]] he found his first example of [[Hutton's Unconformity]] to the north of Newton Point near [[Lochranza]],<ref name=arnmuseum>{{cite web|url=http://www.arranmuseum.co.uk/what-will-you-see/geology/virtual-field-trips/|title=Hutton's Unconformity |date=2014 |publisher=[[Isle of Arran]] Heritage Museum |access-date=20 November 2017 }}</ref><ref name=Waymarking>{{cite web |url=http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM3F65 |title=Hutton's Unconformity – Lochranza, Isle of Arran, UK – Places of Geologic Significance on Waymarking.com |access-date=20 October 2008}}</ref> but the limited view meant that the condition of the underlying strata was not clear enough for him,<ref name=monty>{{cite web |url=http://nagt.org/files/nagt/jge/abstracts/Montgomery_v51n5.pdf |title=Siccar Point and Teaching the History of Geology |access-date=26 March 2008 |author=Keith Montgomery |year=2003 |publisher=University of Wisconsin }}</ref> and he incorrectly thought that the strata were conformable at a depth below the exposed outcrop.<ref name=Rance>{{cite web |url=http://geowords.com/histbookpdf/a22.pdf |title=Hutton's unconformities |author=Hugh Rance |year=1999 |work=Historical Geology: The Present is the Key to the Past |publisher=QCC Press |access-date=20 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203173042/http://www.geowords.com/histbookpdf/a22.pdf |archive-date=3 December 2008 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

Later in 1787 Hutton noted what is now known as the Hutton or "Great" Unconformity at Inchbonny,<ref name="VestigeProspectAMNH"/> [[Jedburgh]], in layers of [[sedimentary rock]].<ref name="Unconformity Jedburgh">{{cite web |url=http://www.jedburgh-online.org.uk/aroundjedburgh.asp |title=Jedburgh: Hutton's Unconformity |work=Jedburgh online |quote=Whilst visiting Allar's Mill on the Jed Water, Hutton was delighted to see horizontal bands of red sandstone lying 'unconformably' on top of near vertical and folded bands of rock. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100809184047/http://www.jedburgh-online.org.uk/aroundjedburgh.asp |archive-date=9 August 2010  }}</ref> As shown in the illustrations to the right, layers of [[greywacke]] in the lower layers of the cliff face are tilted almost vertically, and above an intervening layer of [[Conglomerate (geology)|conglomerate]] lie horizontal layers of [[Old Red Sandstone]]. He later wrote of how he "rejoiced at my good fortune in stumbling upon an object so interesting in the natural history of the earth, and which I had been long looking for in vain." That year, he found the same sequence in [[Teviotdale]].<ref name=monty/>

[[Image:Siccar Point red capstone closeup.jpg|thumb|right|An eroded outcrop at [[Siccar Point]] showing sloping red sandstone above vertical greywacke was sketched by Sir James Hall in 1788.  Location: {{Coord| 55.9315| -2.3013|display=inline|name=Hutton Unconformity, Jedburgh}}]]
In the Spring of 1788 he set off with [[John Playfair]] to the [[Berwickshire]] coast and found more examples of this sequence in the valleys of the Tour and Pease Burns near [[Cockburnspath]].<ref name=monty/> They then took a boat trip from Dunglass Burn east along the coast with the geologist [[Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet|Sir James Hall]] of [[Dunglass]]. They found the sequence in the cliff below St. Helens, then just to the east at [[Siccar Point]] found what Hutton called "a beautiful picture of this junction washed bare by the sea".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.james-hutton.org.uk/One/Geology/05.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120802194541/http://www.james-hutton.org.uk/One/Geology/05.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 August 2012 |title=Hutton's Journeys to Prove his Theory |publisher=James-hutton.org.uk |access-date=3 May 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.snh.org.uk/publications/on-line/geology/elothian_borders/hutton.asp |title=Hutton's Unconformity |publisher=Snh.org.uk |access-date=3 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924104617/http://www.snh.org.uk/publications/on-line/geology/elothian_borders/hutton.asp |archive-date=24 September 2015 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> Playfair later commented about the experience, "the mind seemed to grow giddy by looking so far into the abyss of time".<ref name="Playfair RSE">{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1134/is_5_108/ai_54830705 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120708195026/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1134/is_5_108/ai_54830705 |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 July 2012 |title=Hutton's Unconformity |author=John Playfair |work=Transactions of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]], vol. V, pt. III, 1805, quoted in [[Natural History (magazine)|Natural History]], June 1999 |year=1999 |author-link=John Playfair }}</ref> Continuing along the coast, they made more discoveries including sections of the vertical beds showing strong ripple marks which gave Hutton "great satisfaction" as a confirmation of his supposition that these beds had been laid horizontally in water. He also found conglomerate at altitudes that demonstrated the extent of erosion of the strata, and said of this that "we never should have dreamed of meeting with what we now perceived".<ref name=monty/>

