17 



New Basis and his Mineralogy. The defect of his literary 

 method was btisdeairetoclftim and prove priority fur his views. 

 His constant references to earlier writings destroy often the 

 continuity of his argument and weaken its effect. It was 

 unfortunate that he could not merge his personality into his 

 work, and let the work alone speak for itself. It was also 

 unfortunate that his self- confidence and bigoted reliance in 

 his own opinions involved him in bitter controversies, which 

 alienated old friends, and which were not conducted with that 

 humility and diffidence which is the spirit most becoming in 

 discussing subjects so undemonstrable as problems in geology 

 and theoretical chemistry usually are. These causes with- 

 out doubt weakened his personal influence while he 

 alive, and now diminish unwarrantably the currency of his 

 books, and retard the serious consideration, if not the adoption, 

 of the magnificent generalization of which he was the author. 

 How wide was his knowledge and his grasp of thought, how 

 vivid his conceptions and incisive his style, can best be judged 

 by a perusal of his essays: "A Century of Progress in 

 Theoretical Chemistry," delivered at 1'riestlry's grave ; 

 " The Chemistry of the Primeval Earth/' a lecture delivered 

 Koyal Institute in 1867 ; "On the Chemistry of 

 Karth," contributed to the Smithsonian Reports for 1869, 

 and the group of essays dealing with celestial chemist ry. writ- 

 ten about the year issn. including u The Chemical and Geo- 

 logical Relation of the Atmosphere" and "Celestial ('hem 

 troni tin- Time <rf \ ' read be lore the Cambridge 



Philosophical Society on the occasion of his receiving trom 

 the di .1 Cambridge the honorary degree , >1 I, L.I). 



When dealing with subjects like these, which i:ave lull 

 scope to his imagination, as well as drew upon the vast 

 resources of general scientific learning which wen- M 

 away in his meinorv, the lull breadth <>f Hunt's mind as well 

 as the profundity of his knowledge and tin- intensity o! hi- 



are displayed. 



His sj s led him into the n .til the s< 



in all of which he was .m superficially He 



