( 294 ) 



1 have examined * many other feeds, and among the reft, a fmall 

 feed called Manna, which is ufed to be boiled in milk, and which 

 I remember in my childhood to have often eaten, it being 

 elleemed a ycvy m holefome diet. Concerning this feed, there is a 

 vulgar report that it does not grow, but falls from the clouds in 

 Poland at a certain feafon of the year, and that it is gathered in 

 cloths before funrife, while the dew is on the ground. This notion 

 I never gave any credit to, and having procured fome of this^ 

 jSIanna, I fa^v upon the bare infpe6lion of it, that we are much 

 deceived refpe<fling it, for I could difcern in every grain, the place 

 where the young plants had laid. But the tioie Hate of the cafe is, 

 that before this Manna is brought to us, it is ground in mills, in 

 order to ftrip off the external hufk, as is prad:ifed with Rice, by 

 which means, the feeds are broken in pieces, and the young plants 

 they contain, for the moft part, deftroyed. I difcovered, however, 

 many entire feeds, and in them the young future plant; from 

 whence the futility of the above idle tale is apparent. But it may 

 be true, that it is the praftice to reap and gather in this feed early 

 in the morning, by reafon that otherwife the heat of the fun might 

 caufe the pods containing the feeds to burft open and Ihed the 

 feed. 



Being once on a journey in Gelderland, where much Tobacco 

 is planted, I defired to have fome of the feeds of that plant pur- 

 chafed for me, having never feen any. 



This is a very fmall feed, being no bigger than a large grain of 

 fand. Upon placing one of them before the microfcope, I faw that 

 its outer covering or fliell, was more curioully formed than any 

 feed I had ever viewed with my naked eye ; and indeed it affords 

 fo pleafing a fpectacle, beyond any otlier feed, that, had we fuch 

 an objed vifible by the naked eye, we fliould not hefitate to 



• The aufhor lias given fpccimcns of fevcral other fmallcr feeds, but as thej- are all re- 

 ducible to one or other of the dcfcrijUioiis before given, they are omitted in this tranflafion 

 to avoid prolixity. 



