Dr James, physician and naturalist, was the son of Mr William Hutton, a respectable merchant in Edinburgh. He was born on the 3d of June 1726, and having lost his father while he was very young, the charge of his education devolved on his mother, who determined that it should be very liberal. Having finished his grammar-school education at the high school of Edinburgh, he entered the university at the age of fourteen, in the year 1740. He always considered himself as greatly indebted to Professor Stevenson's lectures on logic, nor because they made him a logician, but because they accidentally gave him a predilection for chemistry, which he retained and cherished to the close of life. As an illustration of some particular doctrine, the professor observed, that whilst the acids can singly dissolve the baser metals, they must unite their strength before they can have any influence upon gold; that metal is only to be dissolved by nitro-muriatic acid, formerly denominated aqua regia. From this remark he found his thirst for chemical knowledge daily increase, and sought for information from every quarter.

He always evinced talents sufficient to encourage the prosecution of his studies; but it was the wish of his friends that he should turn his attention to business, and with this he complied, though contrary to his own inclinations. In 1743 he was put as an apprentice to Mr George Chalmers, writer to the signet, where he soon discovered the ruling propensity of his mind; for when he should have been transcribing law papers, he was amusing his fellow apprentices with experiments in chemistry. Mr Chalmers perceiving this, generously freed him from his obligations to serve him, desiring him to turn his attention to some other employment more congenial to his views. He fixed his choice on the study of medicine, as nearly related to his favourite pursuits; and after spending about three years at Edinburgh, he studied two years at Paris; and returning home by the Low Countries, took his degree of doctor of medicine at Leyden, in September 1749. The subject of his thesis was, De Sanguine et Circulatione in Microcosmo.

When he arrived in London, about the end of 1749, he conceived the design of settling in the world. He justly conjectured that Edinburgh did not hold out for him any flattering prospects in the capacity of physician, as the principal practice was in the hands of a few eminent physicians who had been long established. He accordingly wrote to his friends in Edinburgh with much anxiety as to the subject of his future prospects in life. To Mr James Davie, a young man of nearly his own age, with whom he contracted a friendship which death only could extinguish, he also communicated the perplexed state of his mind. Their mutual knowledge of the nature of sal-ammoniac led them to establish this manufacture, which afterwards became a most lucrative concern to both. The sentiments of Mr Davie were communicated to Dr Hutton while yet in London, which probably was the chief reason why he resolved to abandon entirely the practice of physic.

On his return to Edinburgh, in the year 1750, he resolved to devote all his attention to agriculture, which might probably be occasioned by his having succeeded to a small property in Berwickshire on the death of his father. Professor Playfair of the university of Edinburgh has ascribed it, and we apprehend with great propriety, to the native simplicity of his character, and the moderation of his views, which were always free from ambition. His attachment to the life of a farmer was increased by his acquaintance with Sir John Hall of Dunglass, a gentleman who was very ingenious, a friend and lover of science, and one who well understood agriculture. Determined to make himself master of rural economy, Dr Hutton went into the county of Norfolk, where he continued for some time in the house of a farmer, who was at once his preceptor and his host. The farmer's name was John Dybold, whose practical knowledge of agriculture Dr Hutton always mentioned in terms of the highest respect.

During his residence in this county, which was to him a paradise, he made frequent excursions into different parts of England; and although information respecting rural economy was the great and primary object of his pursuit, yet it was here that he first commenced the study of mineralogy, to serve him as an amusement on the road. He acquainted his friend Sir John Hall that he had become remarkably fond of studying the surface of the earth, and was narrowly examining every pit, or ditch, or bed of a river that fell in his way. The agricultural knowledge he acquired in Norfolk increased his desire to pay a visit to Flanders, the only place in Europe where husbandry can boast of very great antiquity. He set out accordingly in the spring of 1754, and returned to England during the summer of the same year. Soon after his arrival in London he observed, in a letter to Sir John Hall, "had I doubted of it before I set out, I should have returned fully convinced that they are good husbandmen in Norfolk."

