Hutton

Harris, section 10

This will give you the basics, including the framework in which Hutton presented his theory and what influenced his ideas.

Hutton (1785) SKIM

This abstract is the earliest publication of Hutton’s theory. His later publications presented this in more detail. Although Hutton’s later works are rather difficult to read, this abstract is relatively accessible. Please skim to get a sense of his writing style and how he presents his ideas.  You will notice that the presentation is quite theoretical  and field examples are lacking. (This is one reason why his contemporaries viewed his work as the latest of the eighteenth century’s “theories of the earth”.)  His longer works (1790s) maintained this separation of theory from observation.  This reflected the divide between the causal framework of natural philosophy (v. 1-2 of this “Theory of the Earth”) and the observational work of natural history (v. 3, published in 1899).  It was also expected that casual theories would be supported by data and observations from other investigators.

Playfair

Playfair was Hutton’s friend and wrote a biography of Hutton and an exposition of his ideas. This brief extract conveys Hutton’s enthusiasm about finding the unconformity at Siccar Point, perhaps the most famous outcrop in the history of geology. Hutton was clearly more effective in person than in his writings.

Dean

Dennis Dean’s book is an excellent study of Hutton – I recommend it if you want to read one book about him. Dean analyzes Hutton’s various publications, field excursions, and the impact they had on his contemporaries. This selection is an account of Hutton’s studies following publication of his 1785 abstract in which he tested his ideas against the “real world”. The most important tests were Hutton’s field studies but the notes also include his use of other geologists accounts. You will notice that Dean notes the specific section of Hutton’s “Theory of the Earth” that provides the account – several are from Volume III (published in 1899).  The main topics are:

• The origin of granite (stratified and unstratified), p. 32-40
• Whether “Primary” rocks were really primary, p. 40-42
• The existence and meaning of unconformities, p. 42-46

The goal here is not to extract all the details of the field studies, but to consider how Hutton targeted his field work to test his new theory.

Laudan (1987) ch. 6

This selection provides an insightful examination of Hutton’s ideas from the perspective of contemporary Continental geologists. It clarifies the reasons for the difficulties that Hutton’s theories encountered. The discussion of the theory of “heat” is very useful because heat is often treated in a generalized, non-problematic way in summaries of Hutton’s theory. Here are some points for Laudan’s sections

• Into (p. 113-14): The first paragraph forecasts some of the main points that were problematic to Hutton’s contemporaries.
• Huttonian Theory (p. 114-121): Unlike most accounts, this section includes sections on Hutton’s deism and method of argumentation.
• Immediate Reaction (p. 121-123): This section highlights some of the problems with Hutton’s heat theory and contemporary chemistry.
• Background (p. 123-131): This section covers two major points. First, it provides the background for Hutton’s (already outdated) concepts of heat and chemistry (p. 123-top 128). Today, these are usually ignored but would have been critical to his contemporaries. Second, the role of field work in his work (p. 128-131).
• Later Modifications (p. 131-135): This largely deals with Playfair’s and Hall’s work that removed the deist aspect, tried to bring the chemistry more into the mainstream, and added experimental basis to the interpretation of rocks like basalt and granite.
• Hutton’s Impact (p. 135-137): This section reflects the Continental tradition but really does emphasize some of his lasting causal contributions.

The one aspect that seems missing to me is the extent to which Hutton really appreciated what a long time scale meant. Of course, he got this idea from his deist beliefs which made is suspect to his contemporaries.

Questions

• What was the basic idea of Hutton’s “earth machine”?
  • How did it work?
  • What was the driving force behind the dynamic view that Hutton proposed?
  • How does this model address the “denudation dilemma”?
• What was the role of Hutton’s field work?
• What were the underlying beliefs, premises and assumptions of Hutton’s model?
• Itemize the main points of divergence with his contemporaries.
  • What differences were due to underlying assumptions or theoretical framework?
  • Which disagreements could be related to field evidence? Why did such tests not clearly favor one theory over the other?
• In what sense was Hutton following the “theories of the earth” tradition that reached back to the cosmologists?

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