y of the Jews" has
a note to the following effect: "The author, by the kindness of a
traveller, recently returned from Egypt, has received a small quantity of
manna; it was, however, though still palatable, in a liquid state, from
the heat of the sun. He has obtained the additional curious fact, that
manna, if not boiled or baked, will not keep more than a day, but becomes
putrid and breeds maggots. It is described as a small round substance, and
is brought in by the Arabs in small quantities mixed with sand." It would
appear from these very interesting facts, that this exudation, which
transpires from the thorns or leaves of the tamarix, is altogether
different from the manna of the manna-ash. We cannot doubt, from the
entire coincidence in every respect, that the manna found in the
wilderness of Sinai by the Arabs now, is _identical_ with that of the
Scriptures. That the minute particulars recorded should be every whit
verified by modern research and discovery, is worthy of great attention.
As Moses directed Aaron to "take a pot and put an omer full of manna
therein, and lay it up before the LORD, (in the ark,) to be kept for the
generations of Israel," as a memorial; so the remarkable phenomenon
remains in evidence of the truth of the narrative. The _miracle_, however,
remains precisely as it was. There is sufficient to appeal to, as an
existing and perpetual memorial to all generations. The MIRACLE, from
which there can be no appeal, and which allows of no equivocation,
consisted in its ample abundance, in its continued supply, and its
complete intermission on the sacred day of rest. Nutritious substances
have fallen from the atmosphere in some countries; such, for example, was
that which fell a few years ago in Persia, and was examined by Thenard. It
proved to be a nutritious substance referable to a vegetable origin. We
have before us, at the moment of writing these pages, a small work,
printed at Naples in 1793, the author of which is Gaetano Maria La Pira;
it is entitled, "Memoria sulla pioggia della Manna," &c.: and describes a
shower of manna which fell in Sicily, in the month of September, 1792. The
author, a professor of chemistry, at Naples, gives an interesting account
of the circumstances under which it was found, together with a variety of
interesting particulars, some of which we shall select, and we do so to
prove that a similar substance may have an _aerial_ origin, though carried
up in the first instan