Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 28.djvu/360

 Rh his example, and in 1740, after Wesley had induced several members of Hutton's society, which met then at the Fetter Lane Chapel, to abandon it for his Foundry Society, the disruption between Hutton and himself was complete. They were subsequently reconciled, and Wesley noted in his ‘Journal' after Hutton had paid him a visit that he believed Hutton would be saved, but as by fire.

Hutton was till his death an active Moravian leader. He often visited Germany, and in 1741 became, by Spangenberg's advice, one of the founders of the Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel, and acted as 'referendary' for many years. 'Pray,’ Lord Shelburne asked him, in the course of an interview in which the projected Moravian mission to Labrador was discussed, 'on what footing are you with the methodists? 'They kick us whenever they can,' answered Hutton. George III, the queen, and Dr. Franklin were among Hutton's acquaintances. On 3 May 1795 Hutton died at Oxted Cottage, near Godstone, Surrey, where he had lived for nearly two years with the Misses Biscoe and Shelley. He was buried in the burying-ground adjoining the chapel at Chelsea. Hutton married at Marrenborn, 3 July 1740, Louise Brandt, a Swiss Moravian, whose grandfather had been advocate of Neuchatel, Zinzendorf performing the ceremony. He left no family. His wife seems to have lapsed occasionally, as on 4 Nov. 1771 'a letter from Brother Hutton, apologising for the uncongregation-like fashion of his wife's gown, was read.' Hutton may be called the founder of the Moravian church in England, although CominiusComenius [sic] and other teachers had visited this country before, A portrait of Hutton, with his ear-trumpet, by Cosway, was engraved in mezzotint by J. R. Smith in 1786; another engraving by W. Wickes is prefixed to Benham's 'Memoir.' Hutton wrote ' An Essay towards giving some just ideas of the Personal Character of Count Zinzendorf …,' London, 1755, 8vo.

 HUTTON, JAMES (1726–1797), geologist, son of William Hutton, merchant and city treasurer of Edinburgh, was born in Edinburgh on 3 June 1726. The father died while Hutton was very young, and his mother sent him to the high school and the university of Edinburgh, where he entered in November 1740. His attention was soon directed to chemistry, which he first studied in Harris's 'Lexicon Technicum.' In 1743, by his friends' wishes, he was apprenticed to a writer to the signet, but he made chemical experiments while he should have been copying law-papers, and his master released him. From 1744 to 1747 he studied medicine at Edinburgh University, spent the two following years in Paris, and returning by Leyden, graduated there M.D. in September 1749. Soon after returning to Edinburgh in 1750 he gave up the idea of medical practice, and resolved to apply himself to agriculture. In 1752 he went to live with a Norfolk farmer, John Dybold, to learn practical farming, and made journeys into different parts of England to study agriculture. In these journeys he began to study mineralogy and geology. In 1754 he travelled through Holland, Flanders, and Picardy. Towards the end of 1754 he returned to Scotland, and settled on his paternal farm in Berwickshire, where he introduced improved methods of tillage. He also entered into partnership with an old fellow-student, James Davie, in producing sal ammoniac from coal-soot. In 1768 he removed to Edinburgh, where his scientific studies advanced in the society of Joseph Black, Adam Ferguson, and others. His chemical experiments were continued, and one result was the discovery of soda in the mineral zeolite, apparently before 1772. In 1772 he made a tour in England and Wales, visiting the Cheshire salt mines, and; noticing the concentric circles on their roof as a proof that these mines were not formed from mere aqueous deposition. In 1777 he wrote a pamphlet on ' Coal and Culm,' which had considerable influence in obtaining an exemption from duty for Scottish small coal exported into England. He took an active part in discussions on the project for a canal between the Firths of Forth and Clyde. He had been a member of the Edinburgh Philosophical Society from the time of his settling in Edinburgh, and when it was incorporated with the Royal Society of Edinburgh, which received a royal charter in 1783, he contributed to its 'Transactions' early in 1785 a sketch of a 'Theory of the Earth, or an Investigation of the Laws observable in the Composition, Dissolution, and Restoration of Land upon the Globe,' on which he afterwards based his famous work, 'The Theory of the Earth, with Proofs and Illustrations,' published at Edinburgh in two volumes in 1795. Hutton had outlined his 'Theory 'in an unpublished sketch on 'The Natural History of the Earth,' written at a much earlier date. The 'Theory' met with little notice at first, while a 'Theory of Rain,' based