The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21). Volume XIV. The Victorian Age, Part Two. VIII. The Literature of Science. § 40. John Playfair. John Playfair, a pupil and friend of Hutton, issued, in 1802, a volume entitled Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth. Playfair, to quote Sir A. Geikie’s words, was “gifted with a clear penetrating mind, a rare faculty of orderly logical arrangement, and an English style of altogether remarkable precision and elegance.” He was an able exponent of his master’s views and capable of adding many observations and contributions of his own to his convincing sketch of the Huttonian theory.   113