Bismarck daily tribune., 1901-09-23
SHOW ERS OF MAMMA.
JUST WHY AND HOW SUCH PIE
s.5:. $.5:.s3 81 NoMENA ARE POSSIBLE. ss5s.

This Food Of the People of Israel In
4 the Wilderness Ii nm Edible Lichen
: That Is still Found In Parts of
Asia and Africa. g; n; ,5s,s5 4;
TT Is mammal r exclaimed the people
Of Israel as they gathered the food
which seemed SO miraculously to ap@
pear at their very feet in answer to
their cry for sustenance, but though
they ate and were satisfied, we are
told they twist not what 1t was.'''f
And during the ages that have pass
ed since its first appearance on that
memorable dewy morning IN the viii
derness Of sin men have declared again
and again that they twist not what it
was" that thus red the Israelites in z
their need, though numberless conjec
lures have been made and discussions
held on the matter. 8 :iS=.s ID s
The chief opinion which had sway
.5r a long time was that mamma was
the sap of&the tamarisk, but now au-5
thorities, seeing in the light of widen
ing scientific knowledge, declare that.
mamma was without doubt "a certain
lfchen (Lecanora esculenta). ,:S # *,ss.
u This is borne out by the fact that
well authenticated rains Of mama, abb
soiutely believed by the inhabitants to
be showers from heaven. have been re-
ported at least six times during the
past century by reliable travellers in
the east, and the descriptions of the
deposit given in precise present day
language leave no doubt upon the point
I. If a piece of mama be examined
under the microscope, its peculiar COM
pound structure can be clearly seen.
THERE'S delicate network of interIac-
ing fungal threads glistening in the
light, while inclosed in their meshes
are a number of round, bright green
cells, each q tiny algal plant. /. Thus
fungus and alga live together in most
intimate connection. %., - s'Nr=% =
1t may be asked how fresh mama
lichens arise, seeing that it is difficult
to imagine frequent coincidant meet
ing of particular fungus and par
ticular green plant. But granted the
meeting has once taken place, the rapid
| reproduction is easy to understand,
AT certain times in tile year yellow
ish dust appears in little green cups
growing on the surface of the plant,
and each of the grains of dust is a
minute bundle containing few of the
white filaments and few Of the green
cells wrapped up together, SO that
wherever this dust may fall each grain
can become new mama lichen.
There is, moreover, a second method
Of reproduction in which the fungus
alone takes part and sends out tiny off
spring to take their chance in the wide
world Of finding a suitable host, as their
parent has done, but the details are
complicated and at present involved ID
some obscurity. ., 49, " .
Thus, then, Lrranora escuIenta -.
mama in its very nature one of the
most remarkable phenomena in the
vegetable world. It is found over great
tracts of southwest Asia, near Constan-
tinople. in the Crimea, the deserts Of
Arabia, in the Sahara and the deserts
Of Algeria. .u.
i It is easy to pass it by unnoticed, for
it is grayish yellow in color and grows
on gray limestone rocks and fragments
of rock in the form of q wrinkled crust
which seems to the casual observer
part of the very rock itself, and needs
care to distinguish it.
Cut through, Il is white like corn
within, dry and puwdery. 1t Is. more
over, extremely light in weight. 1t is
obvious that there is not much nourish.
ment to be obtained from the bare face
of the limestone rock, hence all the sus
tenance of the two plants must be OBJ
tanned, from the atmosphere and the
rain by the little green plant, which
must thus work sdoubly hard to be able
to pass on sufficient food for its part
ner's living in addition to providing its
own. P7S $$ss3s5% 7 III 81 VT 4 3 %s5 + =
By degrees, as 1t grows older, it be-
comes loosened or even detached from
the rocks, and then, when the sudden
WhirlWinds and violent storms which
affect many OF these regions blow, the
featherWeight pieces Of lichen crust are !;
torn up and blown into the air at the
mercy Of the wind and carried, it may
be, for immense distances. #z :3ssF 3igF
The rains, too, that descend with
such sudden vehemence sweep 1t away
into wafer channels, where 1t is borne
along on the stream and deposited in
.hollows and left there in heaps when
the water subsidies.
8 At times, too. a waterspout will
gather It up, carry II along and ultis3
mately deposit 1t In a place where hith-S
serto 1t had been practically unknoWn.-
Sunday Magazine.
Icelerga.
sSs The captain OF an ocean steamer Isl
often warned OF the proximity Of Ice
sbergs by the men In the engine room.
When a ship enters water considerably
colder than that through which It has
been going It's propeller runs faster,
and as such water surrounds the vis:
.ciDity of icebergs for many miles the !
engineers know when the propeller's
action IS greatly accelerated without