120 Ehrenherg's Discoveries — Notices of Eminent Men. 



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

 life showed a great love of science, and considerable power of 

 promoting its purposes. He instituted various researches, theo- 

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

 who first proved by experiment the curious proposition, that the 

 Modulus of Elasticity 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 barometrical measurements of the heights of a great number 

 of points in it, — the barometer which was to be used as a stand- 

 ard being kept in London. Mr. Bevan and Mr. Webster were 

 commissioned to procure a barometer, and Dr. Wollaston recom- 

 mended one of Carey's barometers, but it does not appear that any 

 further steps were taken. I may remark that recent researches 

 have further confirmed 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 inconsistency which result from assuming the 

 existence of a natural standard, such as the level of the sea. 



Nathaniel John Winch 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 cultivate during a long life, and kept up a corres- 

 pondence with all the leading botanists in Europe. He W£is one 

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

 Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle ; and, in con- 

 junction with a few of his friends, gave to that town a scientific 

 and cultured character, which still distinguishes it. He was one 

 of the honorary members of this Society ; and contributed to its 

 meetings, in 1814, " Observations on the Geology of Northum- 

 berland and Durham," and in 1816, " Observations on the Eastern 

 Part of Yorkshire,"! which were printed in the fourth and fifth 



* To Mr. Bevan our Journal is indebted for many valuable communications. — 

 Ed. Lon. Phil. Mag. 



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

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

 R. Waugh." 2 vols. 1805. — " Flora of Northumberland and Durham." In the 

 Transactions of the Newcastle Natural History Society, vol. 2. — " Essay on the 

 Geographical Distribution of Plants through the Counties of Northumberland, Dur. 



