Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/126

 118 MANX A ume of lectures on education, and his volumi- nous controversial writings, he published "A Few Thoughts for a Young Man" (B.oston, ^lavery: Letters and Speeches " (1851); "Lectures on Intemperance " (1852) ; and "Powers and Duties of Woman" (1853). See " Life of Horace Mann," by his wife, Mary Peabody Mann {Boston, 1865) ; his " Life and Works" (2 vols., Cambridge, 1867); and " Thoughts selected from his Writings " (1869). His lectures on education were trans- lated into French by Eugene de Guer, under the title De T importance de V education dans une repuUique, with a preface and biographi- cal sketch by Laboulaye (Paris, 1873). MANNA, the concrete juice of several species otfraxinu*, or ash. Several of the ashes have flowers producing distinct petals, a character which some botanists consider a sufficient rea- son for placing them in a distinct genus, or- nus, the flowering ashes. (See ASH.) The principal manna-bearing species are F. ornus and F. rotundifolia, natives of southern Eu- rope and Asia Minor. The juice spontane- The Manna Ash (Fraxtnus ornus). ously exudes in the summer months, from the punctures of an insect, cicada omi, but is in- creased by transverse incisions made for the purpose in the bark. The finer kind, known as flake manna, is from incisions in the upper part of tin- stem ; it dries upon the tree in long flakes, which when removed have the under surface conformed to the trunk of the tree and the upper of irregular and somewhat stalactitic appearance. The coarser kinds are obtained ill-sir the roots of the tree, where the juice is (1 in joints of the prickly pear (opuntid), or upon straw placed to receive it. It is an articl.- of import for the sake of its medicinal 1 11 all ties, and is obtained chiefly from Sicily ilabria. The best is of a whitish or IL'ht yellow color in flakes and tears, while the sorts are darker colored from the im- with which they are mixed. It pos- MANNHEIM sesses a sweet, somewhat nauseous taste, and is soluble in water or in alcohol. From its boil- in<* saturated solution it separates on cooling in crystalline form. It consists of a crystallizable sweet principle called mannite, which some- times amounts to 75 per cent. ; of true sugar ; and of a yellow nauseous matter, which it is supposed gives to the manna its purgative property. For the sake of this it is used in medicine, and is commonly prescribed with other purgatives, as senna, rhubarb, magnesia, &c., the taste of which it conceals, while it increases their effect. When given alone, the dose for an adult is one or two ounces. Vari- ous other saccharine exudations of plants are called manna; the manna of Briangon, which appears upon the twigs of the European larch (larix Europcea), is formed during the night, and soon disappears after the sun falls upon it. Another substance called manna is obtained by the Bedouin Arabs from the tamarix mannife- ra. After collecting it from among the twigs and leaves, they boil it, then strain it through cloth, and put it away in leathern bags to be eaten like honey with bread, as a delicate arti- cle of food. Dr. Robinson, in his "Biblical Researches in Palestine," mentions its being collected in small quantities by the Arabs of Mt. Sinai, and sold at very high prices to the Russians. According to Berthelot, the tama- risk manna from Sinai contains 55 per cent, of cane sugar, 25 of inverted sugar, and 20 of dextrine, &c. Manna from Kurdistan contains 61 per cent, of cane sugar, 16*5 of inverted sugar, and 22 '5 of dextrine. The Sinai manna is soluble in water or alcohol, and the aqueous solution readily undergoes fermentation, yield- ing an alcohol possessing a butyric acid odor. Though the name is probably derived from the Syriac mano, a gift, which was applied to the Scriptural manna, it cannot be proved that there is any relationship between the natural products designated by this name and the sub- stance mentioned in Scripture (Heb. man) as miraculously supplied to the Israelites. MANNERS, John. See GRANBY. MANNHEIM, or Manheim, a town of the grand duchy of Baden, capital of the circle of the Lower Rhine, situated on the right bank of the Rhine, at the confluence of the Neckar with that river, 43 m. S. S. W. of Frankfort ; pop. in 1871, 39,614. It is connected by steamers with Cologne and other places on the Rhine, and by railway with the principal towns of Europe. Goethe has appropriately called it " the pleasant, cleanly Mannheim." The regu- larity of the buildings, however, gives it a somewhat monotonous appearance. It con- sists of 11 straight streets, crossed by 10 other streets at right angles, forming '110 regular squares. It is divided into two parts by the great street leading from the palace to the suspension bridge over the Neckar. The prin- cipal public squares are the Plankenplatz and the Schillerplatz, where Schiller resided in the house called zum Karlsberg, and which is