76 The Ottawa Naturalist. [June 



material and prevented his section from doing- any work in the 

 usual locality. Messrs. Gibson and Young- reported the season a 

 backward one, as they had taken very few species of insects. 

 Two species of butterflies, the Spring Blue and the Early Native 

 White were observed for the first time this year. 



Rev. Dr. Blackader and Mr. Clarke spoke of the plants found. 

 Dr. Macdonald, M.A., drew attention to the benefits to be derived 

 from an outing with the Field Naturalists' Club, and expressed his 

 appreciation of their work. 



BOTANICAL NOTES. 



Alum Root as a Remedy for Diarrhcea. 



An interesting note on the medicinal value of Alum-root, 



( Heuchera hispida^ Pursh) has been sent in by Mr. W. McCarthy 



of Rat Portage, Ont., who writes : " I was out prospecting with 



two white men (Mr. Moore and Mr. Walters) and an Indian. The 



two former were taken sick with severe diarrhoea for three days. 



The Indian left camp and -went to the bush and got some of the 



.plant I send you. He gave each of the men about an inch of the 



root to chew and swallow the juice. It acted like magic and the 



next day they were quite recovered. 1 have since had some of the 



root pounded fine and put a little water on it and boiled it up with 



sugar. I then strained it and have given it to several infants for 



cholera infantum and it has proved successful. The plant is 



abundant here and I have given it to several who have also used 



it successfully." The closely allied Heuchera Americana^ Z., is 



known to be a powerful astringent. 



J. Fletcher. 



%^L 



