HISTORICAL NOTES ON MANNA. 359 



the banks of the Crati in Calabria, describing the production 1869. 

 of the drug in language which may be rendered thus : 



... There in the middle of summer, under a burning sun, 

 while heat prevails and the cloven earth gapes, when no 

 breeze is stirring, and the humid air is still, it (the manna) 

 gradually exudes and, condensed as a viscid fluid, runs into 

 drops and thickens on the thirsty leaves, and further hardened 

 by successive suns, it acquires the appearance of wax and the 

 taste of honey. Such as the bees obtain by their instinctive 

 art and mutual aid, this nature produces for the medicinal use 

 of mankind. 



I subjoin the passage in a foot-note. 1 



In the second half of the fifteenth century flourished EafTaele Raffaele Maf- 

 Maffei, called also Volaterranus, a voluminous writer, who among 

 other works has left one entitled Commentarii Urbani, in which 

 we find a sentence in the following words : 



" Manna nostra setate ccepit in Calabria provenire : licet 

 orientali inferior." 



The signification of this I take to be, that manna first began 

 to be collected in Calabria, within the author's recollection, but 

 that it was not considered so good as the eastern manna. 



It is to be observed that Saladinus, Pontano and Maffei all 

 speak of manna as a production of Calabria, and it is evident, 



1 Quinetiam Calabris ill saltibus, ac per opacum 

 Labitur ingenti Crathis, qua ccerulus alveo, 

 Quaque etiam Syriis sylvae convailibus horrent 

 Felices sylvae, quaruin de fronde liquescunt 

 Divini roris latices, quos sedula passim 

 Turba legit, gratum auxilium languentibus segris. 



Illic sestate in media, sub sole furenti 

 Duin regnat calor et terrse finduntur hiantes. 

 * * * * * 



Cum nullse spirant aurce, et silet humidus aer 



Contrahitur paulatim, et lento humore coactua 



In guttas abit, et foliis sitlentibus hserens 



Lentescit, rursumque diurno a sole recoctus 



Induit et speciem cerse, mellisque saporem. 



Quodque et apes prasstant arte, ingenitoque favore 



Hoc medicos natura hominum producit in usis. 



Pontani Opera, Venet. 1513, Lib. Meteor, p. 113. 



s Volaterranus (Raph.) Comment. Urban., Paris, 1515, fol., lib. 38. f. 413. 

 I have not been able to consult an earlier edition of his works published, it is 

 aid, at Rome in 1506, 



