Excerpt from A Memoir of Thomas Sterry Hunt, M.D., LL. D. (Cantab;) It was natural that the phase of mineralogy, which to him would have most attraction, and which he would most sympathetically elaborate, would be the chemical. Minerals being chemical compounds, he applied to the study of their constitution and classification the chemico-physical law which he had been groping after all his lite, and clearly formulated only in 1886, viz., "that the value not only of gases and vapors, but of all species, whether gaseous, liquid or solid, is constant, and that the integral weight varies directly as the density." Under the guidance of that law he propounded an entirely new and original classification of mineral species. It was therefore preeminently as a chemist, whether he was laboring in the laboratory or in the domain of geology or of mineralogy, that Hunt was most at home, and that he left his impress on the science of his day, an impress which will never be effaced. Thomas Sterry Hunt was proud of his second Christian name, his mothers patronymic, as more than one of his direct ancestors had made the name conspicuous and famous. He could trace his descent almost without interruption from that Peter Sterry who was chaplain first to Lord Brooke and then to Oliver Cromwell - who could preach Puritanism to the Long Parliament, and astutely secure his own pardon from Charles II. A much more uncompromising and typical preacher of the Commonwealth was a member of the same stock, that Thomas Sterry who wrote A Riot Among the Bishops; or, A Terrible Tempest in the Sea of Canterbury. A branch of the family, consisting of three brothers, Roger, Robert and Cyprian Sterry, and a sister, came to America about 1753, and settled in Providence. Roger alone left legitimate offspring. Two of his sons, John and Consider, attained eminence as mathematicians and edited and published The True Republican a leading organ of the old Jeffersonian party. Nevertheless the world at large will hardly subscribe to the epitaph which commemorates Consider Sterry's fame in Norwich churchyard. "Connecticut, Consider Sterry, aged 56 years; died November 15, 1817. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.