592 ORD. XXXV. Ascyroidee, FRAXINUS ORNUS. 
-_ From this account it is evident, that Manna is the swecus proprius 
of the tree; any arguments therefore brought to combat the 
ancient opinion of its being a mel aérium, or honey-dew, are 
wholly unnecessary: that, with which the Israelites were so pecu- 
larly favoured, could only have been produced through miracu- 
lous means, and is consequently out of the province of the natural 
historian.—Manna is generally distinguished into different kinds, 
viz. the Manna in tear, the canulated and flaky Manna, and the 
common brown or fat Manna. All these varieties seem rather 
who are employed in the gathering of the manna, know of none that comes from 
the leaves. The manna is generally of two kinds; not on account of the intrinsic 
quality of them being different, but only because they are got ip a different 
manner. In order to have the manna, those who have the management of the 
woods of the Orni in the months of July and August, when the weather is very 
dry and warm, make an oblong incision, and take off from the bark of the tree 
about three inches in length, and two in breadth; they leave the wound open, 
and by degrees the manna runs out, and is almost sitddenly thickened to its proper 
consistence, and is found adhering to the bark of the tree. ‘This manna, which 
is collected in baskets, and goes under the name of manna grassa, is put in a dry 
_place, because moist and wet places will soon dissolve it again, This first kind is 
often in large irregular pieces of a brownish colour, and frequently is full of dust 
and other impurities. But when the people want to have a very fine manna, they 
apply to the incision of the bark, thin straw, or small bits of shrubs, so that the 
manna, in coming out, runs upon those bodies, and is collected in a sort of 
regular tubes, which gives it the name of manna in cannol?, that is, manna in tubes: 
this second kind is more esteemed, and always preferred to the other, because it 
is free and clear, There is indeed a third kind of manna, which is not commonly 
io be met with, and which I have seen since | left Calabria: it is very white, like 
sugar; but as it is rather for curiosity than for use, I shall say no more of it. 
The two sorts of manna already mentioned undergo no kind of preparation 
whatsoever, before they are exported ; sometimes they are finer, particularly the 
manna grassd, and sometimes very dirty and full of impurities ; but the 
Neapolitans have no interest in adulterating the manna, because they always 
have a great deal more than what they generally export; and if manna is kept 
in the magazines, it receives often very great hurt by the Southern winds, so 
common in our part of the world. The changes of the weather produce a sudden 
alteration in the time that the manna is to be gathered; and, for this reason, when 
fhe summer is rainy, the manna is always very scarce and very bad.” 
