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occupation, could divert his mind from the one great object of his life,—the pursuit of truth in the investigation of Nature and her laws.
Over the almost untrodden ground of his researches, replete with mental food, intensely interesting to the philosopher of science, his mind revelled in the luxuriance of his intellectual riches, and nobly did he redeem the pledge of industry, and of intellectual as well as moral pre-eminence, that Nature’s own hand had accorded to him. That his mind was imbued with the very spirit of earnest inquiry, his gigantic productions in his museum will amply testify: that his researches were conceived, and planned, and directed, by a superior intelligence, let me point to the philosophy of his written works. Crude they may be, and ill-digested, but they yet form the record of one who deservedly ranks among the highest orders of men.
It was said of Bacon, by Ben Jonson, that his words were so pregnant of meaning, that his hearers could not cough nor look aside from him, without loss. In like manner did Hunter’s reflecting mind teem with original conceptions. With rapid flight he winged his way from the infancy to the mature age of science, discovering, developing, and maturing every subject that engaged his fixed attention. The intellect of Mr. Hunter has been the theme of repeated eulogium in this theatre, and on which my numerous predecessors in this office have expatiated with force and eloquence.
Associated with his high intellect were certain moral qualities which in no less a degree demand our praise, while they fortify and confirm our convictions of his claims to the gratitude, as well as to the admiration, of posterity. The
