The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-12-24
ANCIENT AND MODERN MAMMA.
The Food Provided for the Israelites
No Longer 81 Mystery.

san francisco Chronicle.
The singular phenomena sometimes seen
after heavy storms, such small toads or
fishes, deposits OF sand or other substances
supposed to have fallen with the rain, have
always excited the wonder Of the unlearned
and from tirne to time attracted the atten-
ton of the scientists. Similar phenomena
occasionally accompany the fan OF heavy
able and susceptible OF reader eXpldna-
ton. The attention of the Paris newspapers
has recently been called to a phenomenon IIits;n
more common than Is generally thought.
After recent rains. which 1t is to be noted
were not copiouS, numerous observers IN
different parts Of France found the leaves
OF various trees and plants covered with a
fluid having a swedish taste and so STICKY
that small insects that had endeaVored 10
able to escape. Two scientific opinions were
given-one that the moisture adhering 10
bv a disiiiiation from the leaves them
selves, and the other, considered the less
probable, that it had been caught up by the
circular movement of the air, no one knows
where or how, mingled with the moisture
in the clouds and deposited by the falling
rain. Some correspondents called attention
10 the fact that the phenomenon was by no
means rare I'm Egypt, Italy and Syria, While
one or two suggested that herein was found
the solution of the problem of the mamma
on which the Israelites fed in the wilder
ness.
This last theory by no means corresponds
with the descriptions of this bread from
heaven, found in Exodus, which every
morning after the dew was dried covered
the desert on all sides as far as the eye
could reach with white grains, or in the
biblical language, "a small round thing as
SIR all the boar frost" The children of
Israel gathered of this enough for the day.
and made loaves Of il which they baked in
the oven If, in spite of the advice of
Moses, they left portion of it unbaked
over night they found in the morning that
II had bred worms and emitted an offensive
ordor. In order not to break the Sabbath
they were directed on the sixth day to
gather enough for the following, and to lay
aside what was not wanted, which, curl
ously enough, kept perfectly, at least we
are so informed 1t was further said of it's
appearance that it was like coriander seed,
white, and the taste OF IL was like waters
made with honey" During the forty years
the 1sraelites passed in the wilderness they
fed on this food, and an ''omer'' OF it, put
ASIDE by Aaron TO serve a reminder of
their miraculous preservation, was kept for
ages longer, placed probably on exhibition
In the museum OF Jerusalem.
The nature of this mama, in doubt dur
ing so many thousands of years. seems at
last TO be pretty clearly understood. and
the only popularity in regard TO il is that
there should have been SO much of IL and
that IL should have been so regularly sup
piled during period OF forty years. The
so-called miracle is still renewed with a
certain regularity on the banks of the
Nile, In Arabia, along the shores of the
Red sea, in Persia. in Armenia, in the
Crimea, where there are occasional show
ers or mamma In 1890 VI. Rene de Cham
payne, superintendent of the French
school at Diarbekir. collected a specimen
and sent it to VI. Meunier of the Cairo
Museum, to be analysed. The conclusions
arrived at were the same as those of
PallaS, EverSmann, Decaisus and other
botanists who had occupied themselves
with the question. The supposed mamma
is a wandering vegetable of the Iichen
family, called by the botanists leucanora
eSculenta. 1t has no roots, but grows de-
tached from the soil. It's seeds which per
haps, have been scattered during the day
being made to terminate by the heavy
dews OF night, or, if the young plants
when transferred are dry, they are vivified
and swollen by the night moisture 1T
does not appear that in these DAVIS this
mamma is often eaten except by the half
savage Koords of Asia Minor who pre-
pare 1t sometimes with barley flour and
eat the cakes with olive OIL il they hap
pen to have that dellcacy 1t is not a dish
that commends itself to the enlightened
palate, but the Israelites in the wilder
ness, though they remembered the Ieeks
the onions and cucumbers of Egypt. could
not, under the circumstances, be very par
ucular. In any event, the sugared moist
ure found on the leaves OF trees and plants
In France, after showers, fills none of these
conditions 1t must either come from
forests and fields in blossom or must be
an emulation from the leaves drawn out
by the moisture. A phenomenon similar to
the last may be remarked on the leaves
OF the eucalyptus in California while. as
every one knows. bees find their honey in
the sweetened dew that remains In the cup
Of the flowers.