About this time he returned to his native country, and was for some time at a loss what place to fix upon for the purpose of carrying into effect his agricultural improvements. His own farm at length became his choice, and a ploughman whom he had brought with him from Norfolk gave the first specimen of excellent tillage ever exhibited in that part of Scotland. To Dr Hutton the country is indebted for the introduction of the new husbandry into a county where it may be said to have made more astonishing progress than in almost any other part of the British empire. In the year 1764 he made an excursion into the north of Scotland, in company with Commissioner, afterwards Sir George Clerk, a man of singular worth and abilities. They proceeded to Crieff, Dalwhinnie, Fort Augustus, and Inverness, and returned along the coast by Aberdeen to Edinburgh. To increase his knowledge of geology was Dr Hutton's chief aim in this tour, to which he had now determined to pay the most unremitting attention. About the year 1768 he devoted his whole time to scientific pursuits, and having met with a favourable opportunity of letting his farm to advantage, he took up his residence in Edinburgh. He now turned his attention very much to the study of chemistry, and we believe he was the first who discovered that mineral alkali is contained in zeolite. The same fact has since been confirmed by the experiments of that celebrated mineralogist M. Klaproth, as well as by those of Dr Kennedy, which have led to others of a similar nature.

Dr Hutton gave to the world his first publication in 1777, which was a small pamphlet of thirty-seven pages, entitled Considerations on the nature, quality, and distinctions of Coal and Culm. It was designed to answer a question which began to be much agitated, whether the small coal of Scotland is the same with the culm of England; and whether it ought to be carried coastwise free of all duty. This created a keen contest between the proprietors and revenue officers, the one insisting that it should, and the other that it should not pay any duty. It was discussed before the board of customs in Scotland, and even occupied the attention of the privy council. The small coal of Scotland was finally exempted from the payment of duty, to which the pamphlet of Dr Hutton greatly contributed.

During a period of thirty years the attention of the doctor was turned towards geological studies, to qualify him for writing on his favourite topic, a new theory of the earth. Long before that theory made its appearance in the world, he had completed the outline of it, which, however, was shown only to a few confidential friends. He was first induced to publish it by communicating an abridgment of it to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Of the merits or defects of this celebrated theory this is not the place to speak. It found a very able advocate in Professor Playfair, whose Illustrations must ever be regarded as one of the finest specimens of philosophical writing that our language can boast of.

A theory of rain from the same author appeared in the first volume of the Edinburgh Transactions. He had made meteorology his study for a considerable time; and his theory has been pronounced one of the few to be met with in that department of knowledge which is deserving of consideration. Soon after this publication, Dr Hutton gave the world, in three volumes quarto, An Investigation of the Principles of Knowledge, and of the Progress of Reason from Sense to Science and Philosophy. This work never attracted any notice. His elements of agriculture, the result of much study and long experience, was the last work which he seemed anxious to publish; but it was left in manuscript at his death, which took place in 1797.

To the name of philosopher Dr Hutton was most justly entitled, by reason of his natural talents, acquisitions, and temper. The direction of his studies was rather uncommon and irregular; but for that very reason it was peculiarly fitted to develop that quick penetration and originality of thought, by which his intellectual character was strikingly marked. The greatest acquisitions of wealth and fortune never excited more lively sensations of pleasure in the minds of men, than those which arose in the mind of Dr Hutton on hearing of a new invention, or on being made acquainted with a new truth. This pleasure, which appeared almost ridiculous to those who could not enter into his views, was not confined to any one branch of science; for, in the language of Professor Playfair, "he would rejoice over Watt's improvements on the steam-engine, or Cook's discoveries in the South Sea, with all the warmth of a man who was to share in the honour or the profit about to accrue from them." Dr Hutton was not exclusively attached to the company of men of letters, whose conversation was entirely directed to subjects of literature; for he could occasionally unbend himself, and enjoy the innocent hilarity of promiscuous company, when he freely indulged in the gratification of his native pleasantry. An admirable account of his life, written by Professor Playfair, was published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.