Hutton reasoned that there must have been innumerable cycles, each involving [[Deposition (sediment)|deposition]] on the [[seabed]], uplift with tilting and [[erosion]] then undersea again for further layers to be deposited. On the belief that this was due to the same geological forces operating in the past as the very slow geological forces seen operating at the present day, the thicknesses of exposed rock layers implied to him enormous stretches of time.<ref name="VestigeProspectAMNH"/>

==Publication==
Though Hutton circulated privately a printed version of the abstract of his Theory (''Concerning the System of the Earth, its Duration, and Stability'') which he read at a meeting of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]] on 4 July 1785;<ref name=abstract>[http://www.uwmc.uwc.edu/geography/hutton/Abstract-facsimile/abstract1.htm ''Concerning the System of the Earth''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907225227/http://www.uwmc.uwc.edu/geography/hutton/Abstract-facsimile/abstract1.htm |date= 7 September 2008 }} abstract</ref> the full account of his theory as read at 7 March 1785 and 4 April 1785 meetings did not appear in print until 1788. It was titled ''[[Theory of the Earth]]; or an Investigation of the Laws observable in the Composition, Dissolution, and Restoration of Land upon the Globe'' and appeared in ''Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh'', vol. I, Part II, pp.&nbsp;209–304, plates I and II, published 1788.<ref name=TOE>[https://web.archive.org/web/20030729055405/http://www.uwmc.uwc.edu/geography/Hutton/Hutton.htm ''Theory of the Earth''] full text (1788 version)</ref> He put forward the view that "from what has actually been, we have data for concluding with regard to that which is to happen thereafter." This restated the [[Scottish Enlightenment]] concept which [[David Hume]] had put in 1777 as "all inferences from experience suppose&nbsp;... that the future will resemble the past", and [[Charles Lyell]] memorably rephrased in the 1830s as "the present is the key to the past".<ref name="KEY TO THE PAST">{{cite web |url=http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2002CD/finalprogram/abstract_34786.htm |title=The Present is the Key to the Past is the Key to the Future |author=Elizabeth Lincoln Mathieson |date=13 May 2002 |publisher=The Geological Society of America |access-date=28 September 2010 |archive-date=9 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309124435/https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2002CD/finalprogram/abstract_34786.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Hutton's 1788 paper concludes; "The result, therefore, of our present enquiry is, that we find no vestige of a beginning,–no prospect of an end."<ref name=TOE/> His memorably phrased closing statement has long been celebrated.<ref name="VestigeProspectAMNH"/><ref name="KS Thomson">{{cite journal |last1=Thomson |first1=Keith |title=Vestiges of James Hutton |url=http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/num2/vestiges-of-james-hutton/2 |journal=American Scientist |date=2001 |volume=89 |issue=3 |pages=212 |doi=10.1511/2001.3.212 |quote=It is ironic that Hutton, the man whose prose style is usually dismissed as unreadable, should have coined one of the most memorable, and indeed lyrical, sentences in all science: "(in geology) we find no vestige of a beginning,—no prospect of an end." In those simple words, Hutton framed a concept that no one had contemplated, that the rocks making up the earth today have not, after all, been here since Creation. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611161755/http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/id.3275,y.0,no.,content.true,page.2,css.print/issue.aspx |archive-date=11 June 2011 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> (It was quoted in the 1989 song "[[No Control (Bad Religion album)|No Control]]" by songwriter and professor [[Greg Graffin]].<ref name="Lyrics">{{cite web |url=http://www.altmusic.ru/bands/BadReligion/NoControl.html |title=Lyrics, No Control |author=Greg Graffin |work=[[No Control (Bad Religion album)|No Control]] |year=1989 |quote=there's no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end (Hutton, 1795) |author-link=Greg Graffin }}</ref>)

