March 24, 1881] 



NATURE 



485 



common thing for them to do so here, and they are frequently 

 drowned in making attempts beyond their strength. 



Some years ago I was rowing on Lake George in this State^ 

 when I observed one of these little animals in an open place, 

 where from the course he was pursuing he must have swam 

 nearly half a mile. He seemed almost exhausted, and when I 

 held my oar towards him he readily accepted the invitation to 

 come on board, ran up the oar, and then to my surprise ran up 

 my arm and ascended to my shoulder! I do not know whether 

 he simply followed hi-, climbing instincts, or whether he sought 

 an elevated point to get an observation. However this may have 

 been, after a short jjause he descended and took his station in 

 the boiv of the boat, from which in a few minutes he plunged 

 into the lake and struck out for land. lie evidently miscalculated 

 his remaining powers, for he was unequal to the effort, and soon 

 gladly availed him,elf of a second opportuniiy of gaining a place 

 of refuge. He now sat quietly while I rowed him towards the 

 land, '.evidently satisfied that he was in friendly hands, and that 

 his wisest plan was to remain as a passenger. When close to 

 the shore he made a flying-leap and scampered for the trees, 

 doubtless grateful in his little heart for the kindness that had 

 helped him over the critical part of his voyage. 



This was near the narrows of the lake, where it is about one 

 mile in width, with groups of islands which shorten the traverses 

 to less than a quarter of a mile. My little friend however had 

 not availed himself of the easier and more circuitous route, but 

 had boldly undertaken a directer course and a longer swim, which, 

 but for the timely re-cue, would very likely have been his Ust 

 aquatic .ittempt. Frederick Hubbard 



New York, March lo 



In connection with a recent letter in Nature on the squirrel 

 taking to water, the following facts may be of interest : — While 

 camping for two summers recently in the wilderness of northern 

 New York, I was much surprised at frequently seeing squirrels 

 crossing the ponds and lakes of the region. We would some- 

 times find several of these strange navigators in the course of an 

 afternoon's row. They were seen most abundantly during the 

 early part of July ; indeed, later in the season, they were but 

 rarely found. Daring many summers of camping elsewhere I- 

 have never seen them take to the water. It has occurred to me 

 that the explanation of this peculiarity (if it be such) of the 

 squirrels of this locality may be found in the nature of the region 

 visited ; for we find there a most intricate water-system, the 

 whole region being dotted with ponds and lakes connected by 

 small streams. The necessity of taking to the water at times 

 has perhaps enabled the squirrels to overcome their aversion to 

 this element, and they have thus become semi-aquatic in their 

 habits. The squirrel to vUiich reference is made is the common 

 "red squirrel," Sciuriis Hcndsoniiis. C. 



Worcester, Mass., March S 



In the autumn of iSyS I was salmon fishing in the River 

 Spey, a few miles from its m.mth, w-here the stream was broad, 

 strong, and deep — when ju^t beyond the end of my line I per- 

 ceived a sqairrel being carried down, but swimming higher out 

 of the water tlian is usual wi h most animals. Its death by 

 drowning seemed inevitable, as the opposite bank was a high, 

 perpendicular cliff of Old Red Sandstone, where even a squirrel 

 could hardly land. However it swam gallantly on, heading 

 Straight across the stream, and finally, after being swept down a 

 long distance, emerged on the other side, where a burn inter- 

 sected the rock, and fir-trees grew down to the water's edge. 

 The left bank, where the squirrel must have entered the river, 

 was low and shelving, and it selected a spot, accidentally or 

 otherwise, whence the current carried it opposite to an easy 

 landing-place on the right bank. Cecil Duncombe 



March i8 



THE LATE MR. E. R. ALSTON 

 'T*HE death of Edward Richard Alston, which took 

 ■*■ place at his rooms in Maddo.x Street on the yth 

 inst., leaves a vacancy in the thin ranks of the working 

 naturalists of this country that will not be easily filled up. 

