CHARLES, a celebrated English mathematician, was born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Aug. 14, 1737. His father, who to other duties added that of an inspector of mines, gave him such an education as his means allowed; but the school to which he sent his son was a bad one, and the young Hutton soon distanced his teacher. His knowledge of the higher mathematics he acquired without help from any one. At the age of eighteen he obtained an ushership in a school at Jesmond, and when his principal was promoted to a living in the church, Hutton was appointed to succeed him. Among his pupils at this place was John Scott, afterwards Lord Eldon, chancellor of England. In 1760 he married, and began the work of tuition on a larger scale in Newcastle, eking out his income by contributions to the Ladies' Diary, the Gentleman's Magazine, and other works of that class. His first acknowledged work, however, is his Practical Treatise on Arithmetic and Bookkeeping—the work of a master-hand, which threw into the shade all previous treatises on these subjects. Next appeared, in 1771, his Theoretical and Practical Treatise on Mensuration. In this year the bridge at Newcastle happened to be destroyed by an unusually heavy flood. Hutton drew up a plan, providing against the recurrence of such a calamity, which in the ensuing year he enlarged and published under the title of Principles of Bridges, and the Mathematical Demonstration of the Laws of Arches. In 1773, after a severe competitive trial, he was chosen professor of mathematics in the Royal Military Academy of Woolwich. Made a fellow of the Royal Society in 1774, he fulfilled the duties of foreign secretary to that learned body from 1779 to 1783. During this period the Royal Society had nearly been dissolved from the discontent called forth by the conduct of Sir Joseph Banks, the president. He was accused of introducing into the body ignorant men of rank and wealth, and overlooking those whose claims to the honour were founded only on real scientific, especially mathematical, genius. Hutton found himself accused of neglecting his duties of foreign secretary, and indignantly resigned. He drew up a defence of his conduct, however, which was fully sustained by the vote of the society. (A detailed account of this unhappy affair is given in Kippis' Observations on the late Contests in the Royal Society, Lond. 1784.) The treatment of Hutton was peculiarly ungracious, especially if account be taken of the solid services which he rendered to the society. Besides contributing a large number of papers to its Transactions, he had gone through the enormous labour of making all the mathematical calculations for Maskelyne's experiments at Schelchallion, in Perthshire, for determining the mean density of the earth. These labours were fully appreciated by the savans of Edinburgh, who in 1779 procured for Hutton the degree of LL.D. from the university of that city. For the next six or seven years, Hutton's works were almost entirely mathematical in their character, comprising his Mathematical Tables; Tables of the Product and Power of Numbers, &c., which he followed up in 1795 with his Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary, the most valuable contribution to scientific biography that has yet appeared in England. Perhaps the most laborious of all Hutton's works was that which he next undertook, viz., his abridgement of the Philosophical Transactions. In this he was assisted by Drs Shaw and Pearson, who relieved him of the historic and literary parts of the task, while he reserved to himself the mathematical and scientific portions. This undertaking was completed in 1809, and filled 18 volumes in 4to. Hutton received £5000 for the share he had taken in it. Soon after this he found himself obliged by bad health to resign the appointment he had so long and ably held at Woolwich. A retiring pension of £500 a-year assured him that his services had been duly appreciated by the Board of Ordnance. In 1819-20 he began a correspondence with Laplace to vindicate his claim to notice in that philosopher's account of the experiments on the density of the earth; and in the Connaissance des Temps for 1823 he had the pleasure of seeing that his labours on that difficult problem were amply acknowledged by the great French philosopher. Hutton had reached his eighty-sixth year, when he died Jan. 27, 1823.

All the biographical notices of Hutton are unanimous in describing him as one of the most skilful of teachers, and the most amiable of men. His modesty and simplicity were as remarkable as his intellectual gifts. To his friends and pupils he exhibited a warmth of personal affection that attached both to him in a very rare degree. It was also with him a sacred duty to seek out the poor and unbefriended student of science, and promote and otherwise assist him to the best of his power.

Hutton wrote many other works besides those mentioned above; but we need only add to the list his Comic Sections, and his English version of Montucla's Recreations in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. A catalogue raisonné of his works will be found in the Biog. Univers., and in his Life by Olinthus Gregory, his successor at Woolwich.

Hutton, James, M.D., the author of the Huttonian theory of the earth, was born at Edinburgh, June 3, 1726, and died in 1797. After passing through the ordinary courses at the High School and University of his native city, he began the study of the law, but soon exchanged it for the more congenial pursuits of natural science. He studied medicine for three years at Edinburgh, then for two in Paris, and finally graduated at Leyden. Returning to London in 1749, he began to practise as a physician, but with such small success that in the following year he removed to Scotland, where, inheriting his father's estate, he devoted himself to agriculture. A residence in England, and afterwards in the Low Countries, perfected him in that art as then understood, and enabled him to introduce those improvements into the husbandry of Scotland that have made the agricultural system of that country the most perfect now in use. The last thirty years of his life were devoted chiefly to those geological and meteorological studies of which he embodied the results in his Theory of the Earth, and his Theory of Rain. The illustrations of these works by Playfair are justly regarded as among the finest specimens of philosophical writing that the English tongue has to show. The value of Hutton's contributions to natural science, and his place in the history of that branch of philosophy, are discussed in the sixth Preliminary Dissertation to this work by Professor Forbes, par. 591. Hutton's Life has been written by his friend Playfair, in Edin. Transactions, vol. v.