Following criticism, especially the arguments from [[Richard Kirwan]] who thought Hutton's ideas were [[atheist]]ic and not logical,<ref name=TOE/> Hutton published a two volume version of his theory in 1795,<ref name="TheoryEarthGutenbergVolONE">{{gutenberg|no=12861|name=Theory of the Earth, Volume 1|bullet=none}}</ref><ref name="TheoryEarthGutenbergVolTWO">{{gutenberg|no=14179|name=Theory of the Earth, Volume 2|bullet=none}}</ref> consisting of the 1788 version of his theory (with slight additions) along with a lot of material drawn from shorter papers Hutton already had to hand on various subjects such as the origin of granite.  It included a review of alternative theories, such as those of [[Thomas Burnet (theologian)|Thomas Burnet]] and [[Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon]].

The whole was entitled ''An Investigation of the Principles of Knowledge and of the Progress of Reason, from Sense to Science and Philosophy'' when the third volume was completed in 1794.<ref name="Pearson">{{cite journal |last1=Pearson |first1=Paul N. |title=In retrospect |journal=Nature |date=October 2003 |volume=425 |issue=6959 |pages=665 |doi=10.1038/425665a|bibcode=2003Natur.425..665P |s2cid=161935273 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Its 2,138 pages prompted Playfair to remark that "The great size of the book, and the obscurity which may justly be objected to many parts of it, have probably prevented it from being received as it deserves."

==Opposing theories==
His new theories placed him into opposition with the then-popular [[Neptunism|Neptunist]] theories of the German geologist [[Abraham Gottlob Werner]], that all rocks had precipitated out of a single enormous flood. Hutton proposed that the [[interior of the Earth]] was hot, and that this heat was the engine which drove the creation of new rock: land was eroded by air and water and deposited as layers in the sea; heat then consolidated the [[sediment]] into stone, and uplifted it into new lands. This theory was dubbed "[[Plutonism|Plutonist]]" in contrast to the flood-oriented theory.

As well as combating the Neptunists, he also accepted the growing consensus on the concept of [[deep time]] for scientific purposes. Rather than accepting that the earth was no more than a few thousand years old, he maintained that the [[Age of the planet Earth|Earth must be much older]], with a history extending indefinitely into the distant past.<ref name="Macfarlane"/> His main line of argument was that the tremendous displacements and changes he was seeing did not happen in a short period of time by means of catastrophe, but that processes still happening on the Earth in the present day had caused them. As these processes were very gradual, the Earth needed to be ancient, to allow time for the changes. Contemporary investigations had shown that the geologic record required vast time, but no good way of assigning actual years was found for over a century (Rudwick, ''Bursting the Limits of Time'').  Hutton's idea of infinite cycles with humans present throughout is quite different from modern geology, with a definite time of formation and directional change through time, but his supporting evidence for the long-term effects of geological processes was valuable in the development of historical geology.

==Acceptance of geological theories==
It has been claimed that the prose of ''Principles of Knowledge'' was so obscure that it also impeded the acceptance of Hutton's geological theories.<ref>{{cite book | author = Geikie, Archibald  | title = The Founders of Geology | year = 1897 | page = [https://archive.org/details/foundersgeology02geikgoog/page/n188 166] | publisher = Macmillan and Company| location = London | url = https://archive.org/details/foundersgeology02geikgoog| quote = james hutton geology.  }}</ref>  Restatements of his geological ideas (though not his thoughts on evolution) by [[John Playfair]] in 1802 and then [[Charles Lyell]] in the 1830s popularised the concept of an infinitely repeating cycle, though Lyell tended to dismiss Hutton's views as giving too much credence to catastrophic changes.
[[File:Kay's etching of James Hutton.jpg|thumb|upright|[[John Kay (caricaturist)|John Kay's]] caricature of James Hutton studying the [[w:Facies|"faces"]] of rock (1787)]]<!-- The hammer is braced by crossed arms. Hutton is contemplating 'old familiar faces', not hammering on them.-->

