368 THOMAS STERRY HUNT. 



one of the Professor's lectures. Struck by his precocious proficiency 

 in chemistry and mineralogy, Professor Silliman facilitated his ad- 

 mission to Yale College. Erelong he became paid assistant to Pro- 

 fessor Silliman, Jr., who was then making an extended series of water 

 analyses, in which Hunt aided him, and was admitted a member of 

 his household. The struggle for a livelihood had ceased. 



While at Yale, between his eighteenth and twentieth years, he con- 

 tributed eighteen papers to Sillimau's Journal, and wrote the Organic 

 Chemistry for Silliman's First Principles. In the Preface to the first 

 edition, published in December, 1846, Professor Silliman acknowl- 

 edged the aid rendered by his young colleague as follows : " The 

 author takes pleasure in acknowledging the important aid derived 

 in this portion of the work from his friend and professional as- 

 sistant, Mr. Thomas S. Hunt, whose familiarity with the philosophy 

 and details of chemistry will not fail to make him one of its ablest 

 followers." 



In 1847, while preparing to continue his studies in Great Britain, 

 he was appointed to a position on the Geological Survey of Ver- 

 mont, under Professor C. B. Adams, but soon resigned to accept a 

 similar position on the Canadian Survey. In February, 1847, he 

 entered on his duties as Chemist and Mineralogist to the Geological 

 Survey of Canada, taking possession of that small study and still 

 smaller bedroom opening off the Laboratory in St. Gabriel Street, 

 Montreal, where for so many years he, without any laboratory assist- 

 ant, not only did the routine analytical work of the Survey, but made 

 many experimental investigations in chemical geology. His literary 

 activity was prodigious, as evinced not only by the scope but by the 

 number of his contributions, no fewer than seventy-six articles ap- 

 pearing under his name in the Second Series of Silliman's Journal 

 alone. It was at this time that he conceived and published those wide 

 views on chemical and general geology which were embodied in the 

 greater works of his later years. His strictly official work as Chemist 

 and Mineralogist would have been more than enough for most men ; 

 but he supplemented it by spending several months of each year in 

 the field, and by assisting his chief, Sir William Logan, in the literary 

 and administrative work of the Survey. Every year from 1856 to 

 1862 he spent the spring months in Quebec, lecturing on chemis- 

 try in the French language before Laval University ; and for four 

 years he filled the Chair of Applied Chemistry and Mineralogy in 

 McGill University, at Montreal. In 1872 he resigned his position on 

 the Geological Survey of Canada, after a service of twenty-five years, 



