Abstract
THIS year, the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the death of James Hutton, who has justly been styled the ‘father of modern geology’, has been made the occasion for a number of commemorative meetings in Scotland, the land of his birth. Addresses have been delivered to the Geological Societies of Edinburgh and Glasgow; and, on November 3, at a special meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh., Sir Edward Bailey read a paper on the “Life and Work of Hutton” see p. 727. On the same day the Lord Provost of Edinburgh unveiled a memorial tablet in Greyfriars Churchyard. This plaque was appropriately cut from granite, the igneous origin of which was first demonstrated by Hutton; and it was placed close to his hitherto unmarked grave.
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References
Hutton, J., "Theory of the Earth; or an Investigation of the Laws Observable in the Composition, Dissolution, and Restoration of Land upon the Globe", Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., 1, (Pt. ii), 209 (1788).
New information has been collected by Mr. R. J. B. Munro, assistant librarian of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, which, it is hoped, may be incorporated in due course in a Hutton memorial volume that is projected by the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
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Fitton, W. H., loc. cit., p. 411.
Lyell Mrs., "Life, Letters and Journals of Sir Charles Lyell, Bart.", 2, 47 (1881).
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von Zittel, K. A., "History of Geology and Palæontology", 196 (trans, by M. M. Ogilvie-Gordon, London, 1901).
Playfair, J., "Explication sur la Théorie de la Terre par Hutton" (traduit et accompagné de Notes, par C. A. Basset, 1815).
Geikie, A., op. cit., 299.
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Flett, Sir John, "The First Hundred Years of the Geological Survey of Great Britain", 12 (1937).
Flett, Sir John, op. cit., p. 13.
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EYLES, V. James Hutton (1726-97) and Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875). Nature 160, 694–695 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/160694a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/160694a0
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