==Other contributions==

===Meteorology===
It was not merely the earth to which Hutton directed his attention. He had long studied the changes of the [[Earth's atmosphere|atmosphere]]. The same volume in which his ''[[Theory of the Earth]]'' appeared contained also a ''Theory of Rain''. He contended that the amount of moisture which the air can retain in [[Solution (chemistry)|solution]] increases with temperature, and, therefore, that on the mixture of two masses of air of different temperatures a portion of the moisture must be condensed and appear in visible form. He investigated the available data regarding rainfall and [[climate]] in different regions of the globe, and came to the conclusion that the rainfall is regulated by the [[humidity]] of the air on the one hand, and mixing of different [[air current]]s in the higher atmosphere on the other.

===Evolution===
Hutton also advocated uniformitarianism for living creatures {{spaced ndash}}[[evolution]], in [[evolutionism|a sense]]{{spaced ndash}}and even suggested [[natural selection]] as a possible mechanism affecting them:

:...if an organised body is not in the situation and circumstances best adapted to its sustenance and propagation, then, in conceiving an indefinite variety among the individuals of that species, we must be assured, that, on the one hand, those which depart most from the best adapted constitution, will be the most liable to perish, while, on the other hand, those organised bodies, which most approach to the best constitution for the present circumstances, will be best adapted to continue, in preserving themselves and multiplying the individuals of their race.{{spaced ndash}}''Investigation of the Principles of Knowledge'', volume 2.<ref name="Pearson"/>

Hutton gave the example that where dogs survived through "swiftness of foot and quickness of sight... the most defective in respect of those necessary qualities, would be the most subject to perish, and that those who employed them in greatest perfection... would be those who would remain, to preserve themselves, and to continue the race". Equally, if an acute [[sense of smell]] became "more necessary to the sustenance of the animal... the same principle [would] change the qualities of the animal, and.. produce a race of well scented hounds, instead of those who catch their prey by swiftness". The same "principle of variation" would influence "every species of plant, whether growing in a forest or a meadow". He came to his ideas as the result of experiments in [[Plant propagation|plant]] and [[animal breeding]], some of which he outlined in an unpublished manuscript, the ''Elements of Agriculture''. He distinguished between [[heritable variation]] as the result of breeding, and [[non-heritable variations]] caused by environmental differences such as soil and climate.<ref name="Pearson"/>

Though he saw his "principle of variation" as explaining the development of varieties, Hutton rejected the idea that evolution might originate species as a "romantic fantasy", according to [[palaeoclimatology|palaeoclimatologist]] Paul Pearson.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-original-theory-of-evolution-were-it-not-for-the-farmer-who-came-up-with-it-60-years-before-darwin-91580.html | title=The original theory of evolution... were it not for the farmer who came up with it, 60 years before Darwin | newspaper=The Independent | date=16 October 2003 | access-date=5 February 2014 | author=Connor, Steve}}</ref> Influenced by [[deism]],<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/jameshuttonhisto00dean | url-access=registration | quote=James Hutton deist -wikipedia. | title=James Hutton and the History of Geology | publisher=Cornell University Press | author=Dean, Dennis R. | year=1992 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/jameshuttonhisto00dean/page/265 265]| isbn=978-0801426667 }}</ref> Hutton thought the mechanism allowed species to form varieties better adapted to particular conditions and provided evidence of [[theistic evolution|benevolent design]] in nature. Studies of [[Charles Darwin]]'s notebooks have shown that Darwin arrived separately at the idea of [[natural selection]] which he set out in his 1859 book ''[[On the Origin of Species]]'', but it has been speculated that he had some half-forgotten memory from his time as a student in Edinburgh of ideas of selection in nature as set out by Hutton, and by [[William Charles Wells]] and [[Patrick Matthew]] who had both been associated with the city before publishing their ideas on the topic early in the 19th century.<ref name="Pearson"/>

