[Frontis]

[Pg ii]

[Pg iii]

[Pg v]

History, until a recent period, was mainly a record of gigantic crimes and their consequent miseries. The dazzling glow of its narrations lighted never the path of the peaceful Husbandman, as his noiseless, incessant exertions transformed the howling wilderness into a blooming and fruitful garden, but gleamed and danced on the armor of the Warrior as he rode forth to devastate and destroy. One year of his labors sufficed to undo what the former had patiently achieved through centuries; and the campaign was duly chronicled while the labors it blighted were left to oblivion. The written annals of a nation trace vividly the course of its corruption and downfall, but are silent or meagre with regard to the ultimate causes of its growth and eminence. The long periods of peace and prosperity in which the Useful Arts were elaborated or perfected are passed over with the bare remark that they afford little of interest to the reader, when in fact their true history, could it now be written, would prove of the deepest and most substantial value. The world might well afford to lose all record of a hundred ancient battles or sieges if it could thereby regain the knowledge of one lost art, and even the Pyramids bequeathed to us by Egypt in her glory would be well exchanged for a few of her humble workshops and manufactories, as they stood in the days of the Pharaohs. Of the true history of mankind only a few chapters have yet been written, and now, when the deficiencies of that we have are beginning to be realized, we find that the materials for supplying them have in good part perished in the lapse of time, or been trampled recklessly beneath the hoof of the war-horse.

In the following pages, an effort has been made to restore a portion of this history, so far as the meagre and careless traces [Pg vi] scattered through the Literature of Antiquity will allow.—Of the many beneficent achievements of inventive genius, those which more immediately minister to the personal convenience and comfort of mankind seem to assert a natural pre-eminence. Among the first under this head may be classed the invention of Weaving, with its collateral branches of Spinning, Netting, Sewing, Felting, and Dyeing. An account of the origin and progress of this family of domestic arts can hardly fail to interest the intelligent reader, while it would seem to have a special claim on the attention of those engaged in the prosecution or improvement of these arts. This work is intended to subserve the ends here indicated. In the present age, when the resources of Science and of Intellect have so largely pressed into the service of Mechanical Invention, especially with reference to the production of fabrics from fibrous substances, it is somewhat remarkable that no methodical treatise on this topic has been offered to the public, and that the topic itself seems to have almost eluded the investigations of the learned. With the exception of Mr. Yates’s erudite production, “Textrinum Antiquorum,” we possess no competent work on the subject; and valuable as is this production for its authority and profound research, it is yet, for various reasons, of comparative inutility to the general reader.

That a topic of such interest deserved elucidation will not be denied when it is remembered that, apart from the question of the direct influence these important arts have ever exerted upon the civilization and social condition of communities, in various ages of the world, there are other and scarcely inferior considerations to the student, involved in their bearing upon the true understanding of history, sacred and profane. To supply, therefore, an important desideratum in classical archæology, by thus seeking the better to illustrate the true social state of the ancients, thereby affording a commentary on their commerce and progress in domestic arts, is one of the leading objects contemplated by the present work. In addition to this, our better acquaintance with the actual condition of these arts in early times will tend, in many instances, to confirm the historic accuracy and elucidate the idiom of many portions of Holy Writ.

[Pg vii]

How many of the grandest discoveries in the scientific world owe their existence to accident! and how many more of the boasted creations of human skill have proved to be but restorations of lost or forgotten arts! How much also is still being revealed to us by the monumental records of the old world, whose occult glyphs, till recently, defied the most persevering efforts of the learned for their solution!

To be told that the Egyptians, four thousand years ago, were cunning artificers in many of the pursuits which constitute lucrative branches of our modern industry, might surprise some readers: yet we learn from undoubted authorities that such they were. They also were acquainted with the fabrication of crapes, transparent tissues, cotton, silk, and paper, as well as the art of preparing colors which still continue to defy the corrosions of defacing time.

If the spider may be regarded as the earliest practical weaver upon record—the generic name Textoriæ, supplying the root from which is clearly derived the English terms, texture and textile, as applied to woven fabrics, of whatever materials they may be composed—the wasp may claim the honor of having been the first paper-manufacturer, for he presents us with a most undoubted specimen of clear white pasteboard, of so smooth a surface as to admit of being written upon with ease and legibility. Would the superlative wisdom of man but deign, with microscopic gaze, to study the ingenious movements of the insect tribe more minutely, it would not be easy to estimate how much might thereby be achieved for human science, philosophy, and even morals!

For those who love to add to their fund of general knowledge, especially in the department of natural history, the author trusts that much valuable and interesting information will be found comprised in those pages of this work which delineate the habits of the Silk-Worm, the Sheep, the Goat, the Camel, the Beaver, &c.; while another department, being devoted to the history of the Pastoral Life of the Ancients, will naturally enlist the sympathies of such as take a deeper interest in the records of ages and nations long since passed away. From a mass of heterogeneous, though highly valuable materials, it has [Pg viii] been the design of the author to select, arrange, and conserve all that was apposite to his subject and of intrinsic value. Thus has he endeavored to render the piles of antiquity, to adopt the words of a recent writer, well compacted—a process which has been begun in our times, and with such eminent success that even the men of the present age may live to see many of the thousand and one folios of the ancients handed over without a sigh to the trunk-maker.

The ample domains of Learning are fast being submitted to fresh irrigation and renewed culture,—the exclusiveness of the cloister has given place to an unrestricted distribution of the intellectual wealth of all times. What civilization has accomplished in the physical is also being achieved in the mental world. The sterile and inaccessible wilderness is transformed into the well-tilled garden, abounding in luxurious fruits and fragrant flowers. It is the golden age of knowledge—its Paradise Regained. The ponderous works of the olden time have been displaced by the condensing process of modern literature; yielding us their spirit and essence, without the heavy, obscuring folds of their former verbal drapery. We want real and substantial knowledge; but we are a labor-saving and a time-economizing people,—it must therefore be obtained by the most compendious processes. Except those with whom learning is the business of life, we are too generally ignorant of the mighty mysteries which Nature has heaped around our path; ignorant, too, of many of the discoveries of science and philosophy, in ancient as well as modern times. To meet the exigencies of our day, a judgment in the selection and condensation of works designed for popular use is demanded—a facility like that of the alchymist, extracting from the crude ores of antiquity the fine gold of true knowledge.

The plan of this work naturally divides itself into four departments. The first division is devoted to the consideration of Silk, its early history and cultivation in China and various other parts of the world; illustrated by copious citations from ancient writers: From among whom to instance Homer, we learn that embroidery and tapestry were prominent arts with the Thebans, that poet deriving many of his pictures of domestic [Pg ix] life from the paintings which have been found to ornament their palaces. Thus it is evident that some of the proudest attainments of art in our own day date their origin from a period coeval at least with the Iliad. Again we find that the use of the distaff and spindle, referred to in the Sacred Scriptures, was almost as well understood in Egypt as it now is in India; while the factory system, so far from being a modern invention, was in full operation, and conducted under patrician influence, some three thousand years ago. The Arabians also, even so far back as five centuries subsequent to the deluge, were, it is stated on credible authority, skilled in fabricating silken textures; while, at a period scarcely less remote, we possess irrefragable testimony in favor of their knowledge of paper made from cotton rags. The inhabitants of Phœnicia and Tyre were, it appears, the first acquainted with the process of dyeing: the Tyrian purple, so often noticed by writers, being of so gorgeous a hue as to baffle description. The Persians were also prodigal in their indulgence in vestments of gold, embroidery and silk: the memorable army of Darius affording an instance of sumptuous magnificence in this respect. An example might also be given of the extravagance of the Romans in the third century, in the fact of a pound of silk being estimated literally by its weight in gold. The nuptial robes of Maria, wife of Honorius, which were discovered in her coffin at Rome in 1544, on being burnt, yielded 36 pounds of pure gold! In the work here presented, much interesting as well as valuable information is given under this section, respecting the cultivation and manufacture of Silk in China, Greece and other countries.

The second division of the work, comprising the history of the Sheep, Goat, Camel, and Beaver, it is hoped will also be found curious and valuable. The ancient history of the Cotton manufacture follows—a topic that has enlisted the pens of many writers, though their essays, with two or three exceptions, merit little notice. The subsequent pages embody many new and important facts, connected with its early history and progress, derived from sources inaccessible to the general reader. The fourth and last division, embracing the history of the Linen manufacture, includes notices of Hemp, Flax, Asbestos, &c. [Pg x] This department again affords a fruitful theme for the curious, and one that will be deemed, perhaps, not the least attractive of the volume. Completing the design of the work, will be found the Appendices, comprising rare and valuable extracts, derived from unquestionable authorities.

Of the Ten Illustrations herewith presented, five are entirely original. It is hoped that these, at least, will be deemed worthy the attention of the scholar as well as of the general reader, and that their value will not be limited by their utility as elucidations of the text. Among these, especial notice is requested to the engraving of the Chinese Loom, a reduced fac-simile, copied by permission from a magnificent Chinese production, recently obtained from the Celestial Empire, and now in the possession of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions in this city. Another, equally worthy of notice, represents an Egyptian weaving factory, with the processes of Spinning and Winding; also a reduced fac-simile, copied from Champollion’s great work on Egypt. The Spider, magnified with his web, and the Indian Loom, it is presumed, will not fail to attract attention.

Throughout the entire work, the most diligent care has been used in the collation of the numerous authorities cited, as well as a rigid regard paid to their veracity. As a work so elaborate in its character would necessarily have to depend, to a considerable extent, for its facts and illustrations, upon the labors of previous writers, the author deems no apology necessary in thus publicly and gratefully avowing his indebtedness to the several authors cited in order at the foot of his pages; but he would especially mention the eminent name of Mr. Yates, to the fruits of whose labors the present production owes much of its novelty, attractiveness, and intrinsic value.

    New York, Oct. 1st, 1845.

[Pg xi]

[Pg xix]

[Pg xxi]

[Pg xxiii]

[Pg 1]

Whether silk is ever mentioned in the Old Testament cannot perhaps be determined.

In Ezek. xvi. 10 and 13, “silk” is used in the common English bible for משי, which occurs no where except here, but which, as appears from the context, certainly meant some [Pg 2] valuable article of female dress. Le Clerc and Rosenmüller translate it “serico;” Cocceius, Schindler, Buxtorf, in their Lexicons, and Dr. John Taylor in his Concordance, give the same interpretation. Augusti and De Wette in their German translation make it signify “a silken veil.” Others give different interpretations. The only ground, on which silk of any kind is supposed to be meant, is that in the Alexandrine or Septuagint version משי is translated τρίχαπτον, and τρίχαπτον is explained by Hesychius to mean “the silken web fitted to be placed over the hair of the head” (τὸ βομβύκινον ὕφασμα ὑπὲρ τῶν τριχῶν τῆς κεφαλῆς ἁπτόμενον), and that other ancient Greek lexicographers also suppose a silken garment to be meant.[1] But the meaning of τρίχαπτον is in reality as obscure as that of משי. Jerome could not discover it, and concluded that the word was invented by the Greek translator. It is now extant no where else except in a passage of the comic Pherecrates preserved in Athenæus. Schneider, followed by Passow, supposes it to mean some garment made of hair, and quotes to this effect the explanation of Pollux (2. 24.), πλέγμα ἐκ τριχῶν. Although, therefore, the term in question may possibly have denoted some elegant and costly ornament for the head, made at least partly of silk, yet this opinion appears to rest altogether upon the assumption, first, that the ancient lexicographers are accurate in their use of the epithet βομβύκινον, and secondly, that the Alexandrine version is accurate in adopting the word τρίχαπτον.

In Isaiah xix. 9, according to King James’s Translators and Bishop Lowth, mention is made of those “that work in fine flax,” in the original עבדי פשתים שריקות. Rosenmüller adopts nearly the same interpretation, which is founded upon the use of the verb שרק or סרק in the Chaldee and Syriac dialects to denote the operation of combing flax, wool, hair, and other substances. In this sense the word has been taken by the author of the Alexandrine Version, τοὺς ἐργαζομένους τὸ λίνον τὸ σχιστὸν; by Symmachus, who instead of σχιστὸν uses κτενιστὸν; and by Jerome, “qui operabantur linum pectentes.”

[Pg 3]

In the Targum of Jonathan and in the Syriac Version the same root is taken to denote silk; רסריקין פלחי כתנא Targ. ܥܒܕܝ ܟܬܢܐ ܕܣܪܩܝܢ Syr. Both of these seem to admit of the following literal translation, “those who make silken tunics,” or in Latin, “Factores tunicarum e sericis.”

Kimchi supposes שריקות to mean silk webs, observing that silk is called אל שרק by the Arabs. The same opinion has been adopted by Nicholas Fuller[2], Buxtorf, and other modern critics. Kennicott, however, arranges the words in two lines as follows,

According to this arrangement, which seems most suitable to the rules of grammatical construction, we have three co-ordinate phrases in the plural number, denoting three different classes of artificers. The second, שריקות, would by its termination denote female artificers, viz. women employed in combing wool, flax, or other substances. On the whole we are inclined to adopt this explanation of the word, as it appears to be attended with the least difficulty, either grammatical or etymological.

Silk is mentioned Prov. xxxi. 22. in King James’s Translation, i. e. the common English version, and in the margin of Gen. xli. 42. But the use of the word is quite unauthorized.

After a full examination of the whole question Braunius[3] decides that there is no mention of silk in the whole of the Old Testament, and that it was unknown to the Hebrews in ancient times.

“There can be no doubt,” says Professor Hurwitz, “that manufactures and the arts must have attained a high degree of perfection at the time when Moses wrote; and that many of them were known long before that period, we have the evidence of Scripture. It is true that inventions were at first [Pg 4] few, and their progress very slow, but they were suited to the then condition and circumstances of man, as is evident even in the art of clothing. Placed in the salubrious and mild air of paradise, our first parents could hardly want any other covering than what decency required. Accordingly we find that the first and only article of dress was the חגורה chagora, the belt, (not aprons, as in the established version). The materials of which it was made were fig leaves; (Gen. iii. 7.) the same tree that afforded them food and shelter, furnished them likewise with materials for covering their bodies. But when in consequence of their transgressions they were to be ejected from their blissful abode, and forced to dwell in less favourable regions, a more substantial covering became necessary, their merciful Creator made them (i. e. inspired them with the thoughts of making for themselves) כתנות עור coats of skins. (Gen. iii. 21.) The original word is כתנת c’thoneth, whence the Greek χιτὼν the tunic, a close garment that was usually worn next the skin, it reached to the knees, and had sleeves (in after times it was made either of wool or linen.) After man had subdued the sheep (Hebrew כבשׂ caves from כגש to subdue[4]) and learned how to make use of its wool, we find a new article of dress, namely the שמלה simla, an upper garment: it consisted of a piece of cloth about six yards long and two or three wide, in shape not unlike our blankets. This will explain Gen. ix. 23, ‘And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father.’ It served as a dress by day, as a bed by night, (Exod. xxii. 26,) [Pg 5] ‘If thou at all take thy neighbour’s raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down; for that is his covering only; it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep?’ And sometimes burdens were carried in it, (Exod. xii. 34,) ‘And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.’

“In the course of time various other garments came into use, as mentioned in several other parts of Scripture. The materials of which these garments were usually made are specified in Leviticus xiii. 47-59, ‘The garment also that the plague of the leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen garment or a linen garment, whether it be in the warp or woof, of linen or of woollen; whether in a skin, or in anything made of skin, &c.’”

In our search for the distant origin of any art or science, or in looking through the long vista of ages remote even to nations extinct before our own, we are favored with satisfactory evidence so long as we are accompanied with authentic records: beyond, all is dark, obscure, tradition, fable. On such ground it would be credulous or rash in the extreme to repeat as our own, an affirmation, when that rests on the single testimony of one party or interest, especially when that is of a very questionable character. It is even safer, when history or well authenticated records fail us, to appeal to philosophy, or to the well known laws of mind, from which all arts and science spring. The former favors us with the commanding evidence of certainty and decision; and though the latter may only afford the testimony of analogy, yet, is its probability more safe, at least, than what rests on misguided calculations or on the legendary tales of artifice and fiction.

