Observations on the Manna Persicum: By John Fothergill, M. D. Licentiate of the College of Physicians, London

XIV. Observations on the Manna Perficum: By John Fothergill, M.D. Licentiate of the College of Physicians, London. Read April 26, 1744; but here printed with Additions. It does not appear very plain, from any thing that has occurred to me in the Writings of the elder Greek Physicians, that they were much, if at all, acquainted with any Substance that now goes under the Name of Manna. They had the Term, but applied it to a Subject very dif- ferent from what we do at present. The Τροβοσιονα τε Αλευρος, or the Micæ thuris concussu elise, the Bits broke off from the Olibanum in Carriage, was the Substance they knew by that Name. If the Arabians did not first of all introduce some Kind of purging Manna into Practice, they at least render'd the Use of this Drug more common and extensive. Their Country afforded several Species of it; which being familiarly known, is, perhaps, the Reason why no Descriptions have been left suf- ficiently clear, whereby to distinguish them from each other. Whoever has consulted the Arabian Writers, or the best of their Commentators, will allow that their Accounts are defective. That they had three Sorts of this Drug, distin- guished by the Names of Manna, Tereniabin, and Siracost, is certain; but whether these are now known, or by what Appellations, has been very much disputed. Rauwolf, in his Itinerary published by Ray, and Tournefort, in his Voyage to the Levant, have given the clearest Intimations of any Writers that I know of: of: If to these we add Clusius, we have all that we are to expect of Certainty, amongst those who have mention'd it; they being Eye-witnesses of what they wrote: Yet the Descriptions of these are either so imperfect or unknown, that a very late Writer upon the *Materia Medica* (a), either not having seen or understood them, has fallen into a Mistake about the *Manna Arabum*, and his Authority may perhaps mislead others. My worthy Friend Peter Collinson, having procur'd a Sort of *Manna* from a Gentleman at Petersburgh, under the Title of *Manna Persicum ex planta Al-Hagi Maurorum*, was pleas'd to favour me with a Specimen of it: I consulted the principal Writers on the *Materia Medica*; and, finding their Opinions to be frequently opposite, and their Accounts in general perplexed, I imagined it would not be unacceptable to the Curious, to have such a Description of this Species, as would probably make it clear, that we have one Kind of the *Manna Arabum* still extant, viz. the *Terniabin*, and prevent any future Mistakes about it. The Specimen of *Manna* that now lies before me, appears, at first Sight, to be a dirty reddish-brown colour'd mixed Mass; which, upon a nearer View, is found to consist of, 1. A great Number of globular, crystalline, almost pellucid Bodies, of a yellowish-white Colour, and different Sizes; the biggest not much exceeding --- *a large* a large Coriander-seed, or a very small Pea: They differ from Grains of Mastich, in being more upon the reddish Cast; but in Figure and Transparency it varies not much. 2. Some small Sticks like Prickles, and others like Footstalks of Leaves or Fruit. 3. A few narrow-pointed firm small Leaves. 4. A large Quantity of long reddish-colour'd Pods, of a sweetish gelatinous Taste, containing from one to six or seven hard, irregular, somewhat Kidney-like Seeds, which to the Taste are very acerb. And, 5. Some Sand and Earth. Four Ounces of the Manna, dissolved in warm Water, left one Ounce or something more of these in the Filtre. The Globules (N° 1.) are hard, and break between the Teeth like Sugar-candy; they are of a pleasant sweet Taste, with much less of the Manna Relish than the Calabrian; but with enough to discover to what Family this Substance belongs. The Sticks, Leaves, Pods, &c. seem to be Parts of the Plant that produces the Manna. Some of the Seeds have been sown, and proved so fresh as to afford some Plants of the Alhagi. About the Year 1537, when Rauwolf wrote his Itinerary, it appears, that large Quantities of this Kind of Manna were brought from Persia to Aleppo, where it was then known under the Name of Trunschibil or Trunschibin; a