582 
SECOND REPORT-1 882 . 
would have been fruitless ; but in the present day, when, from 
the national trigonometrical survey, and from the numerous ca¬ 
nals which have been executed, and from surveys and sections 
which have been obtained both for canals and rail-roads, near¬ 
ly the whole of the country has been intersected by actual le¬ 
velling, the necessary data may be obtained for determining the 
relative altitude of almost every important part of the United 
Kingdom. 
These data, now scattered over a broad space, would, if col¬ 
lected together, form the basis of a general table of the altitude 
of places , which, if once commenced by proper persons, would 
soon be sufficiently mature to lay before the public, and might 
hereafter be extended and improved. 
Mr. Bevan offers on his part to give a list of altitudes, which 
he has for some years been collecting; and he conceives that 
many members of the Association, and their friends, will readily 
contribute towards so desirable an object. He proposes, there¬ 
fore, that such a number of gentlemen as may be willing to as- 
sist in the plan, be appointed a Committee for that purpose, and 
that one general place of communication should be fixed upon. 
About 13 years since, Mr. Bevan attempted to set on foot a 
measure of this nature, which met with the approbation of most 
of our learned Societies; but at that period it was considered de¬ 
sirable to adopt some general standard, or zero, from which all 
the altitudes might be numbered, and to which they might be 
referred ; and it was thought proper that this standard point 
of levels should be fixed at some public place in or near Lon¬ 
don. He therefore made search in all the public offices for a sec¬ 
tion of the river Thames, from which the height of some spot 
near London, above the natural zero, or lowest point of drain¬ 
age, might be determined, but did not succeed in finding one. 
This difficulty has now been removed by the section lately 
made by Capt. Lloyd. 
From this zero, and the canals, 8c c. above referred to, the 
elevation of every important part of the country may be stated, 
with a degree of accuracy quite equal to that of the latitudes 
and longitudes, so long considered essential in a geographical 
definition. 
A letter from Mr. Robert Stevenson was read, stating his 
reasons for postponing to a future meeting of the Association 
the Report for which he had been asked— On the waste and 
extension of the Land of the east coast of Britain, and the per- 
manency of the relative level of the Sea and Land ;—and ex¬ 
pressing his hope that those, whose residence near the coast 
