Memoir 216 3300 Penrose Place, P.O

Revising the Revisions: James Hutton’s Reputation among Geologists in the Late Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

A. M. Celâl Şengör İTÜ Avrasya Yerbilimleri Enstitüsü ve Maden Fakültesi Jeoloji Bölümü Ayazağa 34469 İstanbul Turkey

Memoir 216 3300 Penrose Place, P.O. Box 9140 Boulder, Colorado 80301-9140, USA 2020

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Şengor, A. M. Celal, author. Title: Revising the revisions : James Hutton’s reputation among geologists in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries / by A.M. Celal Şengor, İTU Avrasya Yerbilimleri Enstitusu ve Maden Fakultesi Jeoloji Bolumu, Ayazağa 34469, Istanbul, Turkey. Description: Boulder, Colorado : The Geological Society of America, Inc., 2020. | Series: Memoir ; 216 | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2020043127 (print) | LCCN 2020043128 (ebook) | ISBN 9780813712161 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780813782164 (ebk) Subjects: LCSH: Hutton, James, 1726-1797--Influence. | Geology--History--18th century. | Geology--History--19th century. Classification: LCC QE11 .S46 2020 (print) | LCC QE11 (ebook) | DDC 551.092--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020043127 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020043128

Cover: James Hutton. Etching by J. Kay, 1787. John Kay’s famous caricature showing James Hutton in front of an outcrop at the Salisbury Crags near Edinburgh that had taken the shape of the heads of his opponents. The second from the top, directly facing an amazed Hutton, is most likely Jean-André Deluc, with his pointed nose and prominent chin. The one at the bottom is possibly Francis Lord Jeffrey (1773–1850), jurist and one of the founders of the Edinburgh Review and its editor between 1803 to 1829 (Dean, 1992, p. 126), with his bulbous forehead, bushy eyebrows and a suggestion of a double-chin. In between is probably Robert Jameson with the suggestion of a slight ski-jump nose with a rounded end and pursed lips. Detail of National Portrait Gallery image NPGD18643, © National Portrait Gallery, London, npg.org.uk.

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Dedication ...... v Preface...... ix Acknowledgments...... xi Abstract...... 1 Introduction...... 2 Science and Historiography of Science: The Case of Geology...... 2 Revisionist Claims Concerning Hutton’s Place in Geology...... 4 The British Empire...... 9 Before Lyell...... 9 After Lyell and before Geikie...... 38 Appendix to Hutton in the British Empire: Hutton in the Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History Society...... 45 France...... 49 Before Lyell...... 49 After Lyell and before Geikie...... 61 The Russian Empire...... 70 Before Lyell...... 70 After Lyell and before Geikie...... 72 Germany...... 74 Before Lyell...... 74 After Lyell and before Geikie...... 77 Austrian Empire (Austro-Hungary After 1867)...... 88 Before Lyell...... 88 After Lyell and Before Geikie ...... 89 Switzerland...... 92 After Lyell and Before Geikie ...... 92 Italy...... 94 Before Lyell...... 94 After Lyell and Before Geikie ...... 97 The United States of America ...... 101 Before Lyell...... 101 After Lyell and Before Geikie ...... 105

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Discussion ...... 111 Hutton Regarded as the Founder of Modern Geology (A chronology from 1829 to 1897) . . . . 111 Hutton’s Theory Regarded as Something New (A chronology from 1787 to 1878)...... 113 Hutton Regarded as the Founder of Metamorphic Geology ...... 114 Evaluation of the Historical Record...... 114 Conclusions...... 121 References Cited...... 122 Notes...... 137 Indices ...... 151 Geographical Localities...... 151 People...... 155 Subjects ...... 161 Titles of Publications...... 169

Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/5198018/mwr216-00.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 Dedicated, with deep gratitude, to three great scientists, who are also great historians and philosophers of science: Edward Harrison, Steven Weinberg and David Deutsch

Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/5198018/mwr216-00.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/5198018/mwr216-00.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilization. —Voltaire

Diligence and accuracy are the only merits which an historical writer may ascribe to himself; if any merit indeed can be assumed from the performance of an indispensable duty. I may therefore be allowed to say that I have carefully examined all the original materials that could illustrate the subject which I had undertaken to treat. —Edward Gibbon

The impression produced upon the public mind by the new doctrines introduced and established, from time to time, by physical science … are always liable to be underrated by historians. —Sir Charles Lyell

What a man believes upon grossly insufficient evidence is an index into his desires—desires of which he himself is often unconscious. If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way. —Lord Bertrand Russell

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