Corruption, doubtless, of the antient Terenjabin; or, as it ought to be wrote, according to Deusungius *, Terengjabin. Rauwolf informs us, that this Species of Manna was gather'd from the Alhagi; a Plant which is minutely described by Tournefort †, who also confirms the Account which Rauwolf had long before given, with the following Particulars: "It is chiefly (says he) about Tauris, a City in Persia, that it is gather'd, under the Name of Trungibin or Terenjabin, mention'd by Avicenna and Serapion: Those Authors thought it fell upon certain prickly Shrubs; whereas it is only the nutritious Juice of the Plant." — He adds, "That, during the great Heats, you perceive small Drops of Honey upon the Leaves and Branches of these Shrubs; these Drops harden, in Grains about the Bigness of Coriander-seeds: They gather those of the Alhagi, and make them into reddish Cakes full of Dust and Leaves, which alter the Colour, and lessen its Virtue. This Manna is much inferior to the Italian. The ordinary Dose is from 25 to 30 Drams." Clusius ‡ informs us, that the Terniabin of the modern Arabs is gather'd from a prickly Shrub, such as the Alhagi is described to be. Avicenna **, according to his present Translation, tells us, that the --- * Deusungius Traët. de Manna &c Sacch. p. ii. † Tournefort's Voyage to the Levant, Vol. I. p. 247, 248. ‡ Clus. Exotic. Vol. II. p. 164. ** Avicen. Oper. Tom. I. p. 404. Tereniabin falls super Lapides; but * Deusingius says that it ought to be read, super Albagi; and that his Translators were led into this Mistake, from the Resemblance betwixt Al-Hhagier (the Word in the Arabic Text, and which signifies a kind of thorny Plant, such as the Albagi is said to be) to Al-Hagio. It is therefore evident, that the Manna Persicum, now before us, is the Tereniabin, Terenjabin, Terra jabin, or more properly, the Terengjabin, of the old Arabians, and of Clusius; the Trungibin, or Trunschibil, of the later, of Rawwolf and Tournefort; very probably, the Manna mastichina orientalis of Matthiolus and Bauhine; as it is the Mastichina and Alhagina of Geoffroy; tho' this Author makes the Tereniabin a Species of Liquid Manna †, in Complaisance to his Countryman Bellonius; who, tho' in general a diligent Observer, yet, in this Case, was misled by the Calayers, or Monks of Mount Sinai. Bellonius says, in his Observations ‡, and more largely in his Treatise de Arboribus perpetua Fronde virentibus, that these Calayers collect a kind of liquid Manna, which they call Tereniabin; that this Species was known in the Shops at Cairo by the same Name; and that this is the Mel roscidum of Galen, and the Mel cedrinum of Hippocrates. I think it is very plain, that Bellonius was mistaken in the first Part of his Assertion, from what * Tract. de Manna, p. 19. † Tract. de Mat. Med. Tom. II. p. 587. ‡ Bellonii Observ. apud Clus. p. 129. has already been advanced. The Caloyers told him, that they called it Tereniabin; and he takes it for granted, that it was the Tereniabin of the old Arabians, contrary to their own Accounts, supported by the Testimony of their Successors, who are known to vary as little as any People whatever from the Traditions and Customs of their Predecessors, and still retain a great many of their Appellations. For Proof of this, I need only refer to the Accounts which Rawwolf, Tournefort, and Dr. Shaw, give us of those People. That this liquid Manna was the Δροσόμελη, seu 'Αεγόμελη, of Galen *; and the Μέλι κατερνον, of Hippocrates †, (supposing there is no Mistake in the Text), seems very probable. The Description which Galen has left of the Mel roscidum, and the Manner of collecting it on Mount Sinai in his Time, tallies exactly with Bellonius's Account; and thus far, I believe, all Authors agree: But that the Virtues of Manna were known so early as in the Times of these Two Authors, will be difficult to prove. Galen takes notice of this Mel roscidum more as a Curiosity, than a Medicine. He nowhere, that I know of, mentions its Use, or describes its Qualities: He introduces the Account of it with a Memini aliquando, and says, that the Mel roscidum was rarely met with in his Country, but was gather'd at Mount Sinai every Year: And, indeed, from the Manner * Galen. de Alem. Facult. L. III. c. 