380 Geological Society. 



came before them, freely and gladly transferred to that their zeal 

 and their munificence. 



The spirit which prevailed in the infancy of this Society, and to 

 M'hich the Society owed its permanent existence, was one whicli did 

 not shrink from difficulties and sacrifices ; and among the persons 

 who were animated by this spirit Sir Abraham Hume was eminent; 

 his purse and his exertions being always at the service of the body. 

 He gave his labours also to the Society by taking the office of Vice- 

 President, which he discharged with diligence from 1809 to 1813. 

 He died in March last at the great age of ninety, being then the 

 oldest person both in this and in the Royal Society. 



Mr. Benjamin Bevan was a civil engineer, and throughout his life 

 showed a great love of science, and considerable power of promo- 

 ting its purposes. He instituted various researches, theoretical and 

 practical, on the strength of materials*; and it was he who first 

 proved by experiment the curious proposition, that the Modulus of 

 Eliisticity of water and of ice is the same. In 1821 he wrote a 

 letter to the secretary of this Society, recommending that the form 

 of the surface of this country should be determined by barometri- 

 cal measurements of the heights of a great number of points in it, — 

 the barometer which was to be used as a standard being kept in 

 London. Mr. Bevan and Mr. Webster were commissioned to pro- 

 cure a barometer, and Dr. Wollaston recommended one of Carey's 

 barometers, but it does not appear that any further steps were 

 taken. I may remark that recent researches have further con- 

 firmed the wisdom of Mr, Bevan's suggestion, that heights should 

 be measured, as all other measurements are made, from some fixed 

 conventional standard, instead of incurring the vagueness and in- 

 consistency Avhich result from assuming the existence of a natural 

 standard, such as the level of the sea. 



Nathaniel John \Vinch was born at Hampton Court in the year 

 1769, and after a voyage into the Mediterranean, and travels in 

 various countries in Europe, settled at Newcastle-upon-Tyne as a 

 merchant. He had early paid great attention to botany, which he 

 continued to cidtivate during a long life, and kept up a correspond- 

 ence witii all the leading botanists in Europe. He was one of the 

 earliest, and always one of the most active members of the Literary 

 and Philosophical Society of Newcastle ; and, in conjunction with 

 a few of his friends, gave to that town a scientific and cultured cha- 

 racter, which still distinguishes it. He M'as one of the honorary 

 members of this Society; and contributed to its meetings, in 1814', 

 " Observations on the Geology of Northumberland and Durham," 

 and in 1816, "Observations on the Eastern Part of Yorkshire,"! 



* To Mr. Bevan our Journal is indebted for many valuable communi- 

 cations. — Ed. 



t Besides these papers, Mr. Winch published : "The Botanist's Guide 

 through the Counties of Northumberland and Durham. By N. J. Winch, 

 J. Thornhili, and R. Waugh." 2 vols. 1805.-" Floraof Northumberland 

 and Durham." In the Transactions of the Newcastle Natural History 

 Society, vol. 2. — "An Essay on the Geographical Distribution of Plants 

 through the Counties of Northumberland, Durham, and Cumberland." 



