James Hutton's Edinburgh: The Historical, Social, and Political Background

Abstract

James Hutton (1726-1797) was born and bred in Edinburgh. Having decided to be a farmer, he went to Norfolk aged twenty-four to learn new methods of husbandry. From that base, he travelled widely and developed an interest in geology. In 1767 he left his Berwickshire farm and returned to Edinburgh, where he became a valued member of the remarkable group of men who founded the Royal Society of Edinburgh and made the city an unrivalled intellectual centre of the age.Edinburgh was a capital without the distractions of king and parliament. When the Industrial Revolution began, many disciplines were already represented by men of world-renown who knew each other—many, indeed, were related. There were still no boundaries between narrowly defined disciplines; there was shared interest in all knowledge.Geological structure had constricted Edinburgh's growth, keeping the compact Old Town on its ancient defensive ridge. The North Bridge, completed soon after Hutton's return to Edinburgh, made possible the planned New Town, in dramatic architectural and intellectual contrast to the mediaeval city. The beauty and interest of Edinburgh's scenery is the result of an active geological past. Consequently, in a small and accessible space, rocks of different character are exposed in a natural geological laboratory.James Hutton did not live in an ivory tower. War, rebellion, and revolution, both political and industrial, all had their influence. In a turbulent world, a decade of peace (1783-1793) was another factor making possible Hutton's great contribution to modern geology.