MAN 
sion with the ingredients of the glass, or at 
least does not communicate any colour. 
Manganese, in the state of l)lack oxide, 
gives a violet colour, but reduced to the 
white oxide the glass is colourless. In' ad- 
ding, therefore, the black oxide to glass, 
while it yields its oxygen to the iron, which 
it thus brings to a high state of oxydizement, 
it passes itself to the state of white oxide, 
and thus each metal is in tliat state in which 
it does not communicate colour. The black 
oxide is also useful, probably by consuming 
the carbonaceous matter and other sub- 
stances present in the materials which are 
susceptible of oxydizement. In large quan- 
tities it is used in the composition of orna- 
mental glass, to give a purple colour. It 
is likewise employed to give a black colour 
to earthen ware, a quantity of it being mix- 
ed with thp composition before it it is 
baked. 
MANGIFERA, in botany, mango-tree, a 
genus of the Pentandria Monogynia class 
and order. Natural order of Tercbinta- 
ceae, Jussieu. Essential character : corolla 
five-petalled ; drupe kidney-form. There 
are three species, of which M. indica, man- 
go-tree, is the most remarkable; it is a 
large spreading tree; the wood is brittle, 
and used only for indifferent works; the 
bark becomes rugged by age; the leaves 
are seven or eight inches long, and about 
two broad, terminating in points, having se- 
veral transverse parallel opposite ribs ; the 
flowers are produced in loose bunches at 
the ends of the branches ; the fruit of this 
tree, when fully ripe, is yellow and reddish, 
possessing a fine agreeable juice ; some are 
full of fibres, the juice runs out of these on 
cutting ; but those without fibres are much 
the finest, they cut like an apple, and are 
esteemed a very wholesome fruit ; except- 
ing pine apples, tliey are preferable to any 
other in India : in Europe we have only the 
unripe fruit brought over in pickle. 
MANIS, in natural history, a genus of 
Mammalia, of the order Bruta. Generic 
character : no teeth ; tongue round and ex- 
teflsile; month narrowed into a snout ; body 
covered above with moveable bony scales. 
These animals greatly resemble the ant- 
eater, and feed like that creature by pro- 
truding their tongues into the nests of va- 
rious species of insects, and retracting them 
with inconceivable suddenness, with their 
prey attached to the tip. There are three 
species. M. tetradactyla, tlie long-tailed 
mams, has a tail more than twice the lengtli 
of its body, and is often, in the whole, seen 
MAN 
five feet long. Its colour is a dark-brown, 
with a tinge of yellow, and it displays a 
very brilliant gloss. It is perfectly cover- 
ed, except on the belly, with large scales 
resembling the substance of horn, and which 
constitute a complete defence for it against 
its enemies, on whose attack it rolls itself up 
into a form very nearly globular, presenting 
on every side impenetrable armour. It is 
a native of India. 
Mauis pentadactyla, the short-tailed ma- 
nis. This is much thicker and shorter than 
the former, and is covered with scales still 
thicker and stronger. It is found in many 
parts of India, and, according to some 
writers, in Africa, particularly in Guinea. 
It moves with great slowness, but on immi- 
nent danger of attack, rolls itself up with 
the compactness of a ball, and defies, in this 
state, the attempts even of some of the 
larger beasts of prey. It is called in some 
parts of India the thunderbolt, from the ex- 
treme hardness of its scales, which are said 
to elicit fire from iron, like a flint ; and in 
other parts it is named the stone-vermin, a 
quantity of stones being generally found in 
its stomach, supposed to be swallowed by 
it for the purpose of digesting its food. It 
frequents marshy and woody places, and 
lives almost entirely on insects, particularly 
on ants. It has been seen of the length of 
even six feet. See Mammalia, Plate XV 
fig. 5. 
MANISURIS, in botany, a genus of the 
Polygamia Monoecia class and order. Na- 
tural order of Gramina, or Grasses. Essen- 
tial character : hermaphrodite calyx; glume 
two-valved, one-flowered, outer valve emar- 
giiiate at the top and sides; corolla less 
than the calyx ; stamens three ; style bifid. 
Male as in the hermaphrodites ; but with 
the flowers in the lower Side of the same 
spike, standing out more. There are two 
species, viz. M. myurus, and M. granularis, 
natives of the East and West Indies. 
MANNA, the food given by the .Almighty 
to tlie children of Israel in the wilderness 
is the concrete juice of the fraxinus ornus, 
or flowering ash. The tree is a native of 
the southern parts of Europe, particularly 
Sicily and Calabria. Many other trees and 
shrubs likewise emit a sweet juice, which 
concretes upon exposure to the air, and 
may be considered of the manna kind. In 
Sicily there are three species of fraxinus 
cultivated for the purpose of prociu-ing 
manna, and are plahted on the declivity of 
a hill with an eastern aspect. It is full ten 
years before these trees bear any quantity 
Q 2 