39. † Hippocratae de Ulceribus, p. 876. Edit. Foesii. in which it is spoken of by an old Greek Writer in *Athæneus*, as cited by *Salmasius*, it would seem, that it was only used for Pleasure, as an agreeable Sweet, *Melle ipso suavius*; and, probably, continued to be of no other Use. *Mesue* tells us*, that Galen mixed Manna with Scammony. In the spurious Piece *de Dynamis* ascribed to Galen, Scammony is ordered to be mixed with Honey; but never once mentions Manna in any of his extant Writings. As Galen is known to be very minute in his Account of the *Materia Medica* of that Time, his Silence is a strong Argument against the Supposition, that even the *Mel roscidum* was in Pharmaceutic Use, much less any other Species of Manna. If Galen was unacquainted with this Substance, it is very probable, that Hippocrates was so likewise; since a Drug that must have made a considerable Figure in his *Materia Medica*, would not have soon been struck off the List, or dropp’d into Oblivion and Disuse. But how shall we get rid of the *Μέλη ρόσειδον*; the Name sufficiently intimating what Substance was intended? Perhaps *Foësius*’s Suggestion may help us. He thinks, that the Words might have been read with a Comma intervening, whereby we should have had Two distinct well-known Substances, Honey, and Resin of the Cedar; Two Simples that were then, and continued long after, in familiar Use; instead of one, which he mentions no-where else, and seems to be unknown some Ages after. --- * Mesue de Simpl. c. 8. Upon the whole, I have not hitherto met with Evidence insufficient to induce me to believe, that either the *Mel roscidum*, or any Kind of *Manna*, was in common medical Use either with *Hippocrates* or *Galen*. *Actuarius* mentions it once *, and, as I know of, only once: He makes it a Purgative, and to be somewhat stronger than *Cassia*. It is now pretty generally known, that the *Manna's* in Use are not a *Mel aerium*, or Honey-Dew, as was long believed, but a *Succus proprius* issuing out of some particular Trees, at proper Seasons, and in some Climates only; and that, during the Summer's Heats, a great Number of Vegetables, in almost all the temperate Countries, afford a Juice somewhat akin to *Manna*, from whence the Bee collects and prepares her Honey. It may not, however, be amiss, nor very foreign to our Subject, to exhibit a short Account, how the *Manna Officinarum* is collected. In *Calabria* and *Sicily*, in the hottest Part of the Summer-Months, the *Manna* ouzes out of the Leaves, and from the Bark of the Trunk, and larger Branches, of the *Fraxinus*, or *Calabrian Ash*. The *Ornus* likewise affords it, but from the Trunk and larger Branches only, and that chiefly from artificial Apertures; whereas it flows from the *Fraxinus* thro' every little Cranny, and bursts thro' the large Pores spontaneously. What is got from different Parts of the Tree acquires different Names; the Trunks generally afford --- * Actuar. Method. Medend. I. V. c. 8. those large white Pieces to which we give the Name of flaky; but the finest of all is such as is collected from artificial Incisions, in which little Straws, &c. are purposely placed in such a manner, as that the flowing Juice may concrete upon them, and form those long, white, cylindrical, perforated Pieces, which are so much valued. This Juice is secreted in the largest Quantity, betwixt Noon and Evening. In the Night it is condens'd, if the Season is dry, otherwise the Manna is spoil'd: They scrape off the small with wooden Knives, early in the Morning, and gather the larger Flakes; both which are afterwards dried upon clean Paper in the Sun, till they stick no longer to the Fingers; and the different Sorts are then carefully pack'd up for Use and Exportation. XV. Cyanus Foliis radicalibus partim integris, partim pinnatis, Braëtea Calycis ovali, Flore sulphureo; per Albert. Haller, Prof. Anat. & Bot. Gottingenf. R. S. Ang. & Suec. S. descriptus. Vide Tab. IV. Read April 26. RADIX perennis est, quam eruere nolui, ut parcerem plantæ, quæ semen nondum dedisset. Folia ad terram conferta, varia: virentia omnia, & firmiuscula, cum aliqua, sed brevi & sparsa lanugine. Eorum alia simplicia sunt, longo petiolo, elliptica lancicolata