==Works==
* [http://www2.odl.ox.ac.uk/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0munahi10--00-0-0-0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-about---00001-001-1-1utfZz-8-0&a=d&cl=CL3.3.9&d=munahi010-aep 1785. ''Abstract of a dissertation read in the Royal Society of Edinburgh, upon the seventh of March, and fourth of April, MDCCLXXXV, Concerning the System of the Earth, Its Duration, and Stability''. Edinburgh. 30pp.] at Oxford Digital Library. 
*  1788.''The theory of rain''. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. 1, Part 2, pp.&nbsp;41–86.
* [https://archive.org/stream/cbarchive_106252_theoryoftheearthoraninvestigat1788/theoryoftheearthoraninvestigat1788#page/n1/mode/2up  1788. ''Theory of the Earth; or an investigation of the laws observable in the composition, dissolution, and restoration of land upon the Globe''. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. 1, Part 2, pp.&nbsp;209–304.] at [[Internet Archive]].
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=7u9eAAAAcAAJ&q=Dissertations+on+different+subjects+in+natural+philosophy 1792. ''Dissertations on different subjects in natural philosophy.'' Edinburgh & London: Strahan & Cadell.] at Google Books
* 1794. ''Observations on granite''. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. 3, pp.&nbsp;77–81.
* [https://dx.doi.org/10.3931/e-rara-16958 1794. ''A dissertation upon the philosophy of light, heat, and fire.'' Edinburgh: Cadell, Junior, Davies.] at [http://www.e-rara.ch/ e-rara (ETH-Bibliothek)]
* [http://search.lib.virginia.edu/catalog/uva-lib:2414992?full_view=true 1794. ''An investigation of the principles of knowledge and of the progress of reason, from sense to science and philosophy''. Edinburgh: Strahan & Cadell.] at [http://search.lib.virginia.edu/catalog (VIRGO) University of Virginia Library)]
* [http://www.e-rara.ch/zut/doi/10.3931/e-rara-19688 1795. ''Theory of the Earth; with proofs and illustrations''. Edinburgh: Creech. 3 vols.] at [http://www.e-rara.ch/ e-rara (ETH-Bibliothek)]
* 1797. ''Elements of Agriculture''. Unpublished manuscript.
* [https://archive.org/details/theoryearthwith00huttgoog 1899. ''Theory of the Earth; with proofs and illustrations, vol III'', Edited by Sir Archibald Geikie. Geological Society, Burlington House, London.] at [[Internet Archive]]

[[File:Street sign in the Kings Buildings complex in Edinburgh to the memory of James Hutton.jpg|thumb|Street sign in the Kings Buildings complex in Edinburgh to the memory of James Hutton]]

==Recognition==

* A street was named after Hutton in the [[Kings Buildings]] complex (a series of science buildings linked to [[Edinburgh University]]) in the early 21st century.
* The [[punk rock|punk]] band [[Bad Religion]] quoted James Hutton with "no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end" in their song "No Control".<ref>Keith Stewart Thomson (May–June 2001). "Vestiges of James Hutton". American Scientist V. 89 #3 p. 212.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Deep history]]
*[[James Hutton Institute]]
*[[Climate of Scotland]]
*[[Geology of Scotland]]
*[[Shen Kuo]]
*''[[Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle]]'', a book by [[Stephen Jay Gould]] that reassesses Hutton's work

