360 HISTORICAL NOTES ON MANNA. 



1869. I think, that for a long time the drug was afforded by that region 



and not by Sicily. 



Ancient Brasavolus, of Ferrara, describing the drugs found in the shops 

 writers on the c i rca ^.D. 1537, mentions manna as a production of Calabria. 1 

 Manna. Matthioli (1548) remarks that of manna he has only seen two 

 sorts the Levantine and the Calabrian. 2 



Alberti, in his Descrittione di tutta Italia, published at Bologna 

 in 1550, mentions manna as found in Calabria. 3 



Garcia d'Orta (1563) 4 and Christopher Acosta (1 5 74) 5 describe 

 different kinds of Oriental manna, contrasting them with that of 

 Calabria. 



Still more significant is the fact that Fazelli, a well-known 

 writer on Sicily (1558), in a chapter on the productiveness of 

 the island boasts of its wine, oil, sugar, honey, fruits and saffron, 

 but says not one word of manna or the manna-ash. 6 



The manna collected in these early times was undoubtedly 



Spontaneous that which the trees produced spontaneously, but it was 



on> neither abundant nor cheap. 7 That which exuded from the 



leaves was esteemed the best, and was called manna difoglia, or 



manna di fronda ; it is described as being in the form of solid, 



translucent, white grains resembling little grains of mastich, and 



having a sweet and agreeable taste. The second sort was that 



which flowed spontaneously from the trunk and branches, and 



was termed manna di corpo ; while the third or commonest 



kind was that picked up from the ground. 



Towards the middle of the sixteenth century, it was found 

 that a much more copious supply of manna could be obtained 

 New mode of by notching the bark of the tree, and this new method of pro- 

 curing the dmg began to be adopted s But tne innovation did 



1 Examen omnium Siniplicium, Lugd. 1537, 8, p. 335. 

 3 Comment, in Lib. i, Diosc. cap. 70. 

 3 P. 198. 



* Colloquios dos Simples, etc., Goa, 1563, 4, p. 132. 



6 Tractado de las Drogas y Medicinas de las Indias Orientalis, Burgos, 

 1578, 8, p. 399. 



6 De Eebus Skulis, Dec. i. lib. i. ch. 4, De, Ubertate Sicilice. 



7 Fiore da Cropani in his Calabria Illustrata, Napoli, 1691, says (p. 253) 

 that the manna di fronda has been sometimes sold even in Calabria at 50 

 scudi for 6 ounces. 



8 In Bauhin's edition of the Commentaries of Matthioli, published at 



