HUTCHINSON (John), a philosophical writer, whose notions have made no inconsiderable noise in the world, was born in 1674. He served the duke of Somerset in the capacity of steward; and in the course of his travels from place to place employed himself in collecting fossils: we are told, that the large and noble collection bequeathed by Dr Woodward to the university of Cambridge, was actually made by him, and even unfairly obtained from him. When he left the duke's service to indulge his studies with more freedom, the duke, then master of the horse to George I. made him his riding surveyor, a kind of sinecure place of 200 l. a-year with a good house in the Meuse. In
1724 he published the first part of Moses's Principia, in which he ridiculed Dr Woodward's Natural History of the Earth, and exploded the doctrine of gravitation established in Newton's Principia: in 1727, he published the second part of Moses's Principia, containing the principles of the Scripture philosophy. From this time to his death, he published a volume every year or two, which, with the MSS. he left behind, were published in 1748, in 12 vols. 8vo. On the Monday before his death, Dr Mead urged him to be bled; saying pleasantly, "I will soon send you to Moses," meaning to his studies: but Mr Hutchinson taking it in the literal sense, answered in a muttering tone, "I believe, doctor, you will;" and was so displeased, that he dismissed him for another physician; but died a few days after, August 28th 1737. Singular as his notions are, they are not without some defenders, who have obtained the appellation of Hutchinsonians.