We have, however, authentic testimony that the inventive faculty existed at a very early period. The peculiar condition of man at that time must have afforded many imperative occasions for its exertion. Hence we read that “Jabal was the father of such as dwell in tents” (i. e. inventor of tent-making); that “Jubal, his brother, was the father” (inventor) of musical instruments: such as the kinnor, harp, or stringed instruments, [Pg 6] and the ugab, organ, or wind instruments; that “Tubal-cain was the instructor of every artificer in brass and iron, the first smith on record, or one to teach how to make instruments and utensils out of brass and iron; and that the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah, whom the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel affirms to have been the inventrix of plaintive or elegiac poetry[5]. Here is then an account of the inventive faculty being in exercise 3504 years before the Christian era; or 1156 years prior to the deluge; or 804 years before the earliest period assigned to the Chinese for the discovery of silk. And of whatever arts or sciences existing amongst men prior to the deluge, there is no difficulty in conceiving the possibility of the transmission of the leading and most essential parts, at least, to the post-diluvians, by the family of Noah.

But instead of giving our unqualified assent to what has been servilely copied from book to book from the most accessible account, we shall advert to the great discrepancy relative to Chinese chronology, amongst those who have had equal access to their records. Thus the time of Fohi, the first emperor, has been said to be 2951 B. C., by some 2198 B. C., and by others 2057, or about 300 years after the deluge: of Hoang-ti, 2700 B. C., by Mailla it is quoted at 2602 B. C., by Le Sage at 2597 B. C., and by Robinson and others at 1703 B. C. Similar disagreements might, would our limits allow, be observed concerning the rest, and particularly of the emperors, Hiao-wenti, Chim-ti, Ming-ti, Youen-ti, Wenti, Wou-ti, and Hiao-wou-ti. Even in more modern times, and relative to a character so notorious as Confucius, no less than three dates are [Pg 7] equally affirmed to be true. As to Hoang-ti, who is said to have begun the culture of silk, we are inclined to prefer the latter account, 1703 B. C., which makes him contemporary with Joseph, when prime minister over the land of Egypt.

As a confirmation of this, it may be stated, that by referring to the account given of nine[6] of the patriarchs at this period, we shall find that the average age of human life, before much greater, soon after rapidly declined. Now the average duration of the reigns of the first three[7] Chinese emperors, including Hoang-ti, was 118 years; of the five that immediately succeeded, only 68 years. After this, until the Christian era, the average duration of a single reign did not exceed 23 years, and thence until the present time not 13 years. Since, therefore, the average duration of the reign of the first three emperors bears an evident and fit proportion to that of the age of man at the period specified, though not at any other before or after, being in the former case as much too small as it would in the latter be too great, the opinion now offered is the only one that can be consistent with these striking facts; and, if duly considered, presents an argument strongly corroborating this view of the subject.

To attempt to establish any greater certainty, in a case of this nature, the Chinese during the dynasty of Tschin, having, to conceal the truth, destroyed everything authentic, would be in vain. It would be even more rational to have recourse to the Vedas, or sacred books of the Brahmins, or to records in the Sanscrit, were it not a well known fact, that nearly all ancient nations, except the Jews, actuated by the same ambition, have betrayed a wish to have their origin traced as far back as the creation. And in the gratification of this passion none are so notoriously pre-eminent as the Egyptians, Hindoos, and Chinese.[8] For them the limits of the creation itself have been too narrow, and days, weeks, and even months too short, unless multiplied into years.[9]

[Pg 8] The chronology relative to the early culture of silk, as found in Chinese documents, for several irrefragable objections already assigned, is exceedingly questionable, and therefore we are by no means pledged to affirm that either in the authenticity of the books, or in the correctness of the dates have we any faith. M. Lavoisnè dates the commencement of the Chinese dynasties at A. M.[10] 1816, or 159 years after the deluge. The Rev. J. Robinson of Christ Col., Cam., at A. M. 1947. We have already given as strong reasons, as under the extreme incertitude of the case, can, perhaps, be offered, for preferring the latter; the important points may be briefly stated, thus:

Hoang-ti was therefore contemporary with Joseph when administering the affairs of Egypt.[12] But would we know what account the Chinese themselves give relative to the earliest introduction of the silk culture, we shall find it in the French version of the Chinese Treatises, by M. Stanislas Julien, or in the following words of pages 77 and 78, as translated and published in 1838, at Washington, under the title of “Summary of the principal Chinese Treatises upon the Culture of the Mulberry, and the rearing of Silk-worms.”

[Pg 9] In the book on silk-worms, we read: “The lawful wife of the emperor Hoang-ti, named Si-ling-chi, began the culture of silk. It was at that time that the emperor Hoang-ti invented the art of making garments(!).” The same fact is mentioned more in detail in the general history of China, by P. Maillà, in the year 2602, before our era (4447 years ago).

“This great prince (Hoang-ti) was desirous that Si-ling-chi, his legitimate wife, should contribute to the happiness of his people. He charged her to examine the silk-worms, and to test the practicability of using the thread. Si-ling-chi had a large quantity of these insects collected, which she fed herself, in a place prepared for that purpose, and discovered not only the means of raising them, but also the manner of reeling the silk, and of employing it to make garments.”

“It is through gratitude for so great a benefit,” says the history, entitled Wai-ki, “that posterity has deified Si-ling-chi, and rendered her particular honors under the name of the goddess of silk-worms.” (Memoirs on the Chinese, vol. 13, p. 240.)

We have seen that the most probable account relative to the time of Fohi, said to have been the first Chinese emperor, is that he reigned 2057 years before the Christian era, or in the year of the world 1947. “According to the most current opinion,” says M. Lavoisnè, “China was founded by one of the colonies formed at the dispersion of Noah’s posterity under the conduct of Yao, who took for his colleague Chun, afterwards his successor. But most writers consider Fohi to have been Noah himself(!).”

Now the deluge terminated A. M. 1657, and Noah lived after the deluge 350 years[13], and therefore died A. M. 2007; and as Fohi is said to have reigned 114 years, before Eohi Chun or Chinun succeeded him, he was contemporary, at least, with Noah. The ark rested on Mount Ararat, which is generally allowed to be one of the mountains of Armenia, to the east of the head of the Tigris. And here the same author remarks, that “in rather less than a century and a half, after [Pg 10] the birth of Peleg, it is supposed that Noah, being then about his 840th year, wearied with the growing depravity of his descendants, retired with a select company to a remote corner of Asia, and there began what in after ages has been termed the Chinese monarchy.”[14] This view of the subject, we believe, coincides perfectly with the reputable testimonies presented by Mairan, Bailly, Guignes, and Sir William Jones, and demonstrates that the transit of more central aborigines, since the deluge, to the extremes of China, was perfectly feasible,[15] and a matter of even high probability.

The first ancient author, who affords any evidence respecting the use of silk, is Aristotle. He does not, however, appear to have been accurately acquainted with the changes of the silk-worm; nor does he say, that the animal was bred or the raw material produced in Cos. He only says, “Pamphile, daughter of Plates, is reported to have first woven it in Cos.” (See Chapters ii. iii. and iv. of this Part.)

Long before the time of Aristotle a regular trade had been established in the interior of Asia, which brought its most valuable productions, and especially those which were most easily transported, to the shores opposite this flourishing island. Nothing therefore is more likely than that the raw silk from the interior of Asia was brought to Cos and there manufactured. We shall see hereafter from the testimony of Procopius, that it was in like manner brought some centuries later to be woven in the Phœnician cities, Tyre and Berytus.

The arts of spinning and weaving, which rank next in importance to agriculture, having been found among almost all the nations of the old and new continents, even among those little removed from barbarism, are reasonably supposed to[Pg 11] have been invented at a very remote period of the world’s history[16]. They evidently existed in Egypt in the time of Joseph (1700 years before the Christian era), as it is recorded that Pharaoh “arrayed him in vestures of fine linen.” (Genesis xli. 42.) Two centuries later, the Hebrews carried with them on their departure from that ancient seat of civilization, the arts of spinning, dyeing, weaving, and embroidery; for when Moses constructed the tabernacle in the wilderness, “the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen.” (Exod. xxxv. 25.) They also “spun goats’ hair;” and Bezaleel and Aholiab “worked all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and of purple, and in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver.” These passages contain the earliest mention of woven clothing, which was linen, the national manufacture of Egypt. The prolific borders of the Nile furnished from the remotest periods, as at the present time, abundance of the finest flax[17]; and it appears, from the testimony both of sacred and profane history, that linen continued to be almost the only kind of clothing used in Egypt till after the Christian era[18]. The Egyptians exported their “linen yarn,” and “fine linen,” to the kingdom of Israel, in the days of Solomon, (2 Chron. i. 16; Prov. vii. 16;) their “fine linen with broidered work,” to Tyre, (Ezek. xxvii. 7.)

The women of Sidon before the Trojan war, were especially celebrated for the skill in embroidery: and Homer, who lived 900 years B. C., mentions Helen as being engaged in embroidering the combats of the Greeks and Trojans.

[Pg 12] The transition from vegetable fibre to the use of animal staples, such as wool and hair, could not have been very difficult; indeed, as already stated, it took place at a period of which we possess no very authentic written record.

The instrument used for spinning in all countries, from the earliest times, was the distaff and spindle. This simple apparatus was put by the Greek mythologists into the hands of Minerva and the Parcæ; Solomon employs upon it the industry of the virtuous woman; to the present day the distaff is used in India, Egypt, and other eastern countries.

The ancient spindle or distaff was a very simple instrument. The late Lady Calcott informs us, that it continued even to our own days to be used by the Hindoos in all its primitive simplicity. “I have seen,” she says, “the rock or distaff formed simply of the leading shoot of some young tree, carefully peeled, it might be birch or elder, and, further north, of fir or pine; and the spindle formed of the beautiful shrub Euonymus, or spindle-tree.”[19]

Spinning among the Egyptians, as among our ancestors of no very distant age, was a domestic occupation in which ladies of rank did not hesitate to engage. The term “spinster” is yet applied to unmarried ladies of every rank, and there are persons yet alive who remember to have seen the spinning wheel an ordinary piece of furniture in domestic economy.

[Pg 13]

We are told that “Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt and linen yarn; the king’s merchants received the linen yarn at a price.” (1 Kings, x. 28.) And the linen of Egypt was highly valued in Palestine, for the seducer, in Proverbs, says, “I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.” (Prov. vii. 16.) The prophet Ezekiel also declares that the export of the textile fabrics was an important branch of Phœnician commerce; for in his enumeration of the articles of traffic in Tyre, he says: “Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elisha was that which covered thee.” (Ezek. xxvii. 7.)

It deserves to be remarked that the prophet here joins Egypt with the isles of Elisha or Elis, that is, the districts of western Greece, and thus confirms the ancient tradition recorded by Herodotus of some Egyptian colonists having settled in that country, which the sceptics of the German school of history have thought proper to deny.[20] Spinning was wholly a female employment; it is rather singular that we find this work frequently performed by a large number collected together, as if the factory system had been established 3000 years ago.

We have, however, many specimens of spinning as a domestic employment. Indeed, attention to the spindle and distaff forms a leading feature in king Lemuel’s description of a virtuous woman. “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband[Pg 14] doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchant’s ships; she bringeth her food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. She considereth a field, and buyeth it; with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.” (Prov. xxxi. 10-24.)

Hamilton and Wilkinson have already shown that many of the descriptions of combats we meet in the Iliad appear to have been derived from the battle pieces on the walls of the Theban palaces, which the poet himself pretty plainly intimates that he had visited. The same observation may be applied to most of Homer’s pictures of domestic life. We find the lady of the mansion superintending the labors of her servants, and using the distaff herself. Her spindle made of some precious material, richly ornamented, her beautiful work-basket, or rather vase, and the wool dyed of some bright hue to render it worthy of being touched by aristocratic fingers, remind us of the appropriate present which the Egyptian queen, Alcandra, made to the Spartan Helen; for the beauty of that frail fair one scarcely is less celebrated than her skill in embroidery and every species of ornamental work. After Polybus had given his presents to Menelaus, who stopped at Egypt on his return from Troy,

In the hieroglyphics over persons employed with the spindle on the Egyptian monuments, it is remarkable that the word saht, which in Coptic signifies to twist, constantly occurs. The spindles were generally of wood, and in order to increase their impetus in turning, the circular head was occasionally of gypsum, or composition: some, however, were of a light plaited work, made of rushes, or palm leaves, stained of various colors, and furnished with a loop of the same materials, for securing the twine after it was wound[21]. Sir Gardner Wilkinson found one of these spindles at Thebes, with some of the linen thread upon it, and is now in the Berlin Museum.

Theocritus has given us a very striking proof of the pleasure which the women of Miletus took in these employments; for, when he went to visit his friend Nicias, the Milesian physician, to whom he had previously addressed his eleventh and thirteenth Idylls, he carried with him an ivory distaff as a present for Theugenis, his friend’s wife. He accompanied his gift with the following verses, which modestly commend the matron’s industry and virtue, and, at the same time, throw an interesting light on the domestic economy of the ladies of Miletus:

[Pg 16] The Roman and Grecian ladies displayed not less taste in the decoration of their various spinning implements, than those of modern times in the ornaments of their work-table. The calathus or qualus was the basket in which the wool was kept for the fair spinsters. It was usually made of wicker-work. Thus Catullus in his description of the nuptials of Peleus and Thetis, says:

[Pg 17] Homer asserts that the Egyptian queen Alcandra presented Helen with a silver work-basket as well as a golden distaff (Odyss. iv.); and from the paintings on ancient vases, we see that the calathi of ladies of rank were tastefully wrought and richly ornamented. From the term qualus or quasillus, equivalent to calathus, the Romans called the female slaves employed in spinning quasillariæ.

The material prepared for spinning was wrapped loosely round the distaff, the wool being previously combed, or the flax hackled by processes not very dissimilar to those used at the present day amongst the peasantry in the west of Ireland. The ball thus formed on the distaff required to be arranged with some neatness and skill, in order that the fibres should be sufficiently loose to be drawn out by the hand of the spinner. Ovid declares, that Arachne’s skill in this simple process excited the wonder of the nymphs who came to see her triumphs in the textile art, not less than the finished labors of the loom.

The distaff was generally about three feet in length, commonly a stick or reed, with an expansion near the top for holding the ball. It was sometimes, as we have shown, composed of richer materials. The distaff was usually held under the left arm, and the fibres were drawn out from the projecting ball, being, at the same time, spirally twisted by the forefinger and thumb of the right hand. The thread so produced was wound upon the spindle until the quantity was as great as it would carry.

The spindle was made of some light wood, or reed, and was [Pg 18] generally from eight to twelve inches in length. At the top of it was a slit, or catch, to which the thread was fixed, so that the weight of the spindle might carry the thread down to the ground as fast as it was finished. Its lower extremity was inserted into a whorl, or wheel, made of stone, metal, or some heavy material which both served to keep it steady and to promote its rotation. The spinner, who, as we have said before, was usually a female, every now and then gave the spindle a fresh gyration by a gentle touch so as to increase the twist of the thread. Whenever the spindle reached the ground a length was spun; the thread was then taken out of the slit, or clasp, and wound upon the spindle; the clasp was then closed again, and the spinning of a new thread commenced. All these circumstances are briefly mentioned by Catullus, in a poem from which we have already quoted:—

In order to understand this description of Catullus, it is necessary to bear in mind, that as the bobbin of each spindle was loaded with thread, it was taken off from the whorl and placed in a basket until there was a sufficient quantity for the weavers to commence their operations.

Homer incidentally mentions the spool or spindle on which the weft-yarn was wound, in his description of the race at the funeral-games in honor of Patroclus:

[Pg 19]

In India women of all castes prepare the cotton thread for the weaver, spinning it on a piece of wire, or a very thin rod of polished iron with a ball of clay at one end; this they turn round with the left hand, and supply the cotton with the right; the thread is then wound upon a stick or pole, and sold to the merchants or weavers; for the coarser thread the women make use of a wheel very similar to that of the Irish spinster, though upon a smaller construction. (For further information on the manufactures of India, their present state, &c., see Part III.)

The Reverend Mr. C. Forster of Great Britain, has lately published a very curious work on Arabia, being the result of many years’ untiring research in that part of the world; from which we learn the very interesting fact, that the ancient Arabians were skilled in the manufacture of silken textures, at as remote a period as within 500 years of the flood!

Mr. Forster has, it appears, succeeded in deciphering many very remarkable inscriptions found on some ancient monuments near Adon on the coast of Hadramant. These records, it is said, restore to the world its earliest written language, and carry us back to the time of Jacob, and within 500 years of the flood.

