136 MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



From this account it is evident, that the manna is the succus pro* 

 prius of the tree ; any arguments therefore brought to combat the 

 ancient opinion of its being a mel aerium, or honey. dew, are wholly 

 unnecessary : "that, with which the Israelites were so peculiarly fa- 

 voured, could only have been produced through miraculous means, 

 and is consequently out of the province of the natural historian. 

 Manna is generally distinguished into different kinds, viz. the manna 

 in tear, the canulated and flaky manna, and the common brown or 

 fat manna. All these varieties seem rather to depend upon their re- 

 spective purity, and the circumstances in which they are obtained 

 from the plant, than upon any essential difference of the drug : when 

 the juice transudes from the tree very slowly, the manna is always 

 more dry, transparent, and pure, and consequently of more estima- 

 tion ; but when it flows very copiously it concretes into a coarse 

 brown unctuous mass ; hence we have a reason, why, by applying 



intrinsic quality of them being different, but only because they are got in a dif- 

 ferent manner. In order to have the manna, those who have the management of 

 the woods of the Orni in the" months of July and August, when the weather is 

 very dry and warm, make an oblong incision, and take off from the bark of the 

 tree about three inches in length, and two in breadth; they leave the wound 

 open, and by degrees the manna runs out, and is almost suddenly thickened to 

 its proper consistence, and is found adhering to the bark of the tree. This 

 manna, which is collected in basket's, and goes under the name of manna grassa f 

 is put in a dry place, because moist and wet places will soon dissolve it again. 

 This first kind is often in large irregular pieces of a brownish colour, and fre- 

 quently is full of dust and other impurities. But when the people want to have 

 a very fine manna, they apply to the incision of the bark, thin straw, or small 

 bits of shrubs, so that the manna, in coming out, runs upon those bodies, and is 

 collected in a sort of regular tubes, which gives it the name of manna in cannoli, 

 that is, manna in tubes! this second kind is more esteemed, and always pre- 

 ferred to the other, because it is free and clear. There is indeed a third kind 

 of manna, which is not commonly to be met with, and which I have seen since 

 Heft Calahriai it is very white, like sugar; but as it is rather for curiosity than 

 for use, I shall say no more of it. The two sorts of manna already mentioned 

 undergo no kind of preparation whatsoever, before they are exported; some- 

 times they are finer, particularly the manna grassa, and sometimes very dirty 

 and full of impurities; but the Neapolitans have no interest in adulterating the 

 manna, because they always have a great deal more than what they generally 

 export; and if manna is kept in the magazines, it receives often very great 

 hurt by the southern winds, so common in our part of the world. The changes 

 of the weather produce a sudden alteration in the time that the manna is to be 

 gathered ; and, for this reason, when the summer i rainy, the manna is alway* 

 very scarce and very bad." 



