XXVI 



authority on the subjects of which it treats. As the author himself 

 states, this work, and more especially the " Crenitic " hypothesis deve- 

 loped in it, are the " result of nearly 30 years' studies, having for their 

 object to reconstruct the theory of the earth on the basis of a solid 

 nucleus, to reconcile the existence of a solid interior with the flexi- 

 bility of the crust, to find an adequate explanation of the universally 

 contorted attitude of the older crystalline strata, and at the same time 

 to discover the laws which have governed the formation and the 

 changing chemical composition of the stratiform crystalline rocks 

 through successive geologic ages." 



To Dr. Hunt we thus owe some of the earliest attempts to sub- 

 divide and classify in a scientific manner the stratiform crystalline 

 rocks ; a work to which he brought not only his studies throughout 

 Canada and the United States, but also the result of inquiries con- 

 ducted during repeated visits to the British Islands and to Contin- 

 ental Europe. In pursuing these studies, and while reviewing and 

 controverting various hypotheses, including the igneous or plutonic, 

 the metamorphic and the metasomatic, all of which he rejected as 

 irreconcilable with observed facts, and as violating chemical theory, 

 Dr. Hunt vindicated what he deemed the essential soundness of the 

 still imperfect Wernerian aqueous view, and advanced, as its proper 

 development and completion, his own crenitic hypothesis. According 

 to this theory, the source of the various groups of crystalline rocks 

 was " the superficial portion of a globe, once in a state of igneous 

 fusion, but previously solidified from the centre. This portion, 

 rendered porous by cooling, was permeated by circulating waters, 

 which dissolved and brought to the surface during successive ages, 

 after the manner of modern mineral springs, the elements of the 

 various systems of crystalline rocks. These rocks thus mark pro- 

 gressive and necessary changes in the mineralogical evolution of the 

 earth." 



Dr. Hunt never abandoned the scientific pursuit of chemistry and 

 mineralogy. In the former science he summed up the general con- 

 clusions of his researches in 1887, in his work entitled ' A New 

 Basis of Chemistry,' which has gone into a third edition, and has 

 been translated into Trench. His latest work, published in 1891, 

 ' Systematic Mineralogy,' gives a new classification of the mineral 

 kingdom, based on an improvement of what used to be called the 

 Natural History System followed long ago by Mohs and Jameson. 

 It would be premature to express any opinion as to the acceptance by 

 chemists and mineralogists in general of the new views propounded 

 in these works ; but they are unquestionably able, and full of im- 

 portant generalisations and suggestions which must make their mark 

 in the science of the future. 



Dr. Hunt found time to do some work as an educator. He was 