The inscriptions are in three parts. The longest is of ten lines, engraved on a smooth piece of rock forming one side of the terrace at Hisn Ghorab. Then there are three short lines, found on a small detached rock on the summit of the little hill. There are also two lines found near the inscriptions, lower down the terrace. They all relate to one transaction, an incident in Adite history. The tribe of Ad, according to Mr. Sale, were descended from Ad the son of Aws or Uz, the son of Aram, the son of Shem, the son of Noah. The event recorded is the rout and entire destruction of the sons of Ac, an Arab tribe, by the Aws or tribe of Ad, whom they invaded. In Mr. Forster’s book fac similes are given of the inscription; the Aditie and the Hamyaritie alphabet; and a glossary containing every word in them, its derivation, and its explanation; with notes of copious illustration upon every point which they involve. The first inscription of ten lines is thus translated:

[Pg 20]

On the subject of these inscriptions, Mr. Forster, in the dedication of his book to the Archbishop of Canterbury, thus remarks: “What Job (who, living in the opposite quarter of Arabia, amid the sands of the great Northern desert, had no lasting material within reach on which to perpetuate his thoughts,) so earnestly desired, stands here realized.” “Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were printed in a Book! That (like the kindred creed of the lost tribe of Ad) they were graven with an iron pen, and lead, in the rock forever. (For mine is a better and brighter revelation than theirs.) For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though, after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in the flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.”

[Pg 21] That the Arabians should have understood the manufacture of silken textures at as remote a period as that supposed by Mr. Forster, viz., 500 years after the flood, is, to say the least of it, exceedingly questionable, yet it cannot be denied that we are indebted to them for many useful inventions, and among which may be mentioned the art of making cotton paper[24]. It is no less true that we first received our cotton-wool from countries where the Arabic language was spoken.

To the Arabs also we are indebted for that almost indispensable article of apparel, the shirt, the Arabic name for which is camees, whence the Italian camiscia, and the French chemise[25].

In the attempt here made to trace from the dark ages of antiquity the progress of trades and manufactures so widely diffused over the civilised world as those of cotton, linen, silk, wool, &c., chronological order is followed as closely as the nature of the inquiry will permit.

[Pg 22]

The next Authors, who make mention of silk, are the Latin poets of the Augustan age, Tibullus and Propertius, Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. The Parthian war, and the increased intercourse between the Roman empire and the kingdoms of the East, had been the means of recently introducing every kind of silken goods into more general use, although these manufactures were still so rare as to be the objects of curiosity and admiration, and were therefore well adapted to be brought in among the embellishments of poetical imagery.

The appearance of the silken flags attached to the gilt standards of the Parthians (Florus iii. 11.) must have been a very striking sight for the army of Crassus, contributing both to inflame their cupidity and to alarm them with a sense of the [Pg 23] power of their opponents. The conflict here referred to took place in the year 54 B. C. In about 30 years after this date the Roman empire obtained its greatest extension. In the language of Petronius Arbiter (c. 119.),

After these words he says, that among the richest productions of distant climates the Seres sent their “new fleeces.” The remotest countries thus contributed to increase the luxury of Rome, and we shall now see how silk, one of the most costly and the most admired of its recent acquisitions, was used by its poets to represent the polish of elevated life and to adorn their language with rich and beautiful allusions. The webs, which they mention, are either those still obtained from Cos, or those imported from the country of the Seres.

The latter of these two passages is remarkable as showing that the Coan women practised the elegant art of interweaving gold thread in their silken webs. The gold was no doubt displayed in transverse stripes.

In the next passage Propertius is speaking of his own Poetry, and alludes to his frequent mention of Coan garments.

[Pg 24]

The same poet (L. iv. 8. 23.) mentions “Serica carpenta,” chariots with silk curtains; and the following line (L. i. 14. 22.) shows, that couches with ornamented silk covers were then in use:

Propertius also mentions silk under the name of the animal, which produced it:

In this line, as well as in some of those before quoted, he alludes to the use of silk by females of indifferent character. He probably uses the epithet Arabian, because the Roman merchants obtained silk from the Arabs, who received it from Persia.

The poet is here enumerating the chief productions of different countries, and therefore mentions cotton and silk. The idea, that silk webs were manufactured from thin fleeces obtained from trees, will be found recurring in many of the subsequent citations. It may have been founded on reports brought [Pg 25] by the soldiers of Crassus, or by others who visited the interior of Asia about the same period.

These passages allude to the fineness and transparency of silken webs, which in the time of Horace were worn at Rome only by prostitutes, or by those women who aimed at being as attractive and luxurious as possible in their attire.

The former passage shows, that the silks manufactured in Cos were dyed with the murex, “Coæ purpuræ.”

The expression “Sericos pulvillos” (Epod. 8. 15.) has been supposed to denote small cushions covered with silk. But the epithet “Sericos” implies nothing more than that they were obtained from the Seres, who supplied the Romans with skins as well as silk[26]; and leather seems to have been a more proper substance than silk for making cushions.

[Pg 26] In another passage (Amores i. 14. 5.) Ovid compares the thin hairs of a lady to the silken veils of the Seres,

We now proceed to the testimonies of authors who wrote either in Greek or Latin at the latter part of the Augustan age, or immediately after it.

It is worthy of observation that Dyonisius speaks expressly not only of the fineness of the thread, but of the flowered texture of the silk.

This is repeated by Eustathius on Dyonisius Periegetes[27]. The account seems to have been taken by Strabo, perhaps inaccurately, from Nearchus. It is doubtful, whether Σηρικὰ denoted silken webs in this passage. But whatever Strabo meant, he supposed the raw material to be scraped from the bark of trees[28].

As contemporary with the authors last quoted, Dyonisius and Strabo, we may here mention the law passed by the Roman Senate early in the reign of Tiberius, “Ne vestis Serica viros fœdaret.” Taciti Annales, ii. 33. Dion. Cass. l. 57. p. 860. [Pg 27] Reim. Suidas in v.Τιβέριος[29]. Silk was to be worn by women only.

The next emperor Caligula had silk curtains to his throne (Dion. Cass. l. 59. p. 915. Reim.), and he wore silk as part of his dress, when he appeared in public. Dio Cassius particularly mentions, that, when he was celebrating a kind of triumph at Puteoli, he put on what he alleged to be the thorax of Alexander, and over that a silken chlamys, dyed with the murex, and adorned with gold and precious stones. On the following day he wore a tunic interwoven with gold[30]. The use of shawls and tunics of silk was, however, except in the case of the extravagances of a Caligula, still confined to the female sex. Under the earlier emperors it is probable, that silk was obtained in considerable quantities for the wardrobe of the empress, where it was preserved from one reign to another, until in the year 176 Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the philosopher, in consequence of the exhausted state of his treasury, sold by public auction in the Forum of Trajan the imperial ornaments and jewels together with the golden and silken robes of the Empress[31].

The Seres must be supposed to have dwelt somewhere in the centre of Asia. Perhaps those geographers who represent Little Bucharia as their country[32], are nearest the truth, and thus far neither Greeks nor Romans had penetrated. Silk was brought to them “from nations, to which even their commerce had not yet extended.” Hence their inaccurate ideas respecting its origin[33].

At a very early period the art of dyeing had been carried to a very great degree of perfection in Phœnicia. The method of dyeing woollen cloths purple was, it is said, first discovered at Tyre. This color, the most celebrated among the ancients, appears to have been brought to a degree of excellence, of which we can form but a very faint idea:

[Pg 29]

The poet is describing the dress of Cleopatra. He supposes her to have worn over her breast a piece of silk, woven by the Seres, imported through Sidon into Egypt, and then embroidered. By the last process, in which the Egyptians greatly excelled, the threads were in part separated, so as to exhibit the appearance of lace, and to allow the white breast of the queen to be visible through the texture.

With this description we compare that of Seneca, which represents silk as embroidered in Asia Minor, with the “Mæonian needle.”

speaks copiously and repeatedly of the manufacture of silk. Nevertheless we learn from him scarce anything, which we did not know from the earlier authorities. His accounts are taken from Aristotle, from Varro, and probably also from persons who accompanied the Parthian expeditions, or who engaged in the trade with inner Asia. But according to his usual manner, when he speaks of what he has not himself seen, he confounds accounts from different witnesses, which are inconsistent with one another. He asserts that the bombyx was a native of Cos; but it is not probable that the women of that island would, in such case, have recourse to the laborious operation of converting foreign finished goods into threads for their own weaving. It is, therefore, only reasonable to suppose that whatever manufacture was carried on from the raw material, was, like that of Tyre or Berytus, composed of unwrought silk imported from the East. It is mentioned both by Theophanes and Zonares, the Byzantine historians, that before silk-worms were brought to Constantinople in the middle of the sixth century, no person in that capital knew that silk was produced by a worm; a tolerably strong evidence that none were reared so near to Constantinople as Cos.

Pliny’s account of the Coan bombyx is evidently a cloud of fable and absurdity, in which, however, we may discern a few lines of truth, probably derived from the accounts of the silk-worm of the Seres.

says, that the emperors Titus and Vespasian wore silk dresses[35], when they celebrated at Rome their triumph over the Jews.

[Pg 31]

Silk (Σηρικὸν) occurs but once in the New Testament, Rev. xviii. 12. It is here mentioned in a curious enumeration of all the most valuable articles of foreign traffic.

In the last passage Silius is describing the effects of the recent eruption of Mount Vesuvius, A. D. 79. That its ashes should reach the country of the Seres, whether it was in Persia or China, would indeed have been “Monstrum admirabile!”

dissuades the virtuous and prudent wife from wearing silk[37]. He mentions, that webs of silk and fine linen were at the same time thin and compact or close[38].

[Pg 32]

speaks of women,

Here Martial alludes to the employment of presses (prela) for preserving the garments of silk and other precious materials, belonging to the Empress, in the same way, in which we now use presses to keep table-linen. He says to a lady (L. ix. 38.),

In another passage (L. xi. 27.) he speaks of silken goods (Serica) as procurable in the Vicus Tuscus at Rome: and lastly in L. xiv. Ep. 24, he mentions ribbons or fillets of silk as used for adorning the hair.

a native of Asia Minor, and an inquisitive traveller in the second century, gives the following distinct account of Sericum according to the ideas received among the Greeks in his time.

The most interesting circumstance, mentioned by Pausanias, is the breeding of the silk-worms within doors in houses adapted both for summer and winter. There seems no reason to doubt the truth of this fact; and, if admitted, it proves, that their country, the Serica of the ancients, lay so far North, or was so elevated, as to have a great difference of temperature in summer and in winter. It is remarkable, that in China the worms are now reared in small houses, and this practice has long prevailed in that country[41].

recommends silk thread for tying blood-vessels in surgical operations, observing that the opulent women in many parts of the Roman empire possessed such thread, especially in the great cities[42]. He also mentions cloths of silk and gold in his treatise, c. 9. (Hippocratis et Galeni Opp. ed. Chartier, tom. vi. p. 533.):

dissuading the Christian convert from luxury in dress, thus speaks:

The use of the epithet “Indian” in this passage may be accounted for from the circumstance, that in the time of the writer silken goods were brought to Alexandria and other cities of Egypt from India. Clemens has evidently borrowed this description from Aristotle.

thus describes the Bombyx:

In the same treatise (De Pallio, c. 4.) we find the following notice:

Soon after, the same author, speaking of Alexander the Great, says,

He afterwards says of a philosopher,

Again he says of a low character, “She exposes her silk to the wind.”

In his treatise on Female Attire he mentions silk in relation to Milesian wool, and he concludes that treatise in the following terms:

Lastly, this author says (Adv. Marcionem, l. i. p. 372.),

Vossius, in his Etymologicum Linguæ Latinæ, in the learned and copious article Sericum, says, “Inter sericum et [Pg 36] bombycinum discrimen ponit Ulpianus, l. xxiii. de aur. arg. leg. ‘Vestimentorum sunt omnia lanea, lineaque, vel serica, vel bombycina.’”

evidently refers to the use of silken garments in his account of the customs of the Parthians, where he says,

All doubt, whether the transparent garments, mentioned by Justin, were of silk, must be removed by the authority of Procopius, from whom we shall hereafter cite ample and important testimony in reference to the time when he lived, and who in the two following passages expressly states, that the webs, called by the Greeks in his time Seric, were more anciently denominated Median.

Among the valuable and curious effects of the emperor Commodus, which after his death (A. D. 192.) were sold by his successor Pertinax, was a garment with a woof of silk, of a bright yellow color, the appearance of which was more beautiful than if the material had been interwoven with threads of gold[43].

The authorities now quoted supply evidence respecting the use of silk among the Greeks and Romans down to the end of the second century. It is rarely mentioned by any writer belonging to the following century[44]; so far as we have discovered, [Pg 37] only by the three historians now to be quoted, by Cyprian, and by Solinus. But we have from these historians some remarkable accounts of the regard paid to it by the emperors Heliogabalus, Alexander Severus, Aurelian, Claudius II., Tacitus, and Carinus, all of whom reigned in the third century.

Ælius Lampridius says (c. 26.), that the profligate and effeminate emperor Heliogabalus was the first Roman, who wore cloth made wholly of silk, the silk having been formerly combined with other less valuable materials, and, in consequence of his example, the custom of wearing silk soon became general among the wealthy citizens of Rome. He mentions (c. 33) among the innumerable extravagances of this emperor, that he had prepared a silken rope of purple and scarlet colors to hang himself with.

Of the emperor Alexander Severus he says (c. 40), that he himself had few garments of silk, that he never wore a tunic made wholly of silk, and that he never gave away cloth made of silk mixed with less valuable materials.

The following is the testimony of Flavius Vopiscus in his life of the emperor Aurelian.

Although the above mentioned restrictions in the use of silk may be partly accounted for from the usual severity of Aurelian’s character, yet the facts here stated abundantly show the rarity and high value of this material in that age.

Flavius Vopiscus further states, that the emperor Tacitus made it unlawful for men to wear silk unmixed with cheaper materials. Carinus, on the other hand, made presents of silken garments, as well as of gold and silver, to Greek artificers, and to wrestlers, players, and musicians.

Trebellius Pollio, in his life of Claudius II. (c. 14 and 17.), twice mentions white garments of silk mixed with cheaper materials, which were destined for that emperor.

[Pg 38]

Bishop of Carthage in the third century, inveighs in the following terms against the use of silk:

Also in his treatise on the dress of Virgins he says,

In the same place he gives us a translation of the well-known passage of Isaiah enumerating the luxuries of female attire among the Jews: “In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, the chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, the bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the head-bands, and the tablets, and the ear-rings, the rings, and nose-jewels, the changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, the glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the veils.” Isaiah in. 18-23.

[Pg 39]

This historian describes the Seres as “a quiet and inoffensive people who, avoiding all quarrels with their neighbors, are exempt from the distresses and alarms of war, and not being under the necessity of using offensive arms, do not even know their use, and occupy a fertile country under a delicious and healthy climate. He represents them as passing their happy life in the most perfect tranquillity and the most delicious repose amidst shady thickets refreshed by pleasant zephyrs, and where the soil furnishes so soft a wool, that after having been sprinkled with water and combed, it forms cloths resembling silk.”

Marcellinus proceeds to describe the Seres as being content with their own felicitous condition, and so reserved in their intercourse with the rest of mankind, that when foreigners venture within their boundaries for wrought and unwrought silk, and other valuable articles, they consider the price offered in silence, and transact their business without exchanging a word; a mode of traffic which is still practised in some eastern countries.

Macpherson, in the Annals of Commerce, a very valuable work, thinks that according to all appearances, the Seres were themselves the authors of this story, in order to make strangers believe that their country enjoyed all these benefits by the peculiar blessing of heaven, and that no other nation could participate in them.

The remarks of Solinus and Ammianus conspire to show, how much more common silk had become about the end of the third century, being then worn, at least with a warp of cheaper materials, by men as well as by women, and not being confined to the noble and the wealthy. These authors likewise dilate upon the use of showers of water to detach silk from the trees on which it was found. According to Pliny and Solinus, water was also employed after the silk was gathered from the trees[45]: and probably the fact was so. Silk, as it [Pg 40] comes from the worm, contains a strong gum, which would be dissolved by the showers of water dashed against the trees, and thus the cocoons, being loosened from the leaves and twigs, would be easily collected. In the subsequent processes, water would be further useful in enabling the women to spin the silk or to wind it upon bobbins.

It may be observed that in this use of water art only follows nature. When the moth is ready to leave its cell, it always softens the extremity of it by emitting a drop of fluid, and thus easily obtains for itself a passage. In the third volume of the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society (p. 543.), Colonel Sykes gives the following account of the process by which the moth of the Kolisurra silk-worm liberates itself from confinement. “It discharges from its mouth a liquor, which dissolves or loosens that part of the cocoon adjoining to the cord which attaches it to the branch, causing a hole, and admitting of the passage of the moth. The solvent property of this liquid is very remarkable; for that part of the cocoon, against which it is directed, although previously as hard as a piece of wood, becomes soft and pervious as wetted brown paper.”

