James Hutton

“He was an encyclopedic scientist as great as Leonardo， Democritus， Aristotle.” -- Dr. Stuart Munro， a famous British science expert and director of the Edinburgh science museum.

James Hutton was born in Edinburgh， Scotland. He was a great geologist in Scotland and the founder of Plutonism.

Hutton entered the university of Edinburgh at the age of 14. He studied medicine and was very interested in medicine and chmistry. At the end of 1747 he went to Paris， where he studied chemistry and anatomy for two years. He came to Leiden from Paris in 1749， and in September he received a Masters Degree in medicine. Inspired by an English masterpiece in 1750， he developed agriculture， giving up medicine and returning to Scotland. He began to run a small farm left by his father.

Hutton was a person who dared to challenge and query. In 1785 Hutton published their famous long paper. In this paper， his Plutonism theory was illustrated. Huttons theory of Plutonism overcame the limitation of Neptunism. In addition to the Plutonism theory， Hutton also proposed the concept of “Geological Cycle”， which is another vital contribution to geology. Hutton was enthusiastic in supporting the Plutonism theory. He is the author of The Theory of the Earth， which highlighted some basic laws.

James Hutton changed peoples understanding of the earth almost on his own. At that times， people seemed to be interested in everything. They questioned why ancient shell fossils and other sea creatures were often found on the top of the mountains. They split into two opposing camps. Hydrologists believe that everything on earth can be explained by rising and falling sea levels. They argued that mountains， hills and other features were as old as the earth itself.

The opposite was the Plutonism. They argued that there were a few dynamic causes， including volcanoes and earthquakes that constantly changed the planets surface， but apparently had nothing to do with the distant sea. The fire theorists also asked： Where does the water go without flooding？ If there is sometimes enough water to drown the Alps， where does it all go when it has calmed down， as now？ They believe the earth was affected by forces deep within and on the surface.

He did not engage in verbal spats with his contemporaries， nor did he bury himself in the laboratory and repeat his experiments like other scientists. Instead， he turned to the wild in search of rock evidence. Twenty-one years ago， Hutton formed the oyster club with Adam Smith and others， discussing problems and exploring the wild. This further sparked Huttons interest in earths rocks and formations. After three years of research， he was confident that his paper would be published on the front page of the royal journal of Edinburgh. The criticism came later than Hutton had expected， but it was unexpectedly strong. In 1793， Richard Kelvin made a comprehensive critique of Hutton.

Believing that he was being distorted by Calvin， Hutton was enraged and pushed back. Two years later， the man， who was not good at writing， wrote a four-volume book. It is hard to imagine a man who is often “confused” and has written books on agriculture， meteorology， chemistry and philosophy.

Five years after Huttons death， his friend John Prefill， a professor of mathematics at the university of Edinburgh， introduced a short version of Huttons theory. The man who has written a fine article will call this short book the explanation of the Hutton earth theory. The book， which would later have a profound impact on Charles Darwin， eventually came up with the theory of evolution. Thanks to Placers help， Huttons theory became accepted by the scientific community 30 years after his death and eventually became the theoretical basis of modern geology. And this person， who was almost covered by his own language all his life and caused the readers to suffer from the language pain， finally passed the language barrier behind him and was understood and noticed by the world. However， he was surrounded by hills. Huttons theory suggested that the process of forming the earth takes a long time， much longer than anyone thought. There were insights that could revolutionize our understanding of the planet. In 1791， when Hutton had Bladder Calculi disease， he was under the care of his sister and engaged in writing after the operation. While the third volume was two years after his death in 1799 after editing and publishing by friends to help.

James Hutton is such a great geologist that he changed peoples fixed understanding of the world in the past. He is unique since he dared to challenge at that time.

【作者簡介】郭函，女，汉族，河北唐山人，河北师范大学，本科，翻译系。