S. J. Gould, whose works I thoroughly enjoy, was not immune to casting a story according to his world-view, either, and these passages seem to be part of his rejection of the extreme uniformitarianism that he claims permeated geology at the start of his career. In other works, he writes approvingly of Hutton's perspicacity, while pointing out that his broader theories were speculative. The passages quoted above appear more critical of Geike than Hutton.
Hutton's dogmatic uniformitarianism must be regarded in the light of the then-prevalent, and equally dogmatic, catastrophist theories, which claimed that the Earth as we see it now was shaped by extreme events that no longer occur. In presenting contrary observations from the field, Hutton was at least as much a scientist as those holding on to the other view.
Thanks for the perspective. Gould clearly has an axe to grind in some of his writings. As to him being more critical of Geike than hutton, he has a LOT more to say about hutton in the referenced book. I didn't want to be too inflammatory but Gould has no such compunction in "Time's Arrow". He mostly criticizes Hutton for relying on metaphor and being reactionary to the catastrophists. He does not reject him out of hand though.
I think it's important to be able to criticize important figures in any fields history while recognizing the good that came from their disruption of the field. You can come to the right conclusion for the wrong reasons. In such cases it's natural to reject the conclusion as wrong, or to recast your morals to see the reason as right depending on your world view. Both are obstacles to scientific thought.
Hutton's dogmatic uniformitarianism must be regarded in the light of the then-prevalent, and equally dogmatic, catastrophist theories, which claimed that the Earth as we see it now was shaped by extreme events that no longer occur. In presenting contrary observations from the field, Hutton was at least as much a scientist as those holding on to the other view.