In the seventh volume of the Linnæan Transactions, is an account by Dr. Roxburgh of the Tusseh silk-worm. Both species are natives of Bengal. The cocoons require to be immersed in cold water before the silk can be obtained from them. In the latter species it is too delicate to be wound from the cocoons, and is therefore spun like cotton. Thus manufactured it is so durable, that the life of one person is seldom sufficient to wear out a garment made of it, and the same piece descends from mother to daughter. (See Chap. VIII. of this Part.)

[Pg 41]

Some curious evidence respecting the use of silk, both unmixed with linen and with the warp of linen, or some inferior material, is found in the Edict of Diocletian, which was published A. D. 303 for the purpose of fixing a maximum of prices for all articles in common use throughout the Roman Empire[46]. The passage pertaining to our present subject, is as follows:

[Pg 42]

This document proves, in exact conformity with the passages quoted from Solinus and Ammianus, that silk had come into general use at the commencement of the fourth century. It is also manifest from this extract, that silk was employed in giving to garments a greater proportion of intricacy and ornament than had been in use before.

The authors who make mention of silk in the fourth and following centuries are very numerous. We shall first take the heathen authors, and then the Christian writers, whose observations often have some moral application, which gives them an additional interest.

The unknown author of the Panegyric on the emperor Constantine, pronounced A. D. 317, thus mentions silk as characterizing oriental refinement.

The testimony of the Roman historian Flavius Vopiscus, in reference to the practice of the emperor Aurelian and the dearness of silk during his reign, has already been produced. This author, in his life of the same emperor, makes the following remarks on a display of silk which he had himself recently witnessed.

[Pg 43]

The exact period here referred to is no doubt the Consulship of Placidus and Romulus, A. D. 343.

In the Epistles of Alciphron (i. 39.) Myrrhine, a courtesan, loosens her girdle, which probably fastened her upper garment or shawl. Her shift was silk, and so transparent as to show the color of her skin.

satirizes a rich man of mean extraction, who nevertheless made lofty pretensions to nobility of birth, pretending to be descended from Mars, Romulus, and Remus, and who therefore caused their images to be embossed upon his plate and woven in a silken shawl.—Epig. 26.

In the following line, he alludes to the production of silk in the usual terms:

This distinguished officer, in a letter to the Consul Stilicho, apologizes in the following terms for his delay in sending a contribution of Holoseric pieces, that is, webs wholly made of silk, to the public exhibitions.

In a letter to Magnillus (l. v. 20.) he speaks of Subseric pieces, webs made only in part of silk, as presents;

mentions silk in numerous passages. This poet, in describing [Pg 44] the consular robes of the two brothers Probinus and Olybrius (A. D. 395.), represents the Gabine Cincture, by which the toga was girt over the breast, as made of silk.

In the following passage he represents the two brothers, Honorius and Arcadius, as dividing the empire of the world between them and receiving tributes of its productions from the most distant regions:

In a poem, which immediately succeeds this in the order of time, Claudian describes a magnificent toga, worn by Honorius on being appointed a fourth time consul, by saying, that it received its color (the Tyrian purple) from the Phœnicians; its woof (of silk forming stripes or figures) from the Seres; and its weight (produced by Indian gems) from the river Hydaspes[48]. Again, in his poem on the approaching marriage of Honorius and Maria, he mentions yellow silk curtains (l. 211.) as a decoration of the nuptial chamber.

Again he says (in Eutrop. l. i. v. 225, 226. 304. l. ii. v. 337.):

He also mentions with delight the use of gold in dress, as well as of silk. The following passage represents the manner in which Proba, a Roman matron, near the end of the fourth century, expressed her affectionate congratulations on the elevation of her two sons to the Consulship, by preparing robes interwoven with gold for the ceremony of their installation.

[Pg 45]

From these verses we learn that Proba had herself acquired the art of covering the thread with gold, and that she then used her gold thread in the woof to form the stripes or other ornaments of the consular trabeæ. These are afterwards called stiff togas (togæ rigentes, l. 205.), on account of the rigidity imparted to them by the gold thread.

The same poet gives an elaborate description of a Trabea which he supposes to have been woven by the Goddess Rome with the aid of Minerva for the use of the Consul Stilicho. Five different scenes are said to have been woven in this admirable robe (regentia dona, graves auro trabeas), and certain parts of them were wrought in gold[49].

Again, Claudian supposes Thetis to have woven scarfs of gold and purple for her son Achilles:

The epigram in which this line occurs, seems to imply that Serena, mother-in-law of the Emperor Honorius, wove garments of the same kind for him.

Maria, the daughter of the above-mentioned Stilicho, was bestowed by him upon Honorius, but died shortly after, about A. D. 400. In February, 1544, the marble coffin, containing her remains, was discovered at Rome. In it were preserved a garment and a pall, which, on being burnt, yielded 36 pounds of gold. There were also found a great number of glass vessels, jewels, and ornaments of all kinds, which Stilicho had given as a dowry to his daughter[50]. We may conclude, that the garments discovered in the tomb of Maria were woven by the hands of her mother Serena, since the epigram of Claudian [Pg 46] proves that she wove robes of a similar description for Honorius, and probably on the same occasion. Anastasius Bibliothecarius says, that when Pope Paschal was intent on finding the body of St. Cæcilia, having performed mass with a view to obtain the favor of a revelation on the subject, he was directed A. D. 821 to a cemetery on the Appian Way near Rome, and there found the body enveloped in cloth of gold[51]. Although there is no reason to believe, that the body found by Paschal was the body of the saint pretended, yet it may have been the body of a Roman lady who had lived some centuries before, and probably about the time of Honorius and Maria.

Pisander, who belonged to the same period (900 B. C.) with Homer, speaks of the Lydians as wearing tunics adorned with gold. Lydus observes, that the Lydians were supplied with gold from the sands of the Pactolus and the Hermus[52].

Virgil also represents the use of gold in weaving, as if it had existed in Trojan times. One of the garments so adorned was manufactured by Dido, the Sidonian, one by Andromache, and another was in the possession of Anchises[53]. In all these instances the reference is to the habits of Phœnice, Lycia, or other parts of Asia.

He describes an ape ludicrously attired in a silk jacket; and, inveighing against the progress of luxury, he speaks of some to whom even silk garments were a burthen. In elaborate descriptions of the figured consular robes (the Trabeæ) of Honorius and Stilicho, he mentions the reins and other trappings of horses, as being wrought in silk[54].

The frequent allusions to silk in the complimentary poems of Claudian, receive illustration from various imperial laws, which were promulgated in the same century, and in part by the very emperors to whom his flattery is addressed, and which [Pg 47] are preserved in the Code of Justinian. Their object was not to encourage the silk manufacture, but, on a principle very opposite to that of modern times, to make it an imperial monopoly. The admiration excited by the splendor and elegance of silk attire was the ground, on which it was forbidden that any individual of the male sex should wear even a silken border upon his tunic or pallium, with the exception of the emperor, his officers and servants. To confine the enjoyment of these luxuries more entirely to the imperial family and court, all private persons were strictly forbidden engaging in the manufacture, gold and silken borders were to be made only in the imperial Gynæcea[55].

In this important document on ancient geography and commerce, we find repeated mention of silk in its raw state, in that of thread, and woven[56]. These articles were conveyed down the Indus to the coast of the Erythrean Sea. They were also brought to the great mart of Barygaza, which was on the Gulf of Cambay near the modern Surat, and to the coast of Lymirica, which was still more remote. The author of the Periplus states, that they were carried by land through Bactria to Barygaza from a great city called Thina, lying far towards the North in the interior of Asia. He of course refers to some part of Serica. It is remarkable, that he makes no mention of silk as the native production of India.

Silk is mentioned in two passages of the laws of Manu, viz. XI. v. 168, and XII. v. 64. It is, however, observed by Heeren, who quotes passages of the Ramayana that make mention of silk, that garments of this material are there represented as worn only on festive occasions, and that they were undoubtedly Seric or Chinese productions[57]. Indeed it appears that [Pg 48] the cloth made from the thread of the native worms of Hindostan, although highly valued for strength and durability, is not remarkable for fineness, beauty, or splendor.

This author, adopting the common notion of his time, supposes the Seres to spin thread from fleeces which were produced upon the trees. He also mentions silk shawls (Serica pallia, l. 1008.) as worn by the female Bacchantes of Ionia in their processions in honor of Bacchus; and it is worthy of remark, that they are not mentioned in the original passage of Dionysius, the author whom Avienus translates, so that we may reasonably infer, that the use of them on these occasions was introduced between the time of Dionysius (about 30 B. C.) and that of Avienus (A. D. 400).

The following Inscription is given in Gruter, Tom. iii. p. DCXLV. It was found at Tivoli, and expresses that M. N. Proculus, silk-manufacturer, erected a monument to Valeria Chrysis, his excellent and deserving wife.

D. M.
VALERIAE. CHRYSIDI.
M. NVMIVS. PROCVLVS.
SERICARIVS.
CONJVGI. SVAE.
OPTIMÆ. BENEM.
FECIT.

Before proceeding to the Christian writers of the 4th and following centuries we may now introduce the remarks of Servius on the passage formerly quoted from Virgil. He is supposed to have written about A. D. 400.

[Pg 49] It will be seen hereafter, that these “Indian Seres” were the inhabitants of Khotan in Little Bucharia.

The frequent comparison of Bombyces to spiders by the ancients suggests the inquiry whether they employed the thread of any kind of spider to make cloth, as was attempted in France by M. Bon. The failure of his attempt is sufficient, as it appears, to show, that the extensive manufacture of garments from this material must have been scarcely possible in ancient times. It is also to be observed, that the ancients, when they compare the silk-worm to the spider, refer to the spider’s web, whereas M. Bon, not finding the web strong enough, made his cloth from the thread with which the spider envelopes its eggs[58].

But, although we have no reason to believe, that the web of any spider was anciently employed to make cloth, yet these accounts may have referred to worms, possibly varieties of the silk-worm, which spun long threads floating in the air. The [Pg 50] common silk-worm spins and suspends itself by its thread, long before it begins its cocoon. It appears probable, therefore, that there may have been wild varieties of this creature, or perhaps other species of the same genus, which in the earlier stages of their existence spun threads long enough for use. We ground this conjecture partly on the following passage from Du Halde’s History of China[59].

This account affords a remarkable illustration of many of the expressions of the ancient writers, such as “Bombyx pendulus urget opus,” Martial; “Per aerem liquando aranearum horoscopis idoneas sedes tendit,” Tertullian; “In aranearum morem tenuissima fila deducunt,” Servius.

In further illustration of the subject, and as tending to show that the Kien-tcheou is manufactured from the thread of a silk-worm, modified in its habits and perhaps in its organization by circumstances, we shall now quote a few passages from a work having the following title: “China; its costume, arts, manufactures, &c., edited from the originals in the cabinet of M. Bertin, with observations by M. Breton. Translated from the French. London, 1812.” Vol. iv. p. 55, &c.

[Pg 51]

The circumstance that the worms were sometimes fed with oak-leaves is mentioned in Du Halde’s History of China, vol. ii. p. 363.

Here then we have a justification of the ancients in asserting, both that the silk-worms produced long threads and webs floating in the air like those of spiders, and that they fed upon the leaves of the oak, the ash, and many other trees. It may be recollected, that Pliny expressly mentions both the oak (quercus) and the ash (fraxinus).

Until very lately the use of silk among the ancients was investigated only by philologists. Within a few years M. Latreille, an entomologist of the highest distinction, has directed his attention to the subject and has examined particularly the above-cited passages of Aristotle, Pliny, and Pausanias[60]. He never [Pg 52] supposes the ancient Sericum to have been the produce of anything except the silk-worm. But of this there are several varieties, partly perhaps natural, and partly the result of domestication. He endeavors to explain some parts of Pliny’s description by showing their seeming correspondence with some of the practices actually observed by the Orientals in the management of silk-worms.

An account of the wild silk-worms of China is to be found in the “Mémoires concernant l’Histoire, les Sciences, les Arts, &c., des Chinois,” compiled by the missionaries of Peking[61]. This account is principally derived from the information of Father D’Incarville, one of the missionaries. It coincides generally with the accounts already quoted from Du Halde and Breton. We extract the following particulars as conveying some further information:

The following passage is also deserving of attention: “Le papillon de ces vers sauvages, dit le Père d’Incarville, est à ailes vitrées.” This information, if correct, would prove that there was at least one kind of wild silk-worms in China, which was a different species from the Phalæna Mori; for that has no transparent membranes in its wings, and would not be likely to receive them in consequence of any change in its mode of life.

We now proceed to take the Christian authors of the fourth and following centuries in the order of time.

thus speaks of the heathen gods:

[Pg 53]

The following passage contains, we believe, the earliest allusion to the use of silk in the services of the Christian Church.

Although this celebrated author was a native of Asia Minor, and had studied in Syria and Palestine, he appears to have known the silk-worm only from books and by report. His description of it in the following passage, in which we first find the beautiful illustration of the doctrine of a resurrection from the change of the chrysalis, is chiefly copied from Aristotle’s account as formerly quoted.

[Pg 54] When St. Basil says of the new-born moth, that “it assumes light and expanded wings,” the beauty of the comparison in illustrating the Christian doctrine of the resurrection is enhanced, when we consider that in its wild state the moth flies very well, although, when domesticated, its flight is weak and its wings small and shrivelled[63]: but still more beautiful does the figure become, if we suppose a reference to those larger and more splendid Phalænæ which produce the coarser kinds of silk in India, and probably in China also.

Basil is the first writer, who distinctly mentions the change of the silk-worm from a Chrysalis to a moth. In his application of that fact he addresses himself to his countrywomen in Asia Minor, and his language represents them sitting and winding on bobbins the raw silk obtained from the Seres and designed to be afterwards woven into cloth.

Between these two authors, Aristotle and Basil, we observe a difference of phraseology which appears deserving of notice. While they both describe the women, not as spinning the silk, but as winding it on bobbins, they designate the material so wound by two different names. Basil uses the term νήματα, which might be meant to imply that the silk came from the Seres in skeins as it comes to us from China: Aristotle, on the contrary, uses the term βομβύκια, which can only refer to the state of silk before it is wound into skeins. As it might appear impossible to convey it in this state to Cos, we shall here insert from the authorities already quoted, the Chinese Missionaries, an account of the process by which the cocoons are prepared for winding, and it will then be seen, that the cocoons might have been transported to any part of the world.

“To prepare the cocoons of the wild silk-worms, the Chinese cut the extremities of them with a pair of scissors. They are then put into a canvass bag, and immersed for an hour or more in a kettle of boiling lye, which dissolves the gum. When this is effected, they are taken from the kettle; [Pg 55] pressed to expel the lye, and then laid out to dry. Whilst they are still moist, the chrysalises are extracted; each cocoon is then turned inside out, so as to make a sort of cowl. It is necessary only, to put them again into lukewarm water, after which ten or twelve of them are capped one upon another like so many thimbles, to insert a small distaff through them, when the silk may be reeled off.”

Basil, in one of his Homilies, (Opp. tom. ii. p. 53. 55. ed. Benedict.) inveighs against the ladies of Cæsarea, who employed themselves in weaving gold; and he is no less indignant at their husbands who adorned even their horses with cloths of gold and scarlet as if they were bridegrooms.

The author of a Treatise “De disciplinâ et bono pudicitiæ,” which is usually published with Cyprian, and which may be referred to the fourth or fifth century, thus speaks (Cypriani Opera, ed. Erasmi, p. 499.):

The same censure is implied in the following address of Alcimus Avitus to his sister.

The effect of such exhortations as the preceding, was to induce piously disposed persons to apply pieces of gold cloth to public and sacred, instead of private purposes. After this period we find continual instances of their use in the decoration of churches and in the robes of the priesthood.

[Pg 56]

Here we think it not out of place to introduce the account of the silk-worm by Georgius Pisida, who flourished about A. D. 640, although he lived at Constantinople after the breeding of silk-worms had been introduced there. According to him the silk-worm pines or moulders almost to nothing in its tomb, and then returns to its former shape. The verses are however deserving of attention for their elegance, and for the repetition of Basil’s idea, which Ambrose has left out, of the analogy between the restoration of the silk-worm and the resurrection of man.

This author gives us an additional proof (Homil. 17, § 9,) that the use of silken clothing was characteristic of dissolute women.

This great author mentions silk in numerous passages.

In his translation of Ezekiel xxvii. he has supposed silk (sericum) to be an article of Syrian and Phœnician traffic as early as the time of that prophet.