 At the time of his death Mr. Alston was secretary to the 

 Linnean Society, a member of the Council of the Zoological 

 Society, and treasurer to the Zoological Club, and up to 



within a few days of his decease was engaged in active 

 zoological work. Mr. Alston, who died of phthisis at the 

 early age of thirty-five, although somewhat retiring in 

 disposition, was of a particularly kind and amiable nature, 

 always most friendly with those with whom he was brought 

 into contact, and ready to help them by advice or assist- 

 ance. Mr. Alston was of Scotch parentage, and a native 

 of Ayrshire. Being from infancy of delicate constitution 

 he was educated chiefly under private tuition, and did not 

 go to school or college. Notwithstanding these disad- 

 vantages he was a good scholar and a neat and concise 

 writer, and had an excellent acquaintance with compara- 

 tive anatomy. Taking early to the pursuit of natural 

 history he became a contributor to the Zoologist and 

 other popular journals, principally upon mammals and 

 birds. Mr. Alston's first important paper was an account 

 (published in the Ibis) of his journey to Archangel, made 

 in 1S72, in company with his friend Mr. J. Harvie 

 Brown, in which excellent observations are given on the 

 summer migrants and other feathered inhabitants of 

 that previously little explored district. Shortly after- 

 wards Mr. Alston moved his head-quarters to London 

 during the first part of the year, and undertook the com- 

 pilation of the portion of the Zoological Rt'coni relating 

 to mammals, which he carried on in a very painstaking 

 and methodical way for six years (1S73-78). A new edi- 

 tion of Bell's British Mammals, which had long been 

 called for, appeared in IS7^. Mr. Alston, although he is 

 only credited with having "assisted" in this work, was, 

 we believe, its virtual compiler. From that date also he 

 became a frequent reader of papers at the meetings of the 

 Zoological Society and author of several excellent memoirs 

 in the Proceedings. Amongst these we may call special at- 

 tention to his revision of the genera of Rodentia, published 

 in 1876, as a most successful exposition of the many 

 difficult points connected with the arrangement of this 

 group of mammals, and to his memoirs on the Mammals 

 of Asia Minor, collected by Mr. C. G. Danford (1S77 and 

 1S80). Mr. Alston's last and most important work, which 

 he had fortunately just brought to an end before his 

 untimely death, was the "Mammals" of Salvin and 

 Godman's " Biologia Central!- Americana " — a great work 

 on the fauna and flora of Mexico and Central America. 

 The first part of this was published in 1879, the eighth 

 number containing the completion of the Mammals in 

 December last. The death of this promising naturalist, 

 when in the fuU tide of work, must be a subject of universal 

 regret among all lovers oi science. 



RECENT MA THEM A TICO-LOCICAL MEMOIRS 



THE Boolian reform of logical science is at las 

 beginning to manifest itself and to bear the first- 

 fruits of controversy. Thirty years ago Boole's remark- 

 able memoirs were treated as striking but almost in- 

 comprehensible enigmas. Even Ue Morgan did not 

 know exactly how to regard them, and in his " Syllabus 

 of a Proposed System of Logic " (p. 72) thus allows their 

 mysterious truth : — '" In these works the author has made 

 it manifest that the symbolic language of algebra, framed 

 wholly on notions of number and quantity, is adequate, 

 by what is certainly not an accident, to the representation 

 of aU the laws of thought." But time and the efforts of 

 several investigators have cleared up much of the mystery 

 in which Boole wrapped his logical discoveries. The 

 controversies now going on touch rather the precise form 

 to be given to the calculus of logic, than the former 

 question of the new logic against the old orthodox Aristo- 

 telian doctrine. 



The most elaborate recent contributions to mathematico- 

 logical scien:e, at least in the English language, are the 

 memoirs of Prof. C. S. Peirce, the distinguished mathe- 

 matician, now of the Johns Hopkins University, Balti- 

 more. Not to speak of his dijcussions of logical ques- 



