Two Theories of the Earth: James Hutton and Antoine Lavoisier

Abstract

Abstract

The times of the French and the Scottish enlightenment saw the transition from a static, time-less Histoire naturelle , mainly concerned with the description and classification of animals, plants, and minerals to new, dynamic Theories of the Earth interested in geological processes and their products, based on detailed and accurate observations in the field and their interpretation, along an iterative process of observation and the formulation and testing of working hypotheses, within an uniformitarian context involving also long time scales. Amongst the new theories, two are most prominent, emphasizing cyclic processes to different degrees: James Hutton's Theory of the Earth and Antoine Lavoisier's Théorie de la terre . Hutton's theory (1785, 1788, 1795) emphasized a cyclic, steady state evolution of the Earth and had, after his death, mostly through John Playfair's publication (1802), a major impact on the evolution of geology in the 19 th century. By contrast, Lavoisier, describing sedimentary cycles of different order, placed their evolution into a clear historical context. Unfortunately only a fragment was published in 1793, and the importance of his work was only recognized many years after his tragic death, and had a much lesser influence than Hutton's.