In his beautiful and interesting Epistle to Læta on the Education of her Daughter (Opp. Paris, 1546, tom. i. p. 20. C.), he says:

In the following he further condemns the practice of wrapping the bodies of the dead in cloth of gold:

[Pg 58]

Chrysostom also inveighs against the practice of embroidering shoes with silk thread, observing that it was a shame even to wear it woven in shawls. Such is the change of circumstances, that now even the poorest persons of both sexes, if decently attired, have silk in their shoes.

This author, describing the ceremonies at the nuptials of Theagenes and Chariclea, says, “The ambassadors of the Seres came, bringing the thread and webs of their spiders, one of the webs dyed purple (!), the other white.” Æthiopica, lib. x. p. 494. Commelini.

Salmasius (in Tertullianum de Pallio, p. 242.) quotes the following passage from an uncertain author.

This writer, whoever he was, appears to have had a correct idea of the manner in which the silk-worm wraps itself in a leaf of the tree, on which it feeds, and spins its tomb within[64].

[Pg 59]

The following sentence occurs in a speech of St. Lawrence at his martyrdom:

In another Hymn to the honor of St. Romanus we find the following lines:

In the same Hymn (l. 1015.) Prudentius describes a heathen priest sacrificing a bull, and dressed in a silken toga which is held up by the Gabine cincture (Cinctu Gabino Sericam fultus togam). Perhaps, however, we ought here to understand that the cincture only, not the whole toga, was of silk. It was used to fasten and support the toga by being drawn over the breast.

In two other passages this poet censures the progress of luxury in dress, and especially when adopted by men.

A work remains under the name of Palladius on “The Nations of India and the Brachmans.” Whether it is by the same Palladius, who wrote the Historia Lausiaca, is disputed. But, as we see no reason to doubt, that it may have been written as early as his time, we introduce here the passages, which have been found in it, relating to the present subject. The author represents the Bramins as saying to Alexander the Great, “You envelope yourselves in soft clothing, like the silk-worms.” (p. 17. ed. Bissœi.) It is also asserted, that Alexander did not pass the Ganges, but went as far as Serica, where the silk-worms produce raw-silk (p. 2.).

In the London edition this tract is followed by one in Latin, [Pg 61] bearing the name of St. Ambrose and entitled De moribus Brachmanorum. It contains nearly the same matter with the preceding. The writer professes to have obtained his information from “Musæus Dolenorum Episcopus,” meaning, as it appears from the Greek tract, Moses, Bishop of Adule, of whom he says,

These notices are not devoid of value as indicating what were the first steps to intercourse with the original silk country. It may however be doubted, whether the last account here quoted is a modification of the ideas previously current among the Greeks and Romans, or whether it arose from the mistakes of Moses himself, or of other Christian travellers into the interior of Asia, who confounded the production of silk with that of cotton.

published A. D. 438, mentions silk (sericam et metaxam) in various passages.

Describing the products of different countries, this learned author says (Carmen. v. l. 42-50),

In a passage (Carmen. xv.), he mentions a pall,

The expression here used, indicates that the silk thread was [Pg 62] brought from the country of the Seres to be dyed in Phœnice. In Horace we have already noticed the “Coæ purpuræ.”

A passage from the Burgus Pontii Leontii (Carmen. xxii.), shows that the same article (Serica fila) was imported into Gaul.

In the same author (l. ii. Epist. ad Serranum) we meet with “Sericatum toreuma.” The latter word probably denoted a carved sofa or couch. The epithet “sericatum” may have referred to its silken cover.

The same author describes Prince Sigismer, who was about to be married, going in a splendid procession and thus clothed:

Describing the heat of the weather, he says:

Lastly, in the following lines he alludes to the practice of giving silk to the successful charioteers at the Circensian games:

Describing the rich man in the parable of Lazarus, this author says:

Avitus also mentions “the soft fleeces sent by the Seres.”

[Pg 63]

The Tyrians are chiefly known to us in commercial history for their skill in dyeing; the Tyrian purple formed one of the most general and principal articles of luxury in antiquity: but dyeing could scarcely have existed without weaving, and though we have no direct information respecting the Tyrian and Sidonian looms, we possess several ancient references to their excellence, the less suspicious because they are incidental. Homer, for instance, when Hecuba, on the recommendation of the heroic Hector, resolves to make a rich offering to Minerva, describes her as selecting one of Sidonian manufacture as the finest which could be obtained.

Tyre appears to have been the only city of antiquity which made dyeing its chief occupation, and the staple of its commerce. There is little doubt that purple, the sacred symbol of royal and sacerdotal dignity, was a color discovered in that city; and, that it contributed to its opulence and grandeur. It is related that a shepherd’s dog, instigated by hunger, having broken a shell on the sea shore, his mouth became stained with a color, which excited the admiration of all who saw it, and that the same color was afterwards applied with great success to the dyeing of wool. According to some of the ancient writers, this discovery is placed in the reign of Phœnix, second [Pg 64] King of Tyre (five hundred years before the Christian era); others fix it in that of Minos, who reigned 939 years earlier or, 1439 B. C. The honor of the invention of dyeing purple, is however, generally awarded to the Tyrian Hercules, who presented his discovery to the king of Phœnicia; and the latter was so jealous of the beauties of this new color, that he forbade the use of it to all his subjects, reserving it for the garments of royalty alone. Some authors relate the story differently: Hercules’ dog having stained his mouth with a shell, which he had broken on the seashore, Tysus, a nymph of whom Hercules was enamored, was so charmed with the beauty of the color, that she declared she would see her lover no more until he had brought garments dyed of the same. Hercules, in order to gratify his mistress, collected a great number of the shells, and succeeded in staining a robe of the color she had demanded. “Colored dresses,” says Pliny[65], “were known in the time of Homer (900 B. C.), from which the robes of triumph were borrowed.” Purple habits are mentioned among the presents made to Gideon, by the Israelites, from the spoils of the kings of Midan. Ovid, in his description of the contest in weaving between Minerva and Arachne, dwells not only on the beauty of the figures which the rivals wove, but also mentions the delicacy of shading by which the various colors were made to harmonize together:

[Pg 65] The Tyrian purple was communicated by means of several species of univalve shell-fish. Pliny gives us an account of two kinds of shell-fish from which the purple was obtained. The first of these was called buccinum, the other purpura[66]. A single drop of the liquid dye was obtained from a small vessel or sac, in their throats, to the amount of only one drop from each animal! A certain quantity of the juice thus collected being heated with sea salt, was allowed to ripen for three days, after which it was diluted with five times its bulk of water, kept at a moderate heat for six days more, occasionally skimmed, to separate the animal membranes, and when thus clarified, was applied directly as a dye to white wool, previously prepared for this purpose, by the action of lime-water, or of a species of lichen called fucus. Two operations were requisite to communicate the finest Tyrian purple; the first consisted in plunging the wool into the juice of the purpura, the second into that of the buccinum. Fifty drachms of wool required one hundred of the former liquor, and two hundred of the latter. Sometimes a preliminary tint was given with cocus, the kermes of the present day, and the cloth received merely a finish from the precious animal juice. The color appears to have been very durable; for Plutarch observes in his life of Alexander[67], that, at the taking of Susa, the Greeks found in the royal treasury of Darius a quantity of purple stuffs of the value of five thousand talents, which still retained its beauty, though it had lain there for one hundred and ninety years[68].

[Pg 66]

We now come to the very interesting account of the first introduction of silk-worms into Europe, which is given by Procopius in the following terms. (De Bello Gothico, iv. 17.)

“About this time (A. D. 530.) two monks, having arrived from India, and learnt that Justinian was desirous that his subjects should no longer purchase raw silk from the Persians, went to him and offered to contrive means, by which the Romans would no longer be under the necessity of importing this article from their enemies the Persians or any other nation. [Pg 67] They said, that they had long resided in the country called Serinda, one of those inhabited by the various Indian nations, and had accurately informed themselves how raw silk might be produced in the country of the Romans. In reply to the repeated and minute inquiries of this Emperor, they stated, that the raw silk is made by worms, which nature instructs and continually prompts to this labor; but that to bring the worms alive to Byzantium would be impossible; that the breeding of them is quite easy; that each parent animal produces numberless eggs, which long after their birth are covered with manure by persons who have the care of them, and being thus warmed a sufficient time, are hatched. The Emperor having promised the monks a handsome reward, if they would put in execution what they had proposed, they returned to India and brought the eggs to Byzantium, where, having hatched them in the manner described, they fed them with the leaves of the Black Mulberry, and thus enabled the Romans thenceforth to obtain raw silk in their own country.”

The same narrative, abridged from Procopius, is found in Manuel Glycas (Annal. l. iv. p. 209.), and Zonares (Annal. l. xiv. p. 69. ed. Du Cange.). In the abstract given by Photius (Biblioth. p. 80. ed. Rotham) of the history of Theophanes Byzantinus, who was a writer of nearly the same age with Procopius, we find a narrative, in which the only variation is, that a Persian brought the eggs to Byzantium in the hollow stem of a plant. The method now practised in transporting the eggs from country to country is to place them in a bottle not more than half full, so that by being tossed about, they may be kept cool and fresh. If too close, they would probably be heated and hatch on the journey[69].

The authors who have hitherto treated of the history of the silk-worm, have supposed the Serinda of Procopius to be the modern Sir-hind, a city of Circar in the North of Hindostan[70]. [Pg 68] Notwithstanding the striking similarity of names, we think it more likely that Serinda was adopted by Procopius as another name for Khotan in Little Bucharia. The ancients included Khotan among the Indian nations[71]: and that they were right in so doing is established from the facts, that Sanscrit was the ancient language of the inhabitants of Khotan; that their alphabetical characters, their laws, and their literature resembled those of the Hindoos; and that they had a tradition of being Indian in their origin[72]. Since, therefore, Khotan was also included in the ancient Serica, a term probably of wide and rather indefinite extent[73]; the name Serinda would exactly denote the origin and connexions of the race which occupied Khotan.

On the other hand, although Sir-hind is termed “an ancient city” by Major Rennell[74], we cannot find any evidence that the [Pg 69] silk-worm was ever bred there. So far is this from being the case, that it appears to be a country very ill adapted for the production of silk[75]. It may indeed be true, as stated by Latreille, that Sir-hind was colonized from Khotan, and it may be mentioned as a remarkable circumstance in confirmation of this supposition, that there is a town called Kotana a little way to the North East of the City of Sir-hind. But, supposing this account to be correct, it is highly probable that the settlement of Sir-hind as a colony of Khotan did not take place till after the year 530, when the breeding of silk-worms was according to Procopius introduced into Europe from “Serinda.” Rather more than 120 years before this time India was visited by the Chinese traveller, Fa Hian, who on his way passed some months with great delight and admiration in Khotan; and the special object of whose journey was to see and describe all the cities of India where Buddhism was professed. The inhabitants of Khotan being wholly devoted to that delusion, the same system must have been established in its colony; and, since this zealous pilgrim crossed India at no great distance from the spot where Sir-hind afterwards stood, we cannot doubt that he would have mentioned it, if it had existed in his age. He says not a word about it; and the time is comparatively so short between his visit to India and the date of the introduction of silk-worms into Europe, that we can scarcely suppose Sir-hind, the colony of Khotan and consequently the seat of Buddhism, to have been in existence either at the former or latter period[76].

In another passage of his history (Bell. Pers. 1. 20.) Procopius throws some light upon our subject by stating that in consequence of the monopoly of the trade in raw silk by the Persians, Justinian attempted to obtain it through the Æthiopians [Pg 70] of Arabia, but found this to be impracticable, as the Persian merchants frequented the ports to which the Indians resorted, and from them purchased all their cargoes.

Procopius further states (Hist. Arcana, c. 25.), that silk shawls had long been manufactured in the Phœnician cities Tyre and Berytus (to which all who were concerned in the silk trade, either as merchants or manufacturers, consequently resorted, and from whence goods were carried to every part of the earth); but that in the reign of Justinian the manufacturers in Byzantium and other Greek cities raised the prices of their goods, alleging that the Persians had also advanced theirs, while the imposts were increased among the Romans. Justinian, pretending to be much concerned at the high prices, forbade any one in his dominions to sell silk for more than eight aurei per pound, threatening confiscation of goods against any one who transgressed the law. To comply was impossible, since they were required to sell their goods at a price lower than that for which they bought them. They therefore abandoned the trade, and secretly sold the remnant of their goods for what they could get. The Empress Theodora, on being apprised of this, immediately seized the goods and fined the proprietors a hundred aurei besides. It was then determined, that the silk manufacture should be carried on solely by the Imperial Treasurer. Peter Barsames held the office, and conducted himself in relation to this business in the most unjust and oppressive manner, so that the silk-trade was ruined not only in Byzantium but also at Tyre and Berytus, while the Emperor, Empress and their Treasurer amassed great wealth by the monopoly.

In an account of an embassy sent to Constantinople by the Avars of Sarmatia, this author states, that the Emperor Justinian endeavored to excite their admiration by a display of splendid couches, gold chains, and garments of silk[77].

The establishment of the Turkish power in Asia, about the [Pg 71] middle of the sixth century, together with subsequent wars, had greatly interrupted the caravan trade between China and Persia. On the return of peace, the Sogdians, an Asiatic people, who had the greatest interest in the revival of the trade, persuaded the Turkish sovereign, whose subjects they were become, to send an embassy to Chosroes, king of Persia, to open a negotiation for this purpose. Maniak, a Sogdian prince, who was ambassador, being instructed to request that the Sogdians might be allowed to supply the Persians with silk; presented himself before the Persian monarch in the double character of merchant and envoy, carrying with him many bales of silken merchandise, for which he hoped to find purchasers among the Persians. But Chosroes, who thought the conveyance by sea to the Persian Gulf more advantageous to his subjects than this proposed traffic, was not disposed to lend a favorable ear to the legation, and rather uncourteously showed his contempt for the Sogdian traders. He bought up all the silk which the ambassador had carried with him, and immediately burned it before them; thus giving the most convincing proof of the little value which it had in his estimation.

After this the Persians and Chinese united against the Turks, who, to strengthen themselves, sought an alliance with the Emperor Justin. Maniak was again appointed ambassador, and sent to negotiate the terms of the alliance; but disappointment, though from a dissimilar cause, attended this his second embassy. The sight of silk-worms, and the establishment for manufacturing their produce, in Constantinople, were to him as unwelcome as unexpected; he however concealed his mortification, and, with perhaps an overstrained civility, acknowledged, that the Romans were already become as expert as the Chinese in both the management of silk-worms and manufacture of their silk[78]; and when in the fourth year of Justin II. (i. e. A. D. 569.) they went on the same mission to Byzantium, they found that here also there was no demand, since silk-worms were bred there already. Soon after this we learn· that the Byzantines sent an embassy to Disabul, King of the Sogdiani, who [Pg 72] received the ambassadors in tents covered with variously-colored silks.

mentions silk thread, used in adorning the vestments in the church of St. Sophia at Constantinople. (P. ii. l. 368.) The note of the Editor, Du Cange, on the description of the pall, (577.), contains various quotations from ecclesiastical writers, which mention “vela rubea Serica;” “vela alba holoserica rasata;” “vela serica de blattin.” These quotations show, that silk had been introduced into general use for the churches.

The etymological work of Isidore of Seville may be regarded as a kind of encyclopedia, exhibiting the general state of knowledge and art at the time when he wrote. Hence the following descriptive extracts are well deserving of attention.

Touching these extracts we would remark, that the testimony of Isidore must not be considered as proving, that the silk manufacture still existed in Cos. His statement was no doubt merely copied from Varro or Pliny, or founded upon the authority of other writers long anterior to his own age. It is indeed probable that silk-worms had by this time been brought into Greece, but that he was ignorant of the fact.

[Pg 73]

This author, in his Universal History (l. vii. c. 9.), informs us that the silk manufacture was carried on at Chubdan, with the greatest skill and activity, which was probably the same as Khotan, or, as it was called in his time, Ku-tan[79].

We have, moreover, the following account of the origin of the growth and manufacture of silk in that country (p. 55, 56.).

“The monastery of Lou-che (occupied by Buddhists) is to the south-west of the royal city. Formerly the inhabitants of this kingdom had neither mulberries nor silk-worms. They heard of them in the East country, and sent an embassy to ask for them. The King of the East refused the request, and issued the strictest injunctions to prevent either mulberries or silk-worms’ eggs from being conveyed across the border. Then the King of Kiu-sa-tan-na (i. e. Koustana, or Khotan) asked of him a princess in marriage. This having been granted, the king charged the officer of his court who went to escort her, to say, that in his country there were neither mulberry-trees nor cocoons, and that she must introduce them, or be without silk dresses. The princess, having received this information, obtained the seed both of mulberries, and silk-worms, which she concealed in her head-dress. On arriving at the frontier, the officers searched every where, but dare not touch the turban of the princess. Having arrived at the spot, where the monastery of Lou-che was afterwards erected, she deposited the seed both of the mulberries and worms. The trees were planted in the spring, and she afterwards went herself to assist in gathering the leaves. At first the worms were fed upon the [Pg 74] leaves of other plants, and a law was enacted, that no worms were to be destroyed or sacrificed until their quantity was sufficiently great. The monastery was founded to commemorate so great a benefit, and some trunks of the original mulberry-trees can yet be seen there[80].”

