James Hall Biography

Born into considerable wealth, Sir James Hall attended the Elin's Military Academy in Kensington and became a baron by age fifteen. He spent several years traveling and attending various universities, including Christ's College in Cambridge, England, and Edinburgh University. While in college he was only mildly interested in geology and chemistry, but during three years of travel and visits to volcanoes in Italy, the Lipari Islands, and Sicily his interest in these subjects grew.

Upon his return to Scotland, Hall began serious studies in chemistry but expressed only slight interest in geology, until he met James Hutton and read the famous geologist's Theory of the Earth. Hutton asserted that the chief cause of geological formations was the planet's internal heat, as demonstrated by volcanoes. The prevailing view of the day was that of the Neptunists who asserted that all types of rocks, even basalt and granite, were laid down by water. Hall's first reaction to Hutton's controversial book was unfavorable, but after numerous conversations with the author, he became convinced of the validity of Hutton's theories.

In the early 1790's Hall investigated reports that glass at a nearby foundry had been observed to take on a crystalline character, like igneous rock, when allowed to cool slowly. Hall replicated these findings, but out of respect for Hutton's feelings that experimental geology might not correctly replicate conditions in nature, Hall delayed further research until after Hutton's death. In 1798 Hall began to conduct detailed geologic experiments in response to criticisms of Hutton's ideas. He first set out to refute the Neptunists' claim that if igneous rocks were once liquid molten material, they should have turned into glass, not crystalline rocks. In his experiment, Hall slowed down the cooling process and melted rocks formed into a stony mass containing some crystals. His results were sufficient to convince the scientific community not only that fused basalt could become igneous rock, but also that the process of solidification must have taken much longer than previously believed.

This experiment was followed by another in which Hall showed that limestone can be heated to high temperatures under great pressure without suffering decomposition. Instead the limestone cooled and became marble. Hall reinforced the Vulcanists' ideas, and during the next seven years he completed over 500 separate experiments, including attempts to learn how rocks become deformed by the application of pressure. For this reason, Hall is considered to be the founder of experimental geology and geochemistry.

Sir James Hall should not be confused with the American geologist, also named James Hall (1811-1898). The latter is known for his studies in stratigraphy and invertebrate paleontology, his work for the geological survey of New York state, as well as stints as the state geologist for New York, Iowa, and Wisconsin.