ORNUS. 403 
and to protect it from dust and other impurities. The greater part of the manna 
of commerce is procured in the latter manner ; and it is imported in chests, in 
long pieces, or granulated fragments, of a whitish or pale-yellow colour, and in 
some degree transparent. The inferior kind, which is of a dark-brown colour, 
comes in adhesive masses, and is moist and unctuous to the touch. Manna from 
the ash has a peculiar odour, and a sweetish taste, accompanied with a slight 
degree of bitterness. It is considered as aperient, and was formerly much used 
in medicine; but it is now chiefly employed to disguise other drugs in adminis 
tering them to children, and is used as a purgative in the veterinary art. This 
kind of manna, however, must not be confounded with that mentioned in the 
Holy Writ, which is supposed to be identical with the manna produced by th< 
Alhagi maurorum, a low shrub two or three feet high, native of the deserts oi 
Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, and other eastern countries. The Arabians have a 
tradition that, this manna fell from the clouds upon this plant to feed the Israel- 
ites in the desert. This, however, is contrary to what is recorded in the Scrip- 
tures, namely, that the miraculous manna appeared only on the rocks, and on 
the sand, and hence the surprise of the Israelites, who would not have been 
astonished if they had seen small portions of it on the shrubs; but who, finding 
it in such immense quantities on the ground, where they had never seen it before 
could hardly believe it to be the same thing, and exclaimed in Hebrew, " Man" ! 
that is to say, " What is it? " whence, possibly the name. The manna produced 
by the alhagi is a natural exudation from the leaves and branches, which takes 
place only in very hot weather. At first, it resembles drops of honey ; but gran- 
ulates on exposure to the atmosphere, into particles of different sizes, but seldom 
larger than a coriander seed. Another species of manna is obtained in Arabia 
from the tamarisk-tree, (Tamarix gallica,) by the puncture of the Coccus man- 
niparus. A similar substance is also obtained from the larch, (Larix europaea,) 
in the south of France, where it is known by the name of manne de Briangoii. 
This substance is a kind of sap of a sweetish, but insipid taste, which, towards 
the end of May, and during the months of June and July, exudes, according to 
some, only during the night, from the bark of the young shoots; but which, 
according to others, transpires from the buds and leaves, on which it coagulates 
in the form of little white glutinous grains, that are easily scraped off. In the 
morning, young larch-trees, before they are struck with the rays of the sun, will 
be found covered with it ; but the grains, if not gathered, will soon disappear. It 
resembles the manna of the flowering ash, (Ornus europsea rotundifolia.) but is 
less purgative. The rhododendron, the walnut, the beech, and the Norway maple, 
also yield an analogous substance, as probably, do various other trees; for the 
sap of most ligneous plants is more or less sweet and mucilaginous; and, conse- 
quently, when collected in any quantity, is susceptible of becoming concrete by 
evaporation. The manna of Lebanon is the gum mastic obtained from the IV- 
tacia lentiscus ; and the manna of Poland is composed of the seeds of the Glyce- 
ria lluitans. 