In the following passage (Règne Animal, par Cuvier, tom. v. p. 402.,) Latreille mentions Turfan as an important city as far as it affected the early silk-trade. In other respects his account coincides with that already given.

A diploma of Ethelbert, King of Kent, mentions “Armilausia holoserica,” proving that silk was known in England at the end of the sixth century[81]. The usual dress of the earliest French kings seems to have been a linen shirt and drawers of the same material next to the skin; over these a tunic, probably of fine wool, which had a border of silk, ornamented sometimes with gold or precious stones; and upon this a sagum, which was fastened with a fibula on the right shoulder. Eginhart informs us, that Charlemagne wore a tunic, or vest, with a silken border (limbo serico)[82].

[Pg 75]

This author, who died Abbot of Sherburn, was among the most learned men of his age. In his Ænigmas, which are written in tetrastics, we find the following description of the silk-worm. As it is scarcely possible that he could have seen this creature, we have cause to admire both the ingenuity and general accuracy of his lines. The ascending to the tops of thorns or shrubs, such as “genistæ,” to which the animal may attach its cocoon (globulum), has not been noticed by any earlier author.

In a book written by this author, in praise of virginity, he observes, That chastity alone did not form an amiable and perfect character, but required to be accompanied and adorned by many other virtues; and this observation he further illustrates by the following simile taken from the art of weaving: “As it is not a web of one uniform color and texture, without any variety of figures, that pleaseth the eye and appears beautiful, but one that is woven by shuttles, filled with threads of purple, and many other colors, flying from side to side, and forming a variety of figures and images, in different compartments, with admirable art.”—Bibliotheca Patrum, tom. xiii.

[Pg 76]

The latter portion of this extract, wherein we are informed of the origin of the practice, universally adopted, of covering the Eucharist with a white linen cloth, must be a later addition. Pope Silvester lived, as the reader will perceive, long after the time of Bede.

Bede, in his History of the Abbots of Wearmouth, states that the first abbot and founder of the monastery, Biscop, surnamed Benedict, went a fifth time to Rome for ornaments and books to enrich it, and on this occasion (A. D. 685.) brought two scarfs, or palls, of incomparable workmanship, composed entirely of silk, with which he afterwards purchased the land of three families situated at the mouth of the Wear[83]. This shows the high value of silken articles at that period.

[Pg 77]

About the year 970 Kenneth, king of Scotland, paid a visit in London to Edgar, king of England. The latter sovereign, to evince at once his friendship and munificence, bestowed upon his illustrious guest silks, rings, and gems, together with one hundred ounces of pure gold[84].

Perhaps we may refer to the same date the composition of the “Lady of the Fountain,” a Welsh tale, recently translated by Lady Charlotte Guest[85]. At the opening of this poem King Arthur is represented sitting in his chamber at Caer-leon upon Usk. It is said,

The mention of silk and satin is frequent in this tale.

This author, who became Pope Silvester, mentions garments of silk (sericas vestes) in a passage which has been already quoted (see Part II. chap. V.).

a romance writer in the twelfth century, mentions the figured shawls (πέπλα) manufactured by the Seres.

The breeding of silk-worms in Europe appears to have been confined to Greece from the time of the Emperor Justinian until the middle of the twelfth century. The manufacture [Pg 78] of silk was also very rare in other parts of Europe, being probably practised only as a recreation and accomplishment for ladies. But in the year 1148 Roger I., King of Sicily, having taken the cities of Corinth, Thebes, and Athens, thus got into his power a great number of silk-weavers, took them away with the implements and materials necessary for the exercise of their art, and forced them to reside at Palermo[86]. Nicetas Choniates[87], referring to the same event, speaks of these artisans as of both sexes, and remarks that in his time those who went to Sicily might see the sons of Thebans and Corinthians employed in weaving velvet stoles interwoven with gold, and serving like the Eretrians of old among the Persians[88].

We find in the writings of Ingulphus several curious accounts of vestments of silk, interwoven with eagles and flowers of gold. This author, in his history, mentions that among other gifts made by Witlaf, king of Mercia, to the abbey of Croyland, he presented a golden curtain, embroidered with the siege of Troy, to be hung up in the church on his birth-day[89]. At a later period, 1155, a pair of richly worked sandals, and three mitres, the work of Christina, abbess of Markgate, were among the valuable souvenirs presented by Robert, abbot of St. Albans, to Pope Adrian IV.[90].

[Pg 79] Without digressing from our subject to question the right of the royal marauder thus tyrannously to sever these unoffending artisans from the ties of country and of kindred, we may yet be allowed to express some satisfaction at the consequences of his cruelty. It is well for the interests of humanity that blessings, although unsought and remote, do sometimes follow in the train of conquest; that wars are not always limited in their results to the exaltation of one individual, the downfall of another, the slaughter of thousands, and misery of millions, but occasionally prove the harbingers of peaceful arts, heralds of science, and in short deliverers from the yoke of slavery or superstition.

In twenty years from this forcible establishment of the manufacture, the silks of Sicily are described as having attained a decided excellence; as being of diversified patterns and colors; some fancifully interwoven with gold tastefully embellished with figures; and others richly adorned with pearls. The industry and ingenuity thus called forth, could not fail to exercise a beneficial influence over the character and condition of the Sicilians.

From Palermo the manufacture of silk extended itself through all parts of Italy and into Spain. We learn from Roger de Hoveden, that the manufacture flourished at Almeria in Grenada about A. D. 1190[91].

According to Nicholas Tegrini[92], the silk manufacture afterwards flourished in Lucca; and the weavers, having been ejected from that city in the earlier part of the fourteenth century, carried their art to Venice, Florence, Milan, Bologna, and even to Germany, France, and Britain.

We have seen from different historical testimonies, that silk was known to the inhabitants of France and England as early as the sixth century. The fact of its introduction into all parts [Pg 80] of the North of Europe is manifest from the use of words for silk in several northern languages. These words appear, according to the inquiries of the learned orientalists, Klaproth and Abel Rémusat[93], to have been derived from those Asiatic countries, in which silk was originally produced. In the language of Corea silk is called Sir; in Chinese Se, which may have been produced by the usual omission of the final r. In the Mongol language silk is called Sirkek, in the Mandchou Sirghè. In the Armenian the silk-worm is called Chèram. In Arabic, Chaldee, and Syriac, silk was called Seric[94]. From the same source we have in Greek and Latin Σηρικὸν, Sericum.

In the more modern European languages we find two sets of terms for silk, the first evidently derived from the oriental Seric, but with the common substitution of l for r, the second of an uncertain origin. To the first set belong,

To the second set belong,

According to Abel Rémusat (Journal Asiat. l. c.) the merchandise of Eastern Asia passed through Slavonia to the North of Europe in the middle ages, even without the mediation of Greece or Italy. This may account for the use of the terms of the first class, while it is possible that those of the second have been derived from the South of Europe, from whence we have seen that silken commodities were also occasionally transported to the North.

To the evidence now produced from authors and printed documents respecting the history of silk from the earliest times to the period of its universal extension throughout Europe, another species of proof may be added, viz. that afforded by Relics preserved in churches, and by other remains of the antiquities of the middle ages. As examples of this method for illustrating the subject, the following articles may be enumerated.

I. The relics of St. Regnobert, Bishop of Bayeux in the seventh century. These consist of a Casula, or Chasuble, a Stole, and a Maniple. They are yet preserved in the cathedral of Bayeux, and worn by the Bishop on certain annual festivals. [Pg 82] They are of silk interwoven with gold, and adorned with pearls[100].

II. Portions of garments of the same description with those of St. Regnobert were discovered A. D. 1827 on opening the tomb of St. Cuthbert in the Cathedral of Durham. They are preserved in the library of that church, and accurately described by the Rev. James Raine, the librarian, in a quarto volume.

III. The scull-cap of St. Simon, said to have been made in the tenth century, and now preserved in the Cathedral of Treves. Its border is interwoven with gold.

In regard to these interesting relics, they may with confidence be looked upon as specimens of the manufacture of silk from the seventh to the twelfth century.

IV. In the Cathedral at Hereford is a charter of one of the Popes with the bull (the leaden seal), attached to it by silken threads. Silk was early used for this purpose in the South of Europe[101]. The Danish kings began to use silk to append the waxen seals to their charters about the year 1000[102].

V. Silk, in the form of velvet, may be seen on some of the ancient armor in the Tower of London.

VI. The binding of ancient manuscripts affords specimens of silk. A French translation of Ludolphus Saxo’s Life of Christ in four folio volumes, among Dr. William Hunter’s MSS. at Glasgow, still has its original binding covered with red velvet, which is probably as old as the fourteenth century. A curious source of information on the art of book-binding at that period is the Inventory, or Catalogue of the library collected by that ardent lover of books, Charles V. of France. As this catalogue particularly describes the bindings of about 1200 volumes, many of which were very elaborate and splendid, it enables us to judge of the use made of all the most valuable stuffs and materials which could be employed for this purpose, and under the head of silk we find the following: “soie,” [Pg 83] silk; “veluyau,” velvet; “satanin,” satin; “damas,” damask; “taffetas,” taffetas; “camocas;” “cendal;” and “drap d’or,” cloth of gold, having probably a basis or ground of silk[103].

From the few examples of ancient Catholic vestments that have escaped destruction, the generality of persons are but little acquainted with the extreme beauty of the embroidery worked for ecclesiastical purposes during the Middle Ages. The countenances of the images were executed with perfect expression, like miniatures in illuminated manuscripts. Every parochial church, previous to the Reformation, was furnished with complete sets of frontals and hangings for the altars. One of the great beauties of the ancient embroidery was its appropriate design; each flower, leaf, and device having a significant meaning with reference to the festival to which the vestment belonged. Such was the extreme beauty of the English vestments in the reign of Henry III., that Innocent IV. forwarded bulls to many English bishops, enjoining them to send a certain quantity of embroidered vestments to Rome, for the use of the clergy[104].

[Pg 84]

The use of gold in weaving may be traced to the earliest times, but seems to be particularly characteristic of oriental manners.

It was employed in connexion with woollen and linen thread of the finest colors to enrich the ephod, girdle, and breast-plate of Aaron[105]. The sacred historian goes so far as to describe the [Pg 85] mode of preparing the gold to be used in weaving: “And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, with cunning work.”—Ex. xxxix. 2-8. The historian certainly does not intend to describe the process of wire-drawing, nor probably the art of making gold thread. It seems likely, that neither of these ingenious manufactures were invented in his time. The queen described in Ps. xiv., wears “clothing of wrought gold[106].” Homer mentions a golden girdle, (Od. ε. 232. κ. 543.). He also describes an upper garment, which Penelope made for Ulysses before going to Illium. On the front part of it a beautiful hunting piece was wrought in gold. It is thus described. “A dog holds a fawn with its fore feet, looking at it as it pants with fear and strives to make its escape.” This, he says, was the subject of universal admiration[107].

Pisander, who probably lived at the same period with Homer, speaks of the Lydians as wearing tunics adorned with gold. Lydus, who has preserved this expression of the ancient cyclic poet, observes that the Lydians were supplied with gold from the sands of the Pactolus and the Hermus[108].

Virgil also represents the use of gold in weaving, as if it had existed in Trojan times. One of the garments so adorned was made by Dido, the Sidonian, another by Andromache, and a third was in the possession of Anchises[109]. In all these instances the reference is to the habits of Phœnice, Lycia, or other parts of Asia.

Among all the Asiatics, none were more remarkable than [Pg 86] the Persians for the display of textures of gold, as well as every other kind of luxury in dress. A tiara interwoven with gold was one of the presents which Xerxes gave as an expression of his gratitude to the citizens of Abdera (Herod. viii. 120.). The Indians also employed the same kind of ornament (Strabo, L. xv. c. i. § 69.); and the Periegesis (l. 881.) of Priscian attributes the use of it to the Arabians[110].

The history of Alexander the Great affords frequent traces of the use of cloth interwoven with gold in Persia. Garments made of such cloth were among the most splendid of the spoils of Persepolis[111].

Justin (L. xii.) says that Alexander, to avoid offending the Persians, ordered his principal attendants to adopt for their dress “longam vestem auream purpureamque.” The dress prescribed was therefore of fine woollen cloth, or probably of silk, dyed purple, and interwoven with gold. Among the vast multitudes which preceded the King of Persia when he advanced to oppose Alexander, was the band of ten thousand called the Immortals, whose dress was carried to the ‘ne plus ultra’ of barbaric splendor, some wearing golden collars, others “cloth variegated with gold.” Some idea of the extravagance and pomp of the Persians on this occasion may be formed from the following passage, taken from Rollin’s “Ancient History.”

At the nuptials of Alexander purple and scarlet cloths, interwoven with gold, were expanded over the guests: and a pall of the same description covered the golden sarcophagus made to contain his body. Among the splendid ornaments of the tent erected not long after at Alexandria by Ptolemy Philadelphus, there were tunics interwoven with gold: and in the procession on the same occasion, the colossal statues of Bacchus and his nurse Nysa were attired; the former in a shawl; the latter in a tunic variegated with gold. Probably we may refer to the same country and age the “golden tunic” mentioned in one of the Arundle marbles (No. xxii. 2.). Also the tent pitched by Arsace with hangings of gold and purple tissues, and the robe of similar materials worn by Arsace herself, as described by Heliodorus (Æthiop. vii.), relate to the customs of the same country.

Another of the successors of Alexander, viz. Demetrius Poliorcetes, wore purple garments with borders of gold[112].

[Pg 88] Themistius describes a portrait of one of the kings of Persia, who wore, together with the tiara and the collar or necklace, a purple shawl interwoven with gold (Orat. 24. p. 369. ed. Dindorf.).

During the periods to which the preceding evidence has allusion, it is not probable that cloth of gold was in use among the Greeks and Romans except to a very limited extent. Nevertheless it does not appear to have escaped the avidity for every species of excellence, which in early times distinguished the inhabitants of Magna Græcia. For, when Pythagoras became a teacher of wisdom and philosophy at Crotona, among other lessons of frugality he persuaded the matrons to put off their “golden garments” with other fashionable ornaments, and deposit them in the temple of Juno as offerings to the goddess[113]. In a passage attributed to Menander we meet with the mention of a “golden or purple chlamys” as a suitable offering to the gods[114]. Hedylus of Samos, a writer of the same age, describes a woman of loose morals, by name Niconoe, as wearing a tunic striped with gold (Brunck’s Analecta, i. 483.).

Attalus, king of Pergamus, is said by Pliny (L. viii. cap. 48.) to have invented the art of embroidering with gold thread[115]. Nevertheless we have seen, that gold was thus used long before the time of Attalus. But there can be no doubt, that he established and maintained a great manufacture of these stuffs at Pergamus; thus contributing greatly to improve the art, and bring these cloths into more general use.

The next passage is from Dr. Bostock’s translation of the 33rd Book, ch. xix. “Gold may be spun or woven like wool, without the latter being mixed with it. We are informed by Verrius, that Tarquinius Priscus rode in triumph in a tunic of gold; and we have seen Agrippina, the wife of the Emperor Claudius, when he exhibited the spectacle of a naval combat, sitting by him covered with a robe made entirely of woven gold. In what are called the Attalic stuffs, the gold is woven [Pg 89] with some other substance. This art was the invention of one of the kings of Asia.”

In Book xxxv. c. 36. Pliny says that Zeuxis, to display his wealth at Olympia, caused his name to be woven in gold in the compartments of his outer garment.

Caligula once wore a tunic interwoven with gold. Heliogabalus was far more profuse in regard to this kind of splendor. White sheets, interwoven with gold, were used at the funeral obsequies of Nero[116]. We may here observe, that the use of gold in dress almost invariably accompanied that of silk. The same Emperors who took delight in the one, indulged themselves with the other also. On the contrary, Alexander Severus, as we shall show when treating of linen in Part IV., was economical in both these respects.

In Chapters II. and III., we quoted several passages which make mention of cloth of gold, from Tibullus, Ovid, Seneca the Tragedian, Lucan, Dio Cassius, Claudian, Virgil, Gregorius Nazienzenus, and Basil, all of which speak of cloth of gold. Ovid mentions purple garments variously colored and interwoven with gold, as belonging to Bacchus.—Met. iii. 556.

