  We prove that the stress tensor, tau^{ab}, of a molecular system with
arbitrary, short-range interactions can be point-wisely expressed as the
functional derivative of the partition function with respect to the local
deformation tensor. In this approach the set of components of tau^{ab} has a
simple interpretation as the set of Lagrangian multipliers which need to be
introduced to enforce the conditions relating point particle displacements to
the body local deformation tensor. The question of the non-uniqueness of the
formula for tau^{ab} is discussed.
