VOL. LX.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. Af 



out, runs upon those bodies, and is coHected in a sort of regular tubes, which 

 give it the name of manna in cannoli, that is, manna in tubes: this second kind 

 is more esteemed, and always preferred 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; 

 it is very white, like sugar; but it is rather for curiosity than use. The two 

 sorts of manna above-mentioned undergo no kind of preparation whatever, 

 before they are exported; sometimes 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 this part 

 of the world. The changes of the weather produce a sudden alteration in the 

 time that the manna is to be gathered ; and therefore when the summer is rainy, 

 the manna is always very scarce and very bad. 



After this short account of the manna, I shall, says Dr. C. give you a little of 

 the history of the Tarantula, because I have had an opportunity of examining 

 the effects of this animal, in the province of Taranto, where it is found in great 

 abundance: but I am afraid I shall have nothing more to say, than that the 

 surprizing cure of the bite of the Tarantula, by music, has not the least 

 truth in it; and that it is only an invention of the people, who want to get a 

 little money, by dancing when they say the tarantism begins. Probably some- 

 times the heat of the climate contributes very much to warm their imagination, 

 and to throw them into a delirium, which may be in some measure cured by 

 music: but several experiments have been tried with the Tarantula; and neither 

 men nor animals, after the bite, have had any other complaint, but a very trifling 

 inflammation on the part, like those produced by the bite of a scorpion, which 

 go off by themselves without any danger at all. In Sicily, where the summer is 

 still warmer than in any part of the kingdom of Naples, the Tarantula is never 

 dangerous, and music is never employed for the cure of the pretended tarantism. 

 Every year this surprizing disorder loses ground, and doubtless in a very little 

 while it will entirely lose its credit- 



XXIII. Observations made at Dinapoor, on the Planet Venus, when passing 

 over the Sun's Disk, June 4, 1769, zuith three different Quadrants, and a 

 Ttvo-Foot reflecting Telescope. By Luis Degloss, Captain of Engineers, 

 with the Assistance of J. Lang and A. Stoker, p. 239. 



At Sun-rise cloudy 



At 5" 20"" 32' A. M Thesundisengagedfromtheclouds,whenVenusappearedontheO'*di8k. 



At 7 5 22 The beginning of the emersion. 



At 7 23 36 The end of the emersion. 



The latitude of the place where the observation was made, is 25° 27' »• 

 The time is exactly corrected, and all the allowances made. 



