Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/347

This page needs to be proofread.
HUNT
HUNT
319

held in Northumberland, Pa., August, 1874, en- titled " A Century's Progress in Chemical Theory." His researches on the equivalent volumes of liquids and solids were a remarkable anticipation of those of Dumas, while in his inquiries into the polymerism of mineral species he has opened a new field for mineralogy, as set forth in his paper on the " Ob- jects and Method of Mineralogy ; but these philo- sophical studies have been only incidental to his labors in chemical mineralogy and chemical ge- ology. Hunt's researches into the chemical and mineral composition of rocks have probably been more extended than those of any other contempo- rary scientist. The names Laurentian and Huro- nian, applied to the earliest known rocks on this continent, were given by him to the two subdivis- ions of the Eozoic period. From his long series of investigations of the lime and magnesia salts he was enabled to explain for the first time the true relations of gypsums and dolomites, and to ex- plain their origin by direct deposition. His views on this subject have found a wide recognition among geologists. The phenomena of volcanoes and igneous rocks have been discussed by him from a new point of view, and he has revived and en- forced the almost forgotten hypothesis that the source of these is to be found in chemical reactions. He has also sought to harmonize the facts of dy- namical geology with the theory of a solid globe. His views on these questions will be found in an essay on "The Chemistry of the Earth" in the re- Eort of the Smithsonian institution for 1869, while is conclusions on many points of geology are em- bodied in his address delivered as retiring presi- dent before the American association for the ad- vancement of science at Indianapolis in 1871. He was the first to make known the deposits of phos- phates of lime in Canada, and to call attention to its commercial value as a fertilizer. The chemical and geological relations of petroleum have been carefully investigated by him. and he has studied in detail the salt deposits of Ontario. During the later years of his connection with the geological survey of Canada, its administrative details were under his charge. During 1875-'6 he was con- nected with the geological survey of Pennsylvania. In 1859 he invented a permanent green ink, which has been very extensively used, and gave the name of "greenback" currency to the bills which were printed with it. He is a popular speaker on scien- I tine subjects, and has delivered two courses of lectures before the Lowell institute in Boston. He i served on juries at the world's fair in Paris in 1855 and in 1867, being made an officer of the legion j of honor on the latter occasion, and was also one of | the judges at the world's fair in Philadelphia in 1876. The degree of LL. D. was given to him bv McGill in 1857, that of Sc. D. by Laval in 1858. ' and that of LL. D. by Cambridge, England, in 1881. He is a member of many societies, and. be- sides having held the presidency of the American association for the advancement of science in 1871. has filled a like office in the American institute of j mining engineers in 1877, in the American chemi- i •cal society in 1880, and in the Royal society of Canada in 1884. In 1876 he organized, in concert with American and European geologists, the Inter- j national geological congress, and was made secre- tary at its first meeting, held in Paris in 1878, and I vice-president at the meeting held in Bologna. Italy, in 1881. He was elected a member of the National academy of sciences in 1873, and in 1859 a fellow of the Royal society of London. His bibliography includes upward of 200 titles of separate papers that have appeared in reports of the geological survey of Canada, the transactions of learned so- cieties, and scientific periodicals. He has published in book-form "Chemical and Geological Essays" (Boston, 1874); "Azoic Rocks" (Philadelphia, 1878) ; " Mineral Physiologv and Phvsiography " (Boston, 1886); "A New Basis for Chemistry" (1887) ; and has in preparation (1887) " Mineralogy according to a Natural System."


HUNT, Timothy Atwater, naval officer, b. in New Haven, Conn., in 1805 ; d. there, 21 Jan., 1884. He was educated at Yale, entered the navy as mid- shipman in 1825, became lieutenant in 1836, com- mander in 1855, captain in 1862, commodore in 1863, and was retired in 1877. He commanded the -supply ship "Electra" in the Mexican war, the " Narragansett " at the beginning of the civil war, in 1861, and was then attached to the Pacific squadron. He was ordered home in 1863, and was inspector of ordnance till 1867, when he was assigned to special duty at New London, Conn. From 1870 till his retirement he was on the re- served list, residing in New Haven. Conn.


HUNT, Ward, jurist, b. in Utica, N. Y., 14 June, 1810; d. in Washington, D. C, 24 March, 1886. He was graduated at Union in 1828, studied law in Litchfield, Conn., and practised his profes- sion for many years in Utica, N. Y., where he was mayor in 1844. He was a member of the New York legislature in 1839, but took little interest in poli- tics, and devoted himself to jurisprudence. In 1865 he was elected to the New York court of ap- peals, and in 1872 he was appointed associate jus- tice of the U. S. supreme court. For the next few years he was allotted to the second circuit, includ- ing New York, Connecticut, and Vermont. The failure of his health induced congress in 1882 to grant his retirement on a pension. Union and Rutgers colleges gave him the degree of LL. D.


HUNT, Washington, governor of New York, b. in Windham, N. Y., 5 Aug., 1811; d. in New York city, 2 Feb., 1867. He received a common- school education, began to study law at the age of eighteen, and was admitted to the bar in 1834 at Lockport, N. Y., where he began practice. In 1836 he was appointed first judge of Niagara county. He was elected to congress as a Whig in 1842, and twice re-elected, serving from 4 Dec, 1843, to 3 March, 1849. In 1849 he was elected comptroller of the state, and in 1850 was chosen governor, defeating Horatio Seymour, the Democratic candi- date. In 1852 he was again a candidate for the governorship, but was beaten by Seymour. He then retired to his farm near Lockport. In 1856 he was temporary chairman of the Whig national convention, which was the last one ever held. After the dissolution of the party he became a Democrat, and in 1860 was tendered the Democratic nomination for vice-president of the United States, but declined. He was a delegate to the Chicago convention in 1864, and to the National union convention of 1866. Mr. Hunt was prominent in the counsels of the Protestant Episcopal church, and a frequent delegate to its conventions. - His brother, Edward Bissell, military engineer, b. in Livingston county, N. Y., 15 June, 1822 ; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 2 Oct.", 1863. was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1845, entered the corps of engineers, was commissioned as 2d lieutenant in December, 1845. and was employed as assistant professor of civil and military engineering at West Point in 1846-'9, afterward in the coast survey, and in the construction of fortifications and lighthouses. He became a captain on 1 July, 1859, while engaged in the construction of defensive works at Key West, and was instrumental in pre-