militated against this derivation ; but this seemed of little account, for 

 though a mere exclamation in the first instance, by usage it became a 

 term applied to a material substance. Others derived the name from 

 Manah, a gift, others from Mviah, to prepare, and others from MmiaJwn, 

 "provision for a journey." It seemed to him that the first was the 

 simplest and most natural derivation, and agreed with the evident 

 surprise with which the Israelites first saw the ('to them) new food. 



Those who had written about Manna divided themselves, as it 

 were, into two groups, viz., those who took it literally to be a substance, 

 which fell like dew from heaven, i.e., the atmosphere, and those who 

 considered it a vegetable production or a plant itself. Among those 

 who affirmed that the Manna of Holy Writ was a species of con- 

 densed dew or honey, they had Salmasius, who said that the Manna 

 of the Israelites was only a species of honey, identical in its nature 

 with wild honey, which supplied food to St. John in the wilderness 

 and that the miracle did not consist in the production of any new 

 substance, but in the abundance and in the regularity in which it was 

 dispensed for the maintenance of so vast a host. 



The idea of Salmasius was sustained by JEXizn in his work, De 

 Naturd Atiimalium, where he described a natural phenomenon in 

 India. " In India, and particularly in the country of the Prasii 

 (who extended through the richest part of India, from the Ganges 

 to the Punjaub), it rains liquid honey, which, falling on the 

 grass and leaves of reed, produces wonderfully rich pasture for 

 sheep and oxen ; the cattle are driven by the herdsmen to the 

 spots where they know quantities of this sweet dew have fallen. 

 The animals enjoy a rich banquet on these pastures, and furnish very 

 sweet milk. There is no necessity to mix it with honey as the Greeks 

 do." Athenasus, quoting from Amyntas, who wrote an Indian 

 itinerary, says, Amyntas, in his first book, speaking of the honey from 

 the atmosphere, writes thus : " They collect it with the leaves, making 

 it into the form of a Syrian cake ; some make it into the form of a ball ; 

 and when they wish to enjoy it, breaking off a portion, they melt it in 

 wooden cups called tabetias, and after they have passed it through a 

 sieve, drink it. It is much like diluted honey, though somewhat 

 sweeter." 



In Italy, especially in Calabria, during periods of excessive heat, 

 drops of a honey-like substance fall to the ground, and are called by 

 the inhabitants ma^ma. This substance, of a sweetish glutinous 



