THOMAS STERRY HUNT. 369 



to accept the Chair of Geology at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 

 nology, which lie held until 1878. 



His eminence in science was early recognized by his election, in 

 1859, as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, where for some 

 years he enjoyed the distinction of being the youngest Fellow. Early 

 in his career Harvard conferred on him the degree of M. A., and Laval 

 that of LL. D. ; and in 1881 the University of Cambridge, England, 

 also honored him with the degree of LL. D. The names of home and 

 foreign societies which enrolled him on their honor lists would fill 

 a page. He was a member of the National Academy of Science ; was 

 Acting President in 1871 of the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science ; and President in 1877 of the American Institute 

 of Mining Engineers. He was the first President by election of the 

 Royal Society of Canada, and held office at every meeting of the In- 

 ternational Geological Congress which his health permitted him to 

 attend. His influence at these important conferences was heightened 

 by his perfect familiarity with the French language. 



What he considered his most important contributions to science up 

 to 1886, he embodied in two volumes, " Chemical and Geological Es- 

 says " (1874), and " Mineral Physiology and Physiography " (1886). 

 His mature views on the nature and effects of Chemism he published 

 in 1887, under the title of " A New Basis for Chemistry"; and he 

 applied the same principles to Mineralogy in his latest work, " Sys- 

 tematic Mineralogy" (1891), based on a natural classification. 



From this incomplete sketch of his tireless and many-sided activity 

 we can form some idea of his learning and of his industry. He never 

 knew what it was to be idle, and never wasted his power on irrelevant 

 and desultory work, and thus he became the master of many sciences. 

 He was a good mathematician. Although not himself a profound 

 physicist, he was able to appreciate the more recondite results of 

 modern physical investigations. He felt very keenly those ineffable 

 affinities which bind every energy in nature to one central force, and 

 had a lofty conception of the interdependence of the laws of the uni- 

 verse, and of the harmonious blending therefor of chemistry and 

 physics. 



As a geologist, Hunt's original work, whether in the field or in the 

 laboratory, was done among the crystalline rocks. He received his 

 geological training from the Director of the Canadian Survey, Sir 

 William E. Logan ; and his text-books were the Azoic rocks to the 

 north of the Lakes and the St. Lawrence, and the Palaeozoic rocks of 

 southeastern Quebec. To the knowledge of the stratigraphy thus 

 vol. xxvn. (n s. xix.) 24 



