FRSE
Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...
geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...
and
geophysicist
Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct investigations acros ...
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...
, and the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
. As an Edinburgh student during the early 1780s, Hall studied
chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
natural history
Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
under John Walker. Though mineralogy was frequent taught in medical courses, Walker was one of the first professors to offer systematic lectures on the new field of geology. While attending Walker's popular course, Hall was taught how to use the chemical composition of minerals to determine relative age of strata. Walker also emphasized the geological relevance of chemists like William Cullen, Joseph Black, Johann Pitt, Norbert Bergman, Johann Waller and Alex Consecrated. After his studies, Hall travelled to continental Europe where he actively sought out book dealers who could sell him works on chemistry, mineralogy and geology. He eventually travelled to France and met
Lavoisier
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794), CNRS (
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...
. This was made of willow, some of which took root, transforming the structure into a small copse.
Geological research
Hall was fascinated by James Hutton's ''Theory of the Earth'' during the late 1780s and 1790s. Hutton's theory suggested that the strata of the earth were continually being worn down or melted, thereby making the earth one giant system of materials' circulation. In the spring 1788 Hall was with Hutton and John Playfair on the boat trip east from his home at Dunglass along the
Berwickshire
Berwickshire (; ) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. The county takes its name from Berwick-upon-Tweed, its original county town, which was part of Scotland at the ...
coast to
Siccar Point
Siccar Point is a rocky promontory in the county of Berwickshire on the east coast of Scotland.
It is famous in the history of geology for Hutton's Unconformity found in 1788, which James Hutton regarded as conclusive proof of his uniformitari ...
where they found the famous rock formation now known as
Hutton's Unconformity
Hutton's Unconformity is a name given to various notable geological sites in Scotland identified by the 18th-century Scottish geologist James Hutton as places where the junction between two types of rock formations can be seen. This geological phe ...
. At this point Hall was still sceptical of the chemical viability of Hutton's theory, however, he soon reconciled these doubts and ended up publishing several papers on the chemical composition of
strata
In geology and related fields, a stratum (: strata) is a layer of Rock (geology), rock or sediment characterized by certain Lithology, lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by v ...
. He carried out research on
granite
Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
that showed that it was possible for molten rock to form conformities. He melted
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
in an iron furnace, and demonstrated that it returned to its original form when cooled. He melted limestone in a retort made from a gun barrel, to show that it did not decompose when melted under pressure. His results were published in the ''Transactions'' of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and were well received by those like John Playfair who wanted to use Hutton's theory to promote a more mathematical approach to geology. He also carried out the first analogue modelling to investigate the formation of folds, work published in 1815.
Hall travelled extensively in Europe to examine geological formations of the
Alps
The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
...
and
Mount Etna
Mount Etna, or simply Etna ( or ; , or ; ; or ), is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina, Italy, Messina and Catania. It is located above the Conve ...
, and noted the similarity of
lava flow
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...
s in
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
to locations in Scotland.
Sir James Hall was President of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh
The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...
, and author of various works on architecture and the sciences.
New Town
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz
* New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
** New (Paul McCartney song), "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013
* New (EP), ''New'' (EP), ...
in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
, Scotland. He is buried in
Greyfriars Kirkyard
Greyfriars Kirkyard is the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at the southern edge of the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town, adjacent to George Heriot's School. Burials have been taking place since the late 1 ...
in central Edinburgh. The grave lies against the western wall of the original churchyard, backing onto George Heriots School.
He was succeeded by his son and heir, Sir John Hall, 5th Baronet, FRS. Another son, Basil Hall, was a noted traveller and writer; his daughter Eliza was mother of
Houston Stewart Chamberlain
Houston Stewart Chamberlain (; 9 September 1855 – 9 January 1927) was a British-German-French philosopher who wrote works about political philosophy and natural science. His writing promoted German ethnonationalism, antisemitism, scientific r ...
. His daughter Magdalene Hall (1793-1822) married firstly 1815 Colonel Sir William Howe De Lancey and secondly Captain Henry Harvey; she was author of ''A Week at Waterloo'' (first privately published) and died in childbirth with her third child. By De Lancey, her first husband, Magdalene had no issue.
He was an agnostic or atheist.
Publications
*Essay on the Origins and Principles of
Gothic Architecture
Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...
* M. D. Eddy, 'Geology, Mineralogy and Time in John Walker's University of Edinburgh Natural History Lectures', ''History of Science'', 39 (2001), 95-119.
* M. D. Eddy, 'The University of Edinburgh Natural History Class Lists', ''Archives of Natural History'', 30 (2003), 97-117.
* M. D. Eddy, The Language of Mineralogy: John Walker, Chemistry and the Edinburgh Medical School, Aldershot : Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2008, all is discussed throughout the book, especially in the introduction and conclusion
* ''The Royal Families of England, Scotland, and Wales, with their Descendants'', etc., by Messrs, John and John Bernard Burke, London, 1848: vol.1, pedigree CXXVI.
* ''Ten Parishes of the County of Haddington'', by John Martine, edited by E.J.Wilson, Haddington, 1894, p. 214.
*