196 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



and June, a kind of manna falls with the dew, which 

 congeals and hardens on the leaves of the reeds 1 (ros- 

 eaux) from which it is gathered. I have tasted it. It is 

 a little darker than sugar, but has all its sweetness." 



Endeavoring to identify Father Picolo's manna, the 

 following reference to manna-like bodies (false mannas) 

 was noted in the U. S. Dispensatory, 17th Ed., Phila- 

 delphia, 1894, p. 850, which, however, are not the same 

 manna as that of Picolo. 



"American False Manna. A substance resembling 

 manna, of a sweet, slightly bitter, and terebinthinate 

 taste, and actively purgative, exudes from incisions in 

 Pinus Lambertiana of Oregon, and is used by the 

 natives." (Nar. of U. S. Expl. Exp., v. 232.) 



"M. Berthelot has abstracted from this product a 

 peculiar saccharine principle which he calls 'pinite.' " 

 (See Amer. Jour. Phar., vol. 28, p. 157.) 



The strongly cathartic properties of this manna of 

 the pinus and its resemblance to manna are empha- 

 sized in the following description of this substance: 



I. Wilkes, Narrative of the U. S. Exploring Exped., 

 Philadelphia, 1850, Vol. 5. 



P. 232. Speaking of the Pinus Lambertiana, which 

 they found frequently when crossing the Umpgua 

 Mountains in Southern Oregon. "Some of the sugar 

 produced by this tree was obtained; it is of a sweet 

 taste, with a slightly bitter and piny flavor; it resembles 

 manna, and is obtained by the Indians by burning a 

 cavity in the tree, whence it exudes. It is gathered in 

 large quantities. 



"This sugar is a powerful cathartic, and affected all 

 the party who partook of it; yet it is said that it is used 



1 Roseaux, in the original Lettres gdifiantes, etc., Tome V, p. 264, Kip's translation, 

 is literal, as baa been verified from the original letter.-J. U. L. 