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* [[Stephen Baxter (author)|Baxter, Stephen]] (2003). ''Ages in Chaos: James Hutton and the Discovery of Deep Time.''  New York: [[Tor Books]], 2004.  {{ISBN|0-7653-1238-7}}.  Published in the UK as  ''Revolutions in the Earth: James Hutton and the True Age of the World.''  London: [[Weidenfeld & Nicolson]].  {{ISBN|0-297-82975-0}}
* {{cite book|last1=Dean|first1=Dennis R.|title=James Hutton and the history of geology|date=1992|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=Ithaca|isbn=9780801426667|url=https://archive.org/details/jameshuttonhisto00dean}}
* McKirdy, Alan (revised ed. 2022). ''James Hutton: The Founder of Modern Geology.'' Edinburgh: National Museums Scotland.  {{ISBN|1-9106-8244-6}}.
* Perman, Ray (2022). ''James Hutton: The Genius of Time.'' Edinburgh: Birlinn.  {{ISBN|1-7802-7785-7}}.
* {{cite book | author = Playfair, John | chapter = Biographical Account of the late James Hutton, M.D.  | title =  The Works of John Playfair, Esq. | volume = IV | year = 1822 | publisher = Constable | location = Edinburgh | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/worksjohnplayfa02playgoog }}
* Repcheck, Jack (2003). ''The Man Who Found Time: James Hutton and the Discovery of the Earth's Antiquity.'' London and [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]: [[Simon & Schuster]]. {{ISBN|0-7432-3189-9}} (UK), {{ISBN|0-7382-0692-X}} (US)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons}}
{{EB1911 poster|Hutton, James}}
{{DNB poster|Hutton, James (1726-1797)}}
*[https://www.james-hutton.org/ James-Hutton.org], links to ''James Hutton{{spaced ndash}}The Man''  and  ''The James Hutton Trail''.
*[http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/darwin/sect2.htm James Hutton and Uniformitarianism] (scroll down)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110529040522/http://www.uwmc.uwc.edu/geography/hutton/James%20Hutton%20grave.htm James Hutton's memorial in Greyfriars Kirkyard, Edinburgh]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20030729055405/http://www.uwmc.uwc.edu/geography/Hutton/Hutton.htm First Publication of Theory of the Earth]
*{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060508104544/http://www.ronaldbrucemeyer.com/rants/0603almanac.htm |date=8 May 2006 |title=Accessible Historical Perspective on James Hutton }}
*{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.stephenjaygould.org/library/gould_justice-scalia_s.html |title=B16: The History of Life: Source Book |last=Gould |first=Stephen Jay |author-link=Stephen Jay Gould |chapter=Justice Scalia's Misunderstanding |pages=[http://www.sjgarchive.org/library/text/b16/p0137.htm 137], [http://www.sjgarchive.org/library/text/b16/p0138.htm 138], [http://www.sjgarchive.org/library/text/b16/p0139.htm 139], [http://www.sjgarchive.org/library/text/b16/p0140.htm 140] |access-date=17 July 2014 |archive-date=8 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608111017/http://www.stephenjaygould.org/library/gould_justice-scalia_s.html |url-status=dead }}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=4675}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=James Hutton |sopt=t}}
* {{MacTutor Biography|id=Hutton_James}}
* Digitized volumes at the [[Linda Hall Library]]:
** Hutton's (1788), [http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/earththeory/id/57332 "Theory of the Earth." ''Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh'', Vol. 1, no. 20.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160908063536/http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/earththeory/id/57332 |date=8 September 2016 }}
** Hutton's (1795–1899), [http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/search/collection/earththeory/searchterm/hutton!Theory/field/creato!title/mode/all!all/conn/and!and/order/nosort ''Theory of the earth, with proofs and illustrations, 3 vols.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201062733/http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/search/collection/earththeory/searchterm/hutton!Theory/field/creato!title/mode/all!all/conn/and!and/order/nosort |date=1 December 2017 }}
** John Playfair (1802), [http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/earththeory/id/51246 ''Illustrations of the Huttonian theory of the Earth''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202075607/http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/earththeory/id/51246 |date=2 February 2017 }}
** John Playfair (1815), [http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/earththeory/id/24198 ''Explication de Playfair sur la théorie de la terre par Hutton''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202075535/http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/earththeory/id/24198 |date=2 February 2017 }} (French)

{{Age of Enlightenment}}
{{Natural history}}

{{Authority control}}

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