SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



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campaign, especially as provender for the horses. 

 It was named Chlorangiiun jitssnfii, Link., but is 

 identified by lichenologists as Lecanora csculenta, 

 Pall. 



On the whole there is no doubt that this curious 

 natural product has been food for both men and 

 animals in the several countries where it has fallen, 

 but it is said that the sheep in Algiers do not thrive 

 upon it, and no doubt it contains in its composition 

 very slight nourishing properties. Sir Roderick 

 Murchison, the geologist, wrote in the " Gardeners' 

 Chronicle " for August 13th, 18(34, ^^ '^o specimens 



ordained laws of the universe, and can proceed 

 to consider whether the Lecanora esculenta, or some 

 other product, most nearly accords with the 

 Scriptural description of manna. Numerous trees 

 and shrubs exude sweet gums, to some of which 

 the name of manna is applied, but only a few 

 of them are worthy consideration in connection 

 with this subject. 



One of these is yielded by a thorny leguminous 

 shrub, very common from the North of India to 

 Syria, and plentiful in the Wilderness of Sin. It 

 is called by the Arabs " Alhaj " (Alhagi of 



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Fig. 4. — Tamarix gallica. 

 Flowering Branch. 



-■#* Manna esuding. 



Fig. 5. — Tamarix gallica (mannifera). 

 Twigs infested with Coccus. 



of manna-lichen — sent to him by the Austrian 

 Internuncio at Constantinople — which fell with a 

 gust of rain at Charput, north-west of Diarbekir, 

 Asia Minor, that the specimens contained more 

 than sixty-five per cent, of oxalate of lime, with 

 twenty-five per cent, only of amylaceous matter, 

 allied to starch, of which Iceland moss, the food 

 of the reindeer, contains eighty per cent. 



We may assume that the manna brought to 

 the Israelites was, like the quails, a local natural 

 product, provided in harmony with the pre- 



Linnasus). Two species, Alhagi maurorum and 

 A. deseriorum, are called by them " Ooshter Khar," 

 or camel's-thorn, and in Mesopotamia "Agool." 

 The leaves of A. maurorum exude a sweetish 

 juice (Arabic " Ter enkjubin" = moist honey), which 

 concretes into small granular masses, and which is 

 usually distinguished by the name of Persian 

 manna. It contains, amongst various sorts of 

 particles, a great number of globular, crystalline 

 and almost transparent bodies of different sizes 

 and of a yellowish-white colour. The biggest of 



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