Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/406

This page needs to be proofread.
*
352
*

BUTTON. 352 HUXLEY. cine, taking courses at Edinburgh, Paris, and Leydcn. In 1750 he returned to Scotland, and for several years was engaged in agrioiiltiir.'il pursuits. Upon removing to Edintiurgli in ITtiS he came in contact with Ferguson, Black, and other savants, who encouraged and directed his scientific investigations. The results of a long and careful research into geological processes ■were formulated in a paper entitled "Theory of the Earth," which he re.id before the Royal So- ciety in 1785, and afterwards aniplilied and pub- lished as The Theory of the Eiirth, with I'roof.t and lUustrations (1795). This work, althovigli attracting little notice at the time, established a place for its author among the foremost think- ers in the realm of geological .science. One of the fundamental principles of Mutton's theorj' was based on the internal heat of the earth, which has shown itself in past ages by the intrusion of molten rocks into the crust, and by upheaval of the superficial strata. This view was com- bated by the followers of Werner, but it is now generally accepted as correct. He further de- veloped the principle that the study of geological phenomena should be based upon observation of changes going on at the present time, and thus in a way originated the doctrine of uniforniitarian- ism (q.v. ), afterwards elaborated and expoundeil by Lyell. The great value of Hutton's work was not fully appreciated until several years after his death, when Playfair brought out the "Il- lustrations of the Huttonian Tlieory." llutton contributed frequently to the "Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh." and also pub- lished .several extended works, among the most important of which are: Dissertations on Dif- ferent /Subjects in atural Philosophy (1792); Jnvestipation of the Principles 'of Knntrlrdfic ( 1794) : and .-1 Dissertation upon the Philosophy of Heat. Light, and Fire (1794). HUTTON, l.,vrKK.cE( 184.1-1904). An .-Xmeri- can essayist and critic, born in New York City. He was educated privately and at the age of nine- teen entered commercial life, which proved imcon- genial. A'arious visits to European cities .strengthened an inborn taste for letters, and af- ter acting from 1872 until 1874 as dramatic critic of the Xew York Fhening ^fail, he devoted himself entirely to literature. From 1880 till 1898 he was the literary editor of Harper's Magazine. He was one of the organizers of the Authors flub, and of the International Copy- richt League. The private collection of literary curiosities gathered by him is unique, one of the most complete in the world. In 1892 he received the degree of A.M. from Yale, and in 1897 from Princeton. His w-ritings on dramatic subjects include: Plays and Players (1875): Curiosities of the .mericnn Staye (1887) : ^temoir of fJdtrin Booth (1893): and with Brander Matthews, Actors and Actresses of Great liritnin and of the Inited States { 1880-87 ) . He edited .the "Ameri- can Actor Series" ( 1881-82) ; compiled other books on subjects connected with the American stage; and published a group of delightful literary guide-books including Literary Landmarks of London (1887) ; of Edinhurqh (1892) : of .Jeru- salem (189.T) : of IVni'cf (1896); of Florence (1897) ; of Home (1897). HUTTON, Ricn.tRD Holt (1826-97). An English journalist and critic. He was the son of a Unitarian minister, and was born June 22, 1826, in Leeds, Yorkshire. The family removed to London in 1835. Hutton was educated at Uni- versity College School, and subsequently at the college itself, with a view to the Unitarian min- istry. .fter two semesters in Germany, he re- turned to London; and finding no adequate sphere in the ministry, he became prinei])al of University Hall. Resigning on account of ill licalth, which necessitated a trip to the West Indies, he studied law. Under the influence of F. P. Maurice he entered the Church of Eng- land. In 1801 Meredith Townsend bought the Spectator, and called in Hutton to aid liini in conducting it. As editor of this ])aper for twenty-five years Hutton exerted great influ- ence. Liberal but not radical in tone, it became in his hands the organ of the very best contem- porary thought. As a critic Hutton came to speak with much authority. His best work is represented by Essays, Theological and Literary (1871), containing under the second division essays on Goethe, Wordsworth. Shelley, Byron, Browning. George Eliot, and Clough ; Essays on Some .^fodern Oiiidcs of English Thought (1887), treating of Carlyle, Newman, Matthew Arnold, George Eliot, and F. D. Maurice. He also wrote a life of Scott (1878), and edited the liioqrnphi- eal Studies of W. Bagehot (1881). Hutton died September 9, 1897, at Crossdei)e. Consult Hog- ben, li. n. llutton, a Monograph (Edinburgh, 1900). HUX'LEY, Thomas 1Ie.rv (1825-95). An Englisli natiralist and comparative anatomist. He was liorn at Ealing, now a siburb of London, May 4, 1825. He studied in the Medical School of Charing Cross Hofsjiital. and in 184:) was graduated as 51. B. and medalist at the I^niversity of London. In 1840 he was appointed assistant surgeon on the Rattlesnake of the Royal Navy, commanded by Capt. Owen Stanley, which was to .survey the region of the Great Barrier Reef, cast and north of Australi.a. Imbued with a passion for natural history, Huxley devoted him- self to the study of the marine animals seen and collected during the four years of this survey service. His most important research. "On the Anatomy and the Atlinity of . . . the ^Tedusic." was published during his absence and placed its author in the front rank of biolo- gists. He demonstrated that the body of the medusa is essentially built up of an inner and an outer membrane, which he asserted were the honiologues of the two primary germinal layers in the vertebrate embrj'o. (See EMnRYOi.ocT. ) This discovery stands at the basis of modem philosophical zoology, and of a true conception of the affinity of animals. In 1850. on his return to England, Huxley be- gan a hard striggle agaiast adversity and dis- couragement. Disappointed in the hope lh:if tlio Admiralty would provide for the publication of his notes and drawings, he published the more important in the Philosophical Tran.'iactions (1851). and in the same year was elected a fel- low of the Royal Society, which in 1852 gave him its medal. In 1S54 he siicceeded Edward Forbes as professor of natural history and paleontology at the Royal School of Mines. Tliis was in the line of direct advancement, for his great ability as an educator and administrator, as well as in original research, broucrht him to many p s of honor, such as, in 1855, the FuUerian professor-