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with pleasure, contemplates this manifestation of design, and thus connects
the mineral system of this earth with that by which the heavenly bodies are
made to move perpetually in their orbits" (1795,1, 276). Hutton also invokes
a cosmic analogy as a guarantee of deep time in the sentence just preceding
his famous closing dictum, "no vestige of a beginning,—no prospect of an
end": "For having, in the natural history of this earth, seen a succession of
worlds, we may from this conclude that there is a system in nature; in like
manner as, from seeing revolutions of the planets, it is concluded, that there
is a system by which they are intended to continue those revolutions" (1788,
304). Similarly, Playfair connects deep time with planetary motion:
The geological system of Dr Hutton resembles, in many respects, that which
appears to preside over the heavenly motions ... In both, a provision is made
for duration of unlimited extent, and the lapse of time has no effect to wear
out or destroy a machine, constructed with so much wisdom. Where the
movements are all so perfect, their beginning and end must be alike invisible.
(1802, 440)
In summary, I have traced the
a priori
character of cyclicity and deep time in
Hutton's thought by analyzing his views on the nature of final and efficient
causes for the earth. For final cause, he resolved the paradox of the soil by
insisting that uplift must restore topography eroded to permit life and
agriculture. For efficient cause, he devised a world machine that arranged all
historical complexity as a cycle of repeating events as regular as the
revolution of planets in Newton's system. In both cases, deep time is the
essential ingredient of unbounded cycles, established by logical necessity
prior to confirmation in the field. In other words—and I may now summarize
the entire chapter in a phrase—time's cycle forms the core of Hutton's vision
for a rational theory of the earth.
Hutton developed his theory by imposing
upon the earth the most rigid and uncompromising version of time's cycle
ever developed by a geologist.
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