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HISTORICAL  NOTES  ON  MANNA.  169 
we  have  then  this  essay  as  a  quarto  pamphlet  of  46  pages,  printed 
at  Venice,  in  1562,  and  entitled  Be  Mannce  differentiis  ac  viri- 
bus  deque  eas  dignoscendi  via  ac  ratione:  and,  as  if  to  give  the 
work  greater  weight,  it  is  in  the  form  of  an  epistle  addressed  to 
Hieroniraus  Albertinus,  Neapolitan  prime  minister  of  Philip  II, 
a  monarch  whose  connection  with  the  English  crown  and  Spanish 
armada  has  caused  his  name  to  be  well  remembered  in  our 
annals. 
The  custom  of  promoting  the  exudation  of  manna  by  wound- 
ing the  stem  and  branches  of  the  trees,  must  have  occasioned  a 
great  increase  in  the  production  of  the  drug,  a  proof  of  which  we 
have  in  the  statement  of  Fiore  (1691)  that  the  sole  district  of 
Campana  and  Bocchiglioro  affords  annually  30,000  lb.  with  great 
profit  to  the  gatherers,  and  1100  ducats  of  excise  to  the  govern- 
ment."^ Of  the  period  when  the  traffic  in  manna  commenced  in 
Sicily,  I  have  no  information.  Paolo  Boccone,  of  Palermo, 
mentions  in  his  Museo  de  Fisica  e  di  Esperienzie,  which  appeared 
in  1697,  several  localities  in  Italy  whence  manna  is  obtained, 
adding  thvit  manna  forzata  (that  from  incisions  being  thus  called) 
is  also  produced  in  Sicily. f 
In  conclusion,  let  me  recapitulate  the  points  in  the  history  of 
manna,  on  which  I  have  endeavored  to  throw  light : 
1.  That  the  manna  known  in  Europe  in  very  early  times  was 
probably  all  of  Oriental  origin. 
2.  That  manna  of  the  ash  [Fraxinus  Ornus  L.)  began  to  be 
collected  in  Calabria  in  the  first  half  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
3.  That  the  practice  of  making  incisions  in  the  tree  in  order 
to  promote  the  exudation,  was  not  commenced  until  about  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  previous  to  which  period,  the 
only  manna  obtained  was  that  which  exuded  spontaneously. 
4.  That  although  the  existence  in  Sicily  of  a  mountain  called 
by  the  Arabic  name  Cfihil-manna,  would  seem  to  indicate  that 
manna  was  collected  during  the  period  of  Mussulman  rule  in 
shameless  piracy  is  related  with  much  moderation  by  Briganti  himself,  in 
his  Italian  edition  of  Garcia  d'Orta,  published  at  Yenice  in  1582  (p.  50). 
Consult  also  Toppi,  Bihlioteca  Napolitana,  p.  20. 
*  Delia  Calabrta  illustrata,  Nap.  1691 — 1743,  fol.  p.  253. 
t  Obs.  xiv,  XV. 
