HISTORICAL  NOTES  ON  MANNA. 
167 
The  significance  of  this  I  take  to  be,  that  manna  first  began 
to  be  collected  in  Calabria,  within  the  author's  recollection,  but 
that  it  was  not  considered  so  good  as  the  Eastern  manna. 
It  is  to  be  observed  that  Saladinus,  Pontano  and  Maffei  all 
speak  of  manna  as  a  production  of  Calabria,  and  it  is  evident,  I 
think,  that  for  a  long  time  the  drug  was  afibrded  by  that  region, 
and  not  by  Sicily. 
Brasavolus,  of  Ferrara,  describing  the  drugs  found  in  the 
shops  circa  A.  D.  1537,  mentions  manna  as  a  production  of 
Calabria.* 
Matthioli  (1548)  remarks  that  of  manna  he  has  only  seen  two 
sorts,  the  Levantine  and  the  Calabrian.f 
Alberti,  in  his  Descrittione  di  tutta  Italia,  published  at  Bologna 
in  1550,  mentions  manna  as  found  in  Calabria. J 
Garcia  d'Orta  (1563)§  and  Christopher  Acosta  (1574)||  de- 
scribe different  kinds  of  oriental  manna,  contrasting  them  with 
that  of  Calabria. 
The  Ricettario  Florentino  (edition  of  1573)  states  that  manna 
is  of  two  kinds,  namely,  that  of  Syria,  and  that  produced  in  the 
kingdom  of  Naples,  especially  about  Cosenza  in  Calabria. 
Still  more  significant  is  the  fact  that  Fazelli,  a  well  known 
writer  on  Sicily  (1558),  in  a  chapter  on  the  productiveness  of 
the  island,  boasts  of  its  wine,  oil,  sugar,honey,  fruits  and  saffron, 
but  says  not  one  word  of  manna,  or  the  manna-ash. T[ 
The  manna  collected  in  these  early  times  was  undoubtedly  that 
which  the  trees  produced  spontaneously,  but  it  was  neither 
abundant  nor  cheap.**  That  which  exuded  from  the  leaves  was 
esteemed  the  best,  and  was  called  maiina  difoglia  or  manna  di 
fronda  ;  it  is  described  as  being  in  the  form  of  solid,  translucent, 
*  Examen  omnium  simpUcium,  Ludg-.  1537,  8vo,  p.  335. 
t  Comment,  in  Lib.  I,  Diosc.  cap.  70. 
t  P.  198. 
^  CoUoquios  dos  Simples,  etc.,  Goa,  1563,  4to,  p.  132. 
II  Tractado  de  las  Drogas  y  Medicinas  de  las  Indias  Orientales,  Burgos, 
1578,  8vo,  p.  399. 
1Ii>e  Rebus  Siculis,  Dec.  I,  lib.  i,  ch.  4.    De  Ubertate  Silicice. 
**Fiore  de  Cropani  in  his  Calabria  Illustrata,  Napoli,  1691,  says  (p. 
253)  that  the  manna  di  fronda  has  been  sometimes  sold,  even  in  Cala- 
bria, at  50  scudi  for  6  ounces. 
