Learn more about James Hutton

Hutton's interest in geology

James Hutton (1726–97) studied chemistry then medicine at Edinburgh and Leyden Universities. He never practised as a doctor, instead becoming a farmer in Norfolk in the 1750s.

He returned to Scotland in 1754 to farm in Berwickshire, and acquired a keen interest in geological research.

By the time he moved back to Edinburgh in 1767 to live in a house that overlooked Salisbury Crags–with its dramatic intrusions of igneous volcanic rocks – his geological interests had taken over his life.

'The past history of our globe must be explained by what can be seen to be happening now. No powers are to be employed that are not natural to the globe, no action to be admitted except those of which we know the principle.’

James Hutton

He became a leading light in the Scottish Enlightenment, and a friend of Joseph Black and Adam Smith. Another good friend was the landscape artist John Clerk of Eldin, also a keen geologist. The pair went on many field excursions, with Clerk’s pictures to illustrate their observations.

'It is in the philosophy of nature that the natural history of this earth is to be studied; and we must not allow ourselves ever to reason without proper data, or to fabricate a system of apparent wisdom in the folly of a hypothetical delusion.’

James Hutton

'Theory of the earth'

Hutton’s 'Theory of the Earth' appeared in 1788 from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, formed in 1783.

The theory articulated the notion of rock cycles, with old rocks being destroyed by weathering and new ones formed from their sediments.

'... in every quarter of the globe, and in every climate of the earth, there is formed, by means of the decay of solid rocks, and by the transportation of those moveable materials, that beautiful system of mountains and valleys, of hills and plains, covered with growing plants, and inhabited by animals.’

James Hutton

Various competing schools of geological thought, as well as the Creationists, poured cold water on Hutton’s theories but his theories had a huge impact.