Publius Syrus was a writer of the same period. In the following fragment preserved by Petronius Arbiter, he compares the train of the peacock to Babylonian stuffs enriched with gold and various colors:

Shawls, interwoven with gold, are mentioned by Galen[117], and by Valerius Flaccus[118]; also by Lucan in the following passage, where he is describing the furniture of Cleopatra’s palace (x. 125, 126.):

The following passages also contain evidence on the same subject.

[Pg 90]

describes the tragic actors, when they performed the part of kings, as wearing a chlamys interwoven with gold[119].

depicts Midas wearing a golden robe[120].

The poet is addressing Diana and describing her attire.

This is the first passage since the time of Homer, which mentions Greece as concerned in weaving with gold. But Ausonius probably alluded to the Greeks of Asia Minor, as, besides the evidence produced from Basil, we have seen that Pergamus was one of the most noted places for these productions, which were on that account called “Attalicæ vestes[122].”

[Pg 91] When Ausonius was appointed Consul at Rome A. D. 379, his friend and former pupil, the Emperor Gratian, sent him as a present a toga in which was inserted a figure of Constantius II., wrought in gold.—Ausonii Gratiarum Actio, § 53.

mentions with delight the use of gold in dress as well as of silk. His testimony has been given in chapter III. of this Part.

mentions the gold in the dress of Prince Sigismer. His testimony is also given in chapter III.

describing the accession of Justin II. to the Empire (A. D. 565), mentions (L. ii.) his tunic enriched with gold as part of his imperial costume.

We find the following law in the Codex Justinianus:

The “aurata paragauda” was a border of gold lace or thread. It appears that ladies might wear it on their tunics, while men were only permitted to use it in token of their official character as being in the service of the emperor. In allusion to these or similar regulations, Ælius Lampridius (34) says of the emperor Alexander Severus,

[Pg 92]

The testimony of Ambrose, Jerome, and Basil has been given in Chapter III., which see.

From the book of Joshua we learn that the woven stuffs of Babylon were not confined to domestic use, but exported into foreign countries. The two chief productions of Babylonian looms were carpets and shawls. One of the principal objects of luxury in Asia from the remotest ages, were nowhere so finely woven, and in such rich colors as at Babylon. On the Babylonian carpets were woven or depicted representations of those fabulous animals the dragon and griffin, together with other unnatural combinations of form, probably originating in India, and with which we have become acquainted by the ruins of Persepolis. It was by means of the Babylonian manufactures, that the knowledge of these fanciful and imaginary beings, was conveyed to the Western world, and from them transferred to the Greek vases. “A mantle of Shinar,” or as our translators have rendered it, “A Babylonish garment,” was secreted by Achan from the spoils of Jericho; and the delinquent speaks of this as being the most valuable part of his plunder[123]. Next to carpets and shawls, the Babylonian garments called Sindones were held in the highest estimation. The most costly Sindones, were so much valued for their fineness of texture and brilliancy of color, as to be compared to those of Media, and set apart for royal use; they were even to be found at the tomb of Cyrus, which was profusely decorated with every species of furniture in use among the Persian monarchs during their lives.

[Plate II]

[Pg 93]

The Evangelist Luke, in Acts xii. 21. speaks of the “royal apparel,” in which Herod Agrippa, king of Judea, was arrayed when he received the ambassadors of Tyre and Sidon, sitting in great state upon his throne at Cæsarea. “And upon a set day, Herod arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.”

Josephus describes the same garment, which was a tunic, as “all made of silver, and wonderful in its texture.” He adds, that the king appeared in this dress at break of day in the theatre, and that the silver, illuminated by the first rays of the sun, glittered in such a manner as to terrify the beholders, so that his flatterers began to call out aloud, saluting him as a god. He was then seized with the painful and loathsome distemper, of which he soon after died[124].

We extract the following curious account of the discovery of Ancient Piece-goods and manufactured stuffs from a late [Pg 94] number of an English publication called the “Mining Review.”

Discovery of ancient Piece-goods and manufactured stuffs.—“It is more than a thousand years since Theodolphus, Bishop of Orleans, gave to Notre Dame du Puy en Velay a beautiful manuscript, containing the ancient Testament, the chronography of St. Isidor, and other pieces, the whole distributed into 138 articles; which he presented in token of gratitude for his deliverance from the prison of Angers, where he was confined in the year 835. It was on Palm Sunday that year, while Louis Le Debonnaire was passing, that he began to sing a well-known Canticle, which the Catholic church has since then introduced into its ceremonies. This precious manuscript, in a state of perfect preservation, is to be seen in the archives of the Bishopric of the Puy en Velay, department of the Haute Loire. A portion of the manuscript is written on leaves of common parchment, in letters of red and black, with a few of gold intermixed. The other portion is inscribed on leaves of parchment, dyed purple, with letters of gold and silver, among which are observed, ornaments of different kinds and colors, designated the “Byzantine style.” The manuscript, remarkable for its beauty and preservation, is still more valuable for the manufactured stuffs which it contains. When Theodolphus composed his manuscript, with the intention of preserving from contact and friction the gold and silver characters (which, in time, would have tended to displace and obliterate them), he placed between each page a portion of the manufactured tissues peculiar to the era in which he lived. These specimens of the silk, and other pieces of goods of the time are thus curiously preserved[125]. Till lately, little attention was paid to these tissues, which are principally of India manufacture, bearing scarcely any analogy to the products of the modern loom. Some are CASHMERE SHAWLS of those patterns, which the French call broucha and espouline, and are [Pg 95] made in the Indian fashion, but with this difference, that they are limited to four colors, and demonstrate the greatest antiquity by the primitive simplicity of their colors and design. Others are CRAPES and GAUZES, against the luxury of whose transparent tissues, the fathers of the church at that time so perseveringly fulminated their censures. The rest consist of muslins and China-crape of exquisite beauty. The components of the majority of these tissues are of goats’ or camels’ hair of exceeding delicacy and fineness. Like the manufactured stuffs of ancient Egypt, painted on the walls of its palaces and tombs, or substantially preserved amidst the envelopes of mummies, the designs are limited to four colors, which are in fact the four sacred ones of China, India, Egypt, and the Hebrew Tabernacle. Nevertheless, the Egyptian designs, identical with those of India, are many of them of exquisite beauty. The consummate skill of the silk and cotton manufacturers of ancient Egypt, 4000 years ago, the beauty and richness of their fabrics—the little alteration which has taken place in the economy or machinery of the factories, as well as in their product, has been recently demonstrated in the great work of Champollion. All the details of the silk and cotton factories of Egypt, under the Pharaohs of the 18th dynasty (which then monopolized the commerce of the world, and sent a colony of weavers, from the overburthened population of Lower Egypt, to found Athens, and the subsequent civilization of Europe), are laid open with vivid accuracy in that splendid work[126], and brought with all their startling analogies before the eye of the modern reader by drawings from the temples, palaces, and tombs which it contains. It proves, indeed, that there is ”nothing new under the sun.”

That the Egyptians excelled in science and art is evident from their monuments, paintings, and sculptures, whereon they are depicted. It is also proved by Scripture, which speaks of the “wisdom of Egypt” with reference to art; and from the fact that Egypt was deemed by other nations the fountain of arts and sciences, and that their philosophers were wont to resort [Pg 96] thither to collect some of the “droppings of Egyptian wisdom.” According to Diodorus, all trades vied with each other in improving their own particular branch, no pains being spared to bring each to perfection. To promote the more effectually this object, it was enacted that no artisan should follow any trade or employment but that defined bylaw, and pursued by his ancestors. No tradesman was permitted to meddle with political affairs, or hold any civil office in the state, lest his thoughts should be distracted by the inconsistency of his pursuits, or the jealousy and displeasure of the master in whose service he was employed. They foresaw that without such a law constant interruptions would take place, in consequence of the necessity or desire of becoming conspicuous in a public station; that their proper occupations would be neglected, and many would be led by vanity and self-sufficiency to interfere in matters which were out of their sphere. They considered, moreover, that to pursue more than one avocation would be detrimental to their own interests, and those of the community at large; and that, when men, from a motive of avarice, engage in numerous branches of art, the general result is, that they are unable to excel in any. If any artisan interfered in political matters, or engaged in any employment other than the one to which he had been brought up, a severe punishment was immediately inflicted upon him.

The eminent German hierologist, Dr. Lepsius, now employed in Egypt by the Prussian government, after mentioning, in a recent letter, the many discoveries he had made of ancient ruins, tombs, &c., writes as follows:

“With the exception of about twelve, which belong to a later period, all these tombs were erected contemporaneously with, or soon after, the building of the great pyramid, and consequently their dates throw an invaluable light on the study of human civilization in the most remote period of antiquity. The sculptures in relief are surprisingly numerous, representing whole figures, some the size of life, and others of various dimensions. The paintings are on back grounds of the finest chalk. They are numerous and beautiful beyond conception—as fresh and perfect as if finished yesterday! The pictures and sculptures [Pg 97] on the walls of the tombs, represent, for the most part, scenes in the lives of the deceased persons, whose wealth in cattle, fish-boats, servants, &c., is ostentatiously displayed before the eye of the spectator. All this gives an insight into the details of private life among the ancient Egyptians. By the help of these inscriptions I think I could, without difficulty, make a “Court Calendar” of the reign of King Cheops[127]. In some instances I have traced the graves of father, son, grandson, and even great-grandson—all that now remains of the distinguished families, which five thousand years ago, formed the nobility of the land.”

[Pg 98]

It can never be too strongly impressed upon a mind anxious for the acquisition of knowledge, that the commonest things by which we are surrounded are deserving of minute and careful attention. The most profound investigations of Philosophy are necessarily connected with the ordinary circumstances of our being, and of the world in which our every-day life is spent. With regard to our own existence, the pulsation of the heart, the act of respiration, the voluntary movement of our limbs, the condition of sleep, are among the most ordinary operations of our nature; and yet how long were the wisest of men struggling with dark and bewildering speculations before they could offer anything like a satisfactory solution of these phenomena, and how far are we still from an accurate and complete knowledge of them! The science of Meteorology, which attempts to explain to us the philosophy of matters constantly before our eyes, as dew, mist, and rain, is dependent for its illustrations upon a knowledge of the most complicated facts, such as the [Pg 99] influence of heat and electricity upon the air; and this knowledge is at present so imperfect, that even these common occurrences of the weather, which men have been observing and reasoning upon for ages, are by no means satisfactorily explained, or reduced to the precision that every science should aspire to. Yet, however difficult it may be entirely to comprehend the phenomena we daily witness, everything in nature is full of instruction. Thus the humblest flower of the field, although, to one whose curiosity has not been excited, and whose understanding has, therefore, remained uninformed, it may appear worthless and contemptible, is valuable to the botanist, not only with regard to its place in the arrangement of this portion of the Creator’s works, but as it leads his mind forward to the consideration of those beautiful provisions for the support of vegetable life, which it is the part of the physiologist to study and admire[128].

This train of reasoning is peculiarly applicable to the economy of insects. They constitute a very large and interesting part of the animal kingdom. They are everywhere about us. The spider weaves his curious web in our houses; the caterpillar constructs his silken cell in our gardens; the wasp that hovers over our food has a nest not far removed from us, which she has assisted to build with the nicest art; the beetle that crawls across our path is also an ingenious and laborious mechanic, and has some curious instincts to exhibit to those who will feel an interest in watching his movements; and the moth that eats into our clothes has something to plead for our pity, for he came, like us, naked into the world, and he has destroyed our garments, not in malice or wantonness, but that he may clothe himself with the same wool which we have stripped from the sheep. An observation of the habits of these little creatures is full of valuable lessons, which the abundance of the examples has no tendency to diminish. The more such observations are multiplied, the more we are led forward to the freshest and the most delightful parts of knowledge; the more do [Pg 100] we learn to estimate rightly the extraordinary provisions and most abundant resources of a creative Providence; and the better do we appreciate our own relations with all the infinite varieties of Nature, and our dependence, in common with the ephemeron that flutters its little hour in the summer sun, upon that Being in whose scheme of existence the humblest as well as the highest creature has its destined purposes. “If you speak of a stone,” says St. Basil, “if you speak of a fly, a gnat, or a bee, your conversation will be a sort of demonstration of his power whose hand formed them, for the wisdom of the workman is commonly perceived in that which is of little size. He who has stretched out the Heavens, and dug up the bottom of the sea, is also He who has pierced a passage through the sting of the bee for the ejection of its poison.”

If it be granted that making discoveries is one of the most satisfactory of human pleasures, then we may without hesitation affirm, that the study of insects is one of the most delightful branches of natural history, for it affords peculiar facilities for its pursuit. These facilities are found in the almost inexhaustible variety which insects present to the curious observer.

There is, perhaps, no situation in which the lover of nature and the observer of animal life may not find opportunities for increasing his store of facts. It is told of a state prisoner under a cruel and rigorous despotism, that when he was excluded from all commerce with mankind, and was shut out from books, he took an interest and found consolation in the visits of a spider; and there is no improbability in the story. The operations of that persecuted creature are among the most extraordinary exhibitions of mechanical ingenuity; and a daily watching of the workings of its instinct would beget admiration in a rightly constituted mind. The poor prisoner had abundant leisure for the speculations in which the spider’s web would enchain his understanding. We have all of us, at one period or other of our lives, been struck with some singular evidence of contrivance in the economy of insects, which we have seen with our own eyes. Want of leisure, and probably want of knowledge, have prevented us from following up the curiosity which for a moment was excited. And yet some such [Pg 101] accident has made men Naturalists, in the highest meaning of the term. Bonnet, evidently speaking of himself, says, “I knew a naturalist, who, when he was seventeen years of age, having heard of the operations of the ant-lion, began by doubting them. He had no rest till he had examined into them; and he verified them, he admired them, he discovered new facts, and soon became the disciple and the friend of the Pliny of France[129]” (Réaumur). It is not the happy fortune of many to be able to devote themselves exclusively to the study of nature, unquestionably the most fascinating of human employments; but almost every one may acquire sufficient knowledge to be able to derive a high gratification from beholding the more common operations of animal life. His materials for contemplation are always before him.

The silk-worm is a species of caterpillar which, like all other insects of the same class, undergoes a variety of changes during the short period of its life; assuming, in each of three successive transformations, a form wholly dissimilar to that with which it was previously invested.

Among the great variety of caterpillars, the descriptions of which are to be found in the records of natural history, the silk-worm occupies a place far above the rest. Not only is our attention called to the examination of its various transformations, by the desire of satisfying our curiosity as entomologists, but our artificial wants incite us likewise to the study of its nature and habits, that we may best and most profitably apply its instinctive industry to our own advantage.

It has been well observed by Pullein, a writer on this subject, that “there is scarcely anything among the various wonders which the animal creation affords, more admirable than the variety of changes which the silk-worm undergoes;” but the curious texture of that silken covering with which it surrounds itself when it arrives at the perfection of its animal life, vastly surpasses what is made by other animals of this class. All the caterpillar kind do, indeed, pass through changes like those of the silk-worm, and the beauty of many in their butterfly state [Pg 102] greatly exceeds it; but the covering which they put on before this mutation is poor and mean, when compared to that golden tissue in which the silk-worm wraps itself. They, indeed, come forth in a variety of colors, their wings bedropped with gold and scarlet, yet are they but the beings of a summer’s day; both their life and beauty quickly vanish, and they leave no remembrance after them; but the silk-worm leaves behind it such beautiful, such beneficial monuments, as at once to record both the wisdom of their Creator and his bounty to man.”

We may without impropriety, here introduce the following truly beautiful comparison of the shortness of human life, as well as in illustration of this part of our subject, as evidenced in the May-fly.

[Pg 104] Silk-worms proceed from eggs which are deposited during the summer by a grayish kind of moth, of the genus palæna. These eggs are about equal in size to a grain of mustard seed: their color when first laid is yellow; but in three or four days after, they acquire a bluish cast. In temperate climates, and by using proper precautions, these eggs may be preserved during the winter and spring, without risk of premature hatching. The period of their animation may be accelerated or retarded by artificial means, so as to agree with the time when the natural food of the insect shall appear in ample abundance for its support.

All the curious changes and labors which accompany and characterize the life of the silk-worm are performed within the space of a very few weeks. This period varies, indeed, according to the climate or temperature in which its life is passed; all its vital functions being quickened, and their duration proportionally abridged, by warmth. With this sole variance, its progressions are alike in all climates, and the same mutations accompany its course.

The three successive states of being put on by this insect are, that of the worm or caterpillar, of the chrysalis or aurelia, and moth. In addition to these more decided transformations, the progress of the silk-worm in its caterpillar state is marked by five distinct stages of being.

