early discoverers xxvi another forgotten pioneer of the glacial theory

70urnal 0/ G/aciology, Vol. 7t .\:0. 49. 1968
EARLY DISCOVERERS
XXVI
ANOTHER FORGOTTEN PIONEER OF THE
GLACIAL THEORY
JAMES HUTTON ( 1726-9 7)
By
GORD ON
L. DAV IES
(D epartment of G eogra phy, Trinity Coll ege, U ni ve rsity of Dublin, Dublin, Eire)
THE pro blem of erratic boulders lying far from their place of orig in attrac ted co nsiderable
attention during the closing d ecades of the eighteenth century. More especia ll y, interes t
focused upon the blocks of Mont Bla nc gra nite resting on the fl a nks of the Jura. V a l"io us
fan ciful explanations, ra ng ing fm m d eba cles to gigantic explosions, were o ffered to acco unt
for su ch phenomena (some of the early expla na tions h ave bee n reviewed by Agassiz ( 1840)
and N orth ( 1943)) but the true expla nation long eluded even the m os t as tute observe rs. It
was n ot that there was a fa ilure to appreciate the tra nsportive power of glaciers- d e Saussure
( 1786- 96, Vo!. 2, p. 21 ) and others recognized the abili ty of glaciers to m ove la rge bouldersbut a failure to recognize tha t glaciers ha d recentl y extended far beyond their present limits.
J ohn Playfair 's ( 1802) classic Illustrations of the Huttonian theory of the Earth is commonl y
regarded as the earliest work to expound the view that the Alps ha d undergone an extensive
glacieri zation and that the swollen glaciers had b een resp onsible for transporting en "atics into
the Jura . This, Seylaz ( 1962 ) has urged in a recent paper, entitles Playfa ir to be h a iled as
" the first to g ive a valid explanation of th e origin of the wandering boulders and of their
transporta tion fa r from their original sites" . Playfair certa inly did expound this theory, and
in his usual eloquent prose, but the th eor y was not origina l to him ; h e was m erel y a d va ncing
on e of the d octrines of his friend and preceptor , J a m es Hutton .
Hutton 's name is familia r to all historians of science ; his theory of the Earth, first made
public in 1785, is universally recognized a s h aving given the earth sciences their d ynamic
framework. In its original form, as published in 1788, the theory made no r eference to glaciers,
but in the expa nd ed version of the th eory, published in 1795, Hutton did a llude to glaciers
and to a former glacierization of the Alps. H e cla imed tha t at som e time in the pas t, before
d enuda tion had lowered the mounta ins to th eir presen t level, the Alps ha d been su ffic ien tly
loft y to support extensive snowfields. Hutton ( 1795, Vo!. 2, p . 218) continued:
" There would then have been immense valleys of ice sliding down in all directions towa rds the lower
country, and carrying large blocks of grani te to a great distance, where they would be variously
deposited, and many of them remain an object of admiration to after ages, conjecturing from
whence, or how they came. Such are the great blocks of granite which now repose upon the hills of
Saleve."
U nfortunately he offered no further comment upon this p ostulated g lacia l e poch, but there is
one other passage in the I 795 Theory which d eserves m ention in this context. It is a tantalizing ly vague passage, refl ecting som ething of Hutton 's well-known stylistic obscuri ty, but it
does leave us wondering whether h e had som e inkling of the p otentia l of glacier ice as a n
agen t of erosion . The passage occurs when, amidst a discussion of rive r valleys a nd fluvia l
erosion, Hutton ( 1795, V o!. 2, p . 296) suddenly adve rts to valleys of a differen t typ e, a s
follows :
" But, in the Alps of Switzerland and Savoy, there is ano ther system of valleys, a bove that of the
rivers, and connected with it. These are valleys of moving ice, instead of water. This icy valley is
11 5
11 6
JO U R N AL OF GLACIOLOGY
a lso found bra n ching from a greater to a lesse r, until a t last it ends upon the summit of a mounta in
covered continually with snow. The motion of things in those icy vall eys is co mmonl y exceeding
slow, th e operat ion however of protruding bodies, as w e ll a s that of fracture and attrition , is
extr emely powerful."
It is strange that Hutton, a Scotsman living far removed from an y g laciers, should have
lighted upon th e correct explanation of the erratics in the Jura, when his contemporaries,
many of them possessed of a wide field experi ence of glaciers, were still hav ing resort to the
most fanciful of processes to account for the ph enomenon. Hutton was, of course, familial"
with acco unts of glaciers in the literature- d e Saussure was one of his favoUl"ite authoritiesbut there is a slight possibility that Hutton actually had first-hand experience of glaciers. In
1747 and 1748 he was a m edical stud ent in Paris and, a lthough this was a period before his
interes t in geology had been aro used, one wonders whether he ever escaped from his studies
to pay a visit to the Alps.
Whether o r not Hutton ever saw a glacier is now of small consequen ce. What matters is
that he, and not Playfair, was the first British writer to postula te a n Alpine glaciation. His
priority has repeatedly been overlooked. On various occasions Bailey ( 1921, 1950) sought to
correct the record , but his pleas on Hutton's behalf have evidently passed unnoticed.
A1S. received 21 Februmy 1967 and in revisedjorm 13 June [967
REFERENCES
Agassiz, L. 1840. Etudes sur les glaciers. Neucha tel, pri vatel y printed.
Bailey, E. B. 1921. Geology, p . 63- 99' (In Knott, C. G. , ed. Edinburgh's place in scientific jJrogress, prej)aredfor the
Edinburgh meeting of the British A ssociation by the local editorial committee. Ed inburgh a nd London , W . and R .
Chambers.)
Bailey, E . B. 1950. J ames Hu tton, fou nd er of modern geology. Proceedings of the Roy al Sociel)' of Edinburgh,
Vol. 63B, No. 4, p. 357- 68.
Hutton, J. 1795. The them} of the Earth , with proofs and illustrations. London , M essrs. Cad ell. Jr .. and Davies ;
Edinburgh, William Creech.
North , F. J. 1943. Centenary of the glacia l theory. Proceedings of the Geologists' A ssociation, Vol. 54, Pt. I , p. 1- 28.
Playfa ir, J. 1802. illustrations of the H uUonian theory of the Earth. Ed inburgh, 'rV. Creech.
Saussure, H .-B. de. 1786- 96. Voyages dans les Alpes, jJrecMes d'un essai sllr l'histoire nalureiLe des environs de Gentve.
Geneve, Barde, Ivlanget et C ie. 8 vols.
Seylaz , L. 1962. Early discoverers. XV . A forgotten pioneer of th e glacia l th eory: J ohn Pl ayfair ( 1748- 181 9) .
Journal of Glaciolog)" Vol. 4, No. 3 1, p. 124- 26.