362 CALABRIAN MANNA. 



1869. the stem and branches of the trees, must have occasioned a 

 Increased pro- great increase in the production of the drug, a proof of which 

 auction. W e have in the statement of Fiore (1691) that the sole district 

 of Campana and Bocchiglioro affords annually 30,000 Ibs. with 

 great profit to the gatherers, and 1100 ducats of excise to the 

 government. 1 Of the period when the traffic in manna com- 

 menced in Sicily I have no information. Paolo Boccone, of 

 Palermo, mentions in his Museo di Fisica e di Esperienzie, which 

 appeared in 1697, several localities in Italy whence manna is 

 obtained, adding that manna forzata (that from incisions being 

 thus called) is also produced in Sicily. 2 



Recapitula- In conclusion, let me recapitulate the points in the history of 

 manna upon which I have endeavoured to throw light : 



1. That the manna known in Europe in very early times was 

 probably all of Oriental origin. 



2. That manna of the ash (Fraxinus ornus, L.) began to be 

 collected in Calabria in the first half of the fifteenth century. 



3. That the practice of making incisions in the tree in order 

 to promote the exudation was not commenced until about the 

 middle of the sixteenth century, previous to which period the 

 only manna obtained was that which exuded spontaneously. 



4. That although the existence in Sicily of a mountain called 

 by the Arabic name Gibil-manna would seem to indicate that 

 manna was collected during the period of Mussulman rule in 

 that island (A.D. 827 to A.D. 1070), evidence has not been 

 produced to prove the fact; but that, on the contrary, it 

 appears that manna was gathered in Calabria long anterior to 

 its collection in Sicily. [N. Eepert. f. Pharm. xix. 98.] 



ON CALABBIAN MANNA. 

 (Calalrische Manna.) 



(Read before a Meeting of the British Pharmaceutical Conference 

 at Brighton, August \tth, 1872.) 



187. MANNA, it is stated in the British Pharmacopoeia (1867), is 

 a concrete saccharine exudation from the stem of Fraxinus 



1 Delia Calabria Illustrata, Nap. 16911743, fol. p. 253 

 1 Obs. xiv. xv. 





