208 
ON FALSE MANNA. 
make a syrup of lobelia, by adding two fluid ounces of the fluid 
extract, to ten fluid ounces of simple syrup, and mixing. Syrup 
of lobelia is an eligible preparation for prescription use, in cases 
where lobelia is indicated as an expectorant. 
ON FALSE MANNA. 
By Robert P. Thomas, M. D. 
An article has recently been introduced into this market and 
offered for sale under the name of manna, which differs so much 
both in its physical and chemical properties from what is gene- 
rally understood as constituting a good manna,as also from the des- 
criptions given in standard works of the various products floating 
about in European commerce bearing this name, that a short 
account of it, bringing the subject before the notice of the phar- 
maceutical profession may prove serviceable. 
The article in question was brought here from New York ; but 
whether it was of foreign origin, and had passed accidentally 
through the Custom House before or since the passage of the 
Inspection law, or whether it is of domestic manufacture, I am 
unable to ascertain. The probabilities are, however, that it has 
been imported. 
It comes in large casks, packed in separate pieces weighing 
about half a pound. These pieces are of an oblong shape, from 
five to seven inches in length and from one and a half to three 
inches in breadth ; and half as much in thickness ; the angles 
being rounded off by pressure of the pieces upon each other. 
Eacb piece is carefully enveloped in long and broad leaves of 
some endogenous plant. When these are first removed, there is 
a strong odor exhaled, not unlike that of the drainings of old 
molasses casks. By exposure to the air the odor becomes more 
faint and saccharine. The taste is very sweet in those portions 
which are perfectly dry, whilst in darker and moister parts the 
sensation of sweetness is followed by a decided and permanently 
bitter taste. The dry surface is of a yellowish brown color, 
studded with numerous glistening points ; in the damper portions 
