176 
The  Manna  oj  Scripture. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
March.  1920. 
biblical  description,  since  they  are  saccharine  exudations  from 
bushes  or  small  trees,  used  when  cleaned,  like  honey,  to  sweeten 
farinaceous  cakes,  but  never  made  into  cakes  by  themselves.  Thus^ 
although  the  tamarix  manna,  from  Tamarix  Gallica,  var.  mannifera, 
Ehrenb.,  is  found  in  June,  July  and  August,  caused  by  the  puncture 
of  an  insect,  Coccus  manniparus,  Bhrenb.,  occurs  in  the  peninsula 
of  Sinai;  the  name  manna  (meaning,  What  is  it?)  would  hardly 
have  been  applied  to  it  by  the  Israelites  when  they  could  see  its 
source.  Indeed,  the  Arabs  call  it  Gazangabin,  meaning  tamarisk 
honey,  not  manna.  Moreover,  these  saccharine  exudations  do  not 
breed  worms  and  stink  in  two  days,  for  specimens  of  them  in  the 
Hanbury  Collection  of  Materia  Medica,  at  17  Bloomsbury  Square 
have  remained  there  unchanged  for  nearly  forty  years.  When, 
therefore,  soon  after  the  publication  of  Mr.  A.  T.  Swann's  book  on 
"Fighting  the  Slave-driver  in  Central  Africa"  appeared,  I  read  his 
account  of  the  manna  that  he  saw  on  the  plateau  between  the  lakes 
Tanganyika  and  Nyasa,  I  recognized  at  once  that  the  description  he 
gives  of  it  agrees  almost  word  for  word  with  the  biblical  account  of 
manna,  and  I  therefore  wrote  and  asked  Mr.  Swann  if  he  could, 
through  any  friends  there,  or  travelers  going  to  that  region,  obtain 
for  me  some  of  the  plant,  preserved  in  spirit  or  solution  of  corrosive 
sublimate,  which  presumably  most  medical  missionaries  take  with 
them.  In  reply,  he  kindly  promised  to  take  the  first  opportunity 
that  occurred  to  endeavor  to  get  a  specimen,  but  whether  the  op- 
portunity never  occurred  or  the  promise  slipped  from  his  memory, 
I  was  unable  to  ascertain,  since  shortly  afterwards  I  lost  the  mem- 
orandum of  the  name  of  the  book  and  the  author's  name  and  ad- 
dress, and  although  I  searched  through  a  number  of  books  on  Af- 
rican travels  I  could  not  find  the  passage  again  until  I  saw  a  reference 
to  it  in  the  C.  &  D.  in  "Xrayser  II's"  note  on  manna  a  week  or  two 
ago,  and  now  I  cherish  the  hope  that  before  my  days  are  ended, 
I  may  yet  be  able  to  solve  this  riddle  of  the  ages,  or  to  see  it  solved  by 
some  other  cryptogamic  botanist;  for  I  feel  convinced  that  manna  is 
a  fungus  hitherto  undescribed  and  belonging  possibly  to  a  new 
genus.  At  all  events,  I  intend  to  hang  on  to  the  trail  I  had  lost  until 
the  enigma  is  solved.  It  may  be  interesting  to  quote  here  Mr. 
Swann's  description  of  manna,  word  for  word,  for  comparison  with 
the  biblical  description  already  quoted  {loc.  cit.,  p.  116): 
"It  was  whilst  passing  through  this  district  (the  high  plateau 
which  separates  the  lakes  Tanganyika  and  Nyasa),  composed  mostly 