When first hatched, it appears as a small black worm about [Pg 105] a quarter of an inch in length. Its first indication of animation is the desire which it evinces for obtaining food, in search of which, if not immediately supplied, it will exhibit more power of locomotion than characterizes it at any other period. So small is the desire of change on the part of these insects, that of the generality it may be said, their own spontaneous will seldom leads them to travel over a greater space than three feet throughout the whole duration of their lives. Even when hungry, the worm still clings to the skeleton of the leaf from which its nourishment was last derived. If, by the continued cravings of its appetite, it should be at length incited to the effort necessary for changing its position, it will sometimes wander as far as the edge of the tray wherein it is confined, and some few have been found sufficiently adventurous to cling to its rim; but the smell of fresh leaves will instantly allure them back. It would add incalculably to the labors and cares of their attendants, if silk-worms were endowed with a more rambling disposition. So useful is this peculiarity of their nature, that one is irresistibly tempted to consider it the result of design, and a part of that beautiful system of the fitness of things, which the student of natural history has so many opportunities of contemplating with delight and admiration.

In about eight days from its being hatched, its head becomes perceptibly larger, and the worm is attacked by its first sickness. This lasts for three days; during which time it refuses food, and remains motionless as in a kind of lethargy. Some have thought this to be sleep, but the fatal termination which so frequently attends these sicknesses seems to afford a denial to this hypothesis. The silk-worm increases its size so considerably, and in so short a space of time,—its weight being multiplied many thousand fold in the course of one month,—that if only one skin had been assigned to it, which should serve for its whole caterpillar state, it would with difficulty have distended itself sufficiently to keep pace with the insect’s growth. The economy of nature has therefore admirably provided the embryos of other skins, destined to be successively called into use; and this sickness of the worm, and its disinclination for food, [Pg 106] may very probably be occasioned by the pressure of the skin, now become too small for the body which it encases.

At the end of the third day from its first refusal of food, the animal appears, on that account, much wasted in its bodily frame; a circumstance which materially assists in the painful operation of casting its skin: this it now proceeds to accomplish. To facilitate this moulting, a sort of humor is thrown off by the worm, which, spreading between its body and the skin about to be abandoned, lubricates their surfaces, and causes them to separate the more readily. The insect also emits from its body silken traces, which, adhering to the spot where it rests, serves to confine the skin to its then existing position. These preliminary steps seem to call for some considerable exertion, as after them the worm remains quiet for a short space of time, to recover from its fatigue. It then proceeds, by rubbing its head among the leafy fibres surrounding it, to disencumber itself of the scaly covering. Its next effort is to break through the skin nearest to the head, which, as it is there the smallest, calls for the greatest exertion; and no sooner is this accomplished and the two front legs are disengaged, than the remainder of the body is quickly drawn forth, the skin being still fastened to the spot in the manner already described.

This moulting is so complete, that not only is the whole covering of the body cast off, but that of the feet, the entire skull, and even the jaws, including the teeth. These several parts may be discerned by the unassisted eye; but become very apparent when viewed through a magnifying lens of moderate power.

In two or three minutes from the beginning of its efforts the worm is wholly freed, and again puts on the appearance of health and vigor; feeding with recruited appetite upon its leafy banquet. It sometimes happens that the outer skin refuses to detach itself wholly, but breaks and leaves an annular portion adhering to the extremity of its body, from which all the struggles of the insect cannot wholly disengage it. The pressure thus occasioned induces swelling and inflammation in other parts of the body; and, after efforts of greater or less duration, death generally terminates its sufferings.

[Pg 107] Worms newly freed from their exuviæ are easily distinguished from others by the pale color and wrinkled appearance of their new skin. This latter quality, however, soon disappears, through the repletion and growth of the insect, which continues to feed during five days. At this time its length will be increased to half an inch; when it is attacked by a second sickness, followed by a second moulting, the manner of performing which is exactly similar to the former. Its appetite then again returns, and is indulged during other five days, in the course of which time its length increases to three quarters of an inch: it then undergoes its third sickness and moulting. These being past in all respects like the former, and five more days of feeding having followed, it is seized by its fourth sickness, and casts its skin for the last time in the caterpillar state. The worm is now about one and a half or two inches long. This last change being finished, the worm devours its food most voraciously, and increases rapidly in size during ten days.

The silk-worm has now attained to its full growth, and is a slender caterpillar from two and a half to three inches in length (See Figure 1. Plate III.). The peculiarities of its structure may be better examined now than in its earlier stages. It can readily be seen that the worm has twelve membranous rings round its body, parallel to each other; and which, answering to the movements of the animal, mutually contract and elongate. It has sixteen legs, in pairs: six in front, which are covered with a sort of shell or scale, and are placed under the three first rings, and cannot be either sensibly lengthened, or their position altered. The other ten legs are called holders: these are membranous, flexible, and attached to the body under the rings, being furnished with little hooks, which assist the insect in climbing. The skull is inclosed in a scaly substance, similar to the covering of the first six legs. The jaws are indented or serrated like the teeth of a saw, and their strength is great considering the size of the insect. Its mouth is peculiar, having a vertical instead of an horizontal aperture; and the worm is furnished with eighteen breathing holes, placed at equal distances down the body, nine on each side. Each of these holes is supposed to be the termination of a particular organ of respiration. [Pg 108] On either side of the head, near to the mouth, seven small eyes may be discerned. The two broad appearances higher upon the head, which are frequently mistaken for eyes, are bones of the skull. The two apertures through which the worm draws its silken filament are placed just beneath the jaw, and close to each other; these being exceedingly minute.

At the period above-mentioned the desire of the worm for food begins to abate: the first symptom of this is the appearance of the leaves nibbled into small portions and wasted. It soon after entirely ceases even to touch the leaves; appears restless and uneasy; erects it head; and moves about from side to side, with a circular motion, in quest of a place wherein it can commence its labor of spinning. Its color is now light green, with some mixture of a darker hue. In twenty-four hours from the time of its abstaining from food, the material for forming its silk will be digested in its reservoirs; its green color will disappear; its body will have acquired a degree of glossiness, and have become partially transparent towards its neck. Before the worm is quite prepared to spin, its body will have acquired greater firmness, and be in a trifling measure lessened in size.

“The substance,” says Mr. Porter, “of which the silk is composed, is secreted in the form of a fine yellow transparent gum in two separate vessels of slender dimensions, wound, as it were, on two spindles in the stomach; and if unfolded, these vessels would be about ten inches in length[131].” This statement is proved to be erroneous, as the reader will perceive, at the conclusion of this chapter.

When the worm has fixed upon some angle, or hollow place, whose dimensions agree with the size of its intended silken ball or cocoon, it begins its labor by throwing forth thin and irregular threads, see Figure 2. Plate III., which are intended to support its future dwelling.

During the first day, the insect forms upon these a loose structure of an oval shape, which is called floss silk, and within which covering, in the three following days, it forms the firm [Pg 109] and consistent yellow ball; the laborer, of course, always remaining on the inside of the sphere which it is forming[132].

The silken filament, which when drawn out appears to be one thread, is composed of two fibres, unwound through the two orifices before described; and these fibres are brought together by means of two hooks, placed within the silk-worm’s mouth for the purpose. The worm rests on its lower extremity throughout the unwinding operation, and employs its mouth and front legs in the task of directing and uniting the two filaments. The filament is not wound in regular concentric circles round the interior surface of the ball, but in spots, going backwards and forwards with a sort of wavy motion. This apparently irregular manner of proceeding is plainly perceptible when the silk is being reeled off the ball; which does not make more than one or two entire revolutions while ten or twelve yards of silk are being transferred to the reel[133].

At the end of the third or fourth day, the worm will have completed its task; and we have then a silk cocoon (See Figure 3. Plate III.), with the worm imprisoned in its centre; the [Pg 110] cocoon being from an inch to an inch and a half long, and of a yellow or orange color.

When the insect has finished its labor of unwinding, it smears the entire internal surface of the cocoon with a peculiar kind of gum, very similar in its nature to the matter which forms the silk itself; and this is no doubt designed as a shield against rain or the humidity of the atmosphere, for the chrysalis in its natural state; when of course it would be subject to all varieties of weather. The silken filament of which the ball is made up, is likewise accompanied, throughout its entire length, by a portion of gum, which serves to give firmness and consistency to its texture; and assists in rendering the dwelling of the chrysalis impervious to moisture. This office it performs so well, that when, for the purpose of reeling the silk with greater facility, the balls are thrown into basins of hot water, they swim on the top with all the buoyancy of bladders; nor, unless the ball be imperfectly formed, does the water penetrate within until the silk is nearly all unwound. In figure 4, plate III., the cocoons are drawn two-thirds of the usual size, and are shown with part of the outward floss silk removed.

The continual emission of the silken material during the formation of its envelope, together with its natural evaporation, uncompensated by food, causes the worm gradually to contract in bulk; it becomes wrinkled, and the rings of its body approach nearer to each other and appear more decidedly marked. When the ball is finished, the insect rests awhile from its toil, and then throws off its caterpillar garb. If the cocoon be now opened, its inhabitant will appear in the form of a chrysalis or aurelia, in shape somewhat resembling a kidney-bean (See Figure 5. plate III.), but pointed at one end, having a smooth brown skin. Its former covering, so dissimilar to the one now assumed, will be found lying beside it.

The account which has been given of the progressions of the silk-worm shows, that, in its various modifications, the animal organization of the insect has been always tending towards its simplification. Count Dandolo, writing upon this subject, observes, “Thus the caterpillar is in the first instance composed [Pg 111] of animal, silky, and excremental particles; this forms the state of the growing caterpillar: in the next stage it is composed of animal and silky particles; it is then the mature caterpillar: and lastly, it is reduced to the animal particles alone; and is termed in this state the chrysalis. The poet Cowper, in the following lines, beautifully illustrates this subject:

It has been already noticed that the progressions of the insects are accelerated by an increase of temperature; and some variation will equally be experienced where different modes of treatment are followed; and, in particular, where different periods of the year are chosen in which to produce and rear the worm. Malpighius, in his “Anatomy of the Silk-worm,” says, [Pg 112] that worms which he hatched in May were eleven days old ere they were attacked by their first sickness; others hatched in July were ten days, and those brought forth in August nine days, before they refused their food, preparatory to their first moulting. Eight days appear to be the most usual term for their first attack; and by his judicious treatment count Dandolo shortened even this term by two days. In Europe, except where recourse is had to artificial aid, the term of the caterpillar state is usually that which has been already mentioned.

Sudden transitions from cold to heat, or vice versa, are highly injurious to the silk-worm; but it can bear a very high degree of heat, if uniformly maintained, without sustaining injury. Count Dandolo observed, that “the greater the degree of heat in which it is reared, the more acute are its wants, the more rapid its pleasures, and the shorter its existence.” Monsieur Boissier de Sauvagues made many experiments on this point. One year, when by the early appearance of the mulberry leaves, which were developed by the end of April, he was forced to hurry forward the operations of his filature, he raised the heat of the apartment in which the newly-hatched worms were placed to 100°; gradually diminishing this during their first and second ages to 95°. In consequence of the animal excitement thus induced, there elapsed only nine days between the hatching and the second moulting inclusively. It was the general opinion of those cultivators who witnessed the experiment, that the insects would not be able to exist in so intensely heated an atmosphere. The walls of the apartment, and the wicker hurdles on which the worms were placed, could scarcely be touched from the great heat, and yet all the changes and progressions went forward perfectly well, and a most abundant crop of silk was the result.

The same gentleman, on a subsequent occasion, exposed his brood to the temperature of 93° to 95° during their first age; of 89° to 91° in the second age; and remarked that the attendant circumstances were the same as in his former experiment, the changes of the worm being performed in the same space of time; whence he came to the conclusion, that it is not practicable to accelerate their progress beyond a certain point [Pg 113] by any superadditions of heat. In both of these experiments the quantity of food consumed, was as great as is usually given during the longer period employed in the common manner of rearing. After the second moulting had taken place in the last experiment, the temperature was lowered to 82°; and it is remarkable that the worms occupied only five days in completing their third and fourth changes, although others which had been accustomed to this lower degree from their birth occupied seven or eight days for each of these moultings. It would therefore seem that the constitution of the insects can be affected, and an impetus given to their functions at the period of their first animation, which accompanies them through their after stages. So far from this forcing system proving injurious to the health of silk-worms, M. de Sauvagues found that his broods were unusually healthy; and that while the labors of cultivation were abridged in their duration, much of the attendant anxiety was removed.

Like other caterpillars, the silk-worm is not a warm-blooded animal, and its temperature is therefore always equal to that of the atmosphere in which it is placed. In the silk-producing countries, where modes of artificial heating have not been studied practically and scientifically, the difficulty and expense that must attend the prosecution of this heating system, form abundant reasons why it cannot be generally adopted. The great susceptibility of the insect to atmospheric influences would also in a great degree render unsuitable the more common arrangements for the purpose. The plan of warming apartments by means of stoves, in its passage through which the air becomes highly heated before it mixes with and raises the general temperature of the air in the chamber, is liable to this inconvenience,—that the portion so introduced, having its vital property impaired by the burning heat through which it has passed, injures, proportionably, the respirable quality of the whole atmosphere; an effect which is easily perceptible by those who inhale it. A better plan of heating has lately been suggested, and is rapidly coming into practice, viz., of warming buildings by a current of hot water (an American invention), which is, by a very simple process, kept constantly flowing in [Pg 114] close channels through the apartment, where it continually gives off its heat by radiation; and the degree of this being far below the point which is injurious to the vital quality of air, the evil before alluded to is avoided. If the expense of fuel be not too great, as compared with that of the labor which would be saved by this invention, the adoption in silk countries of such a mode of raising and regulating the temperature might, probably, prove advantageous.

The silk-worm remains in the form of a chrysalis, for periods which, according to the climate or the temperature wherein it may be placed, vary from fifteen to thirty days. In India, the time is much shorter (See Chapter VIII.); in Spain and Italy, eighteen to twenty days. In France three weeks; and in the climate of England, when unaccelerated by artificial means, thirty days will elapse from the time the insect begins to spin until it emerges in its last and perfect form. It then throws off the shroud which had confined it in seeming lifelessness, and appears as a large moth of a grayish-white color, furnished with four wings, two eyes, and two black horns or antlers which present a feathery appearance (See Figure 6. plate III.).

If left until this period within the cocoon, the moth takes immediate measures for its extrication: ejecting from its mouth a liquor with which it moistens and lessens the adhesiveness of the gum wherewith it had lined the interior surface of its dwelling, and the insect is enabled, by frequent motions of its head, to loosen, without breaking, the texture of the ball; then using its hooked feet, it pushes aside the filaments and makes a passage for itself into light and freedom. It is erroneously said that the moth recovers its liberty by gnawing the silken threads; but it is found, on the contrary, that if carefully unwound, their continuity is by this means rarely broken.

One of the most remarkable circumstances connected with the natural history of silk-worms, is the degree in which their bulk and weight is increased, and the limited time wherein that increase is attained. Count Dandolo, who appears to have neglected nothing that could tend to the right understanding of the subject, and to the consequent improvement of the processes employed, had patience enough to count and [Pg 115] weigh many hundred thousand eggs, as well as follow out to the ultimate result his inquiries respecting their produce. He found that on an average sixty-eight sound silk-worm’s eggs weighed one grain. One ounce[134], therefore, comprised, 39,168 eggs. But one twelfth part of this weight evaporates previous to hatching, and the shells are equal to one fifth more. If, therefore, from one ounce, composed of 576 grains, 48 grains be deducted for evaporation, and 115 for the shells, 413 grains will remain equal to the weight of 39,168 young worms; and, at this rate, 54,526 of the insects when newly hatched, are required to make up the ounce. After the first casting of the skin, 3840 worms are found to have this weight, so that the bulk and weight of the insects have in a few days been multiplied more than fourteen times. After the second change 610 worms weigh an ounce, their weight being increased in the intermediate time six fold. In the week passed between the second and third ages, the number of insects required to make up the same weight, decreases from 610 to 144, their weight being therefore more than quadrupled. During the fourth age, a similar rate of increase is maintained: thirty-five worms now weigh an ounce. The fifth age of the caterpillar comprises nearly a third part of its brief existence, and has been described, by an enthusiastic writer on the subject, as the happiest period of its life, during which it rapidly increases in size, preparing and secreting the material it is about to spin. When the silk-worms are fully grown, and have arrived at their period of finally rejecting food, six of them make up the weight of an ounce. They have, therefore, since their last change, again added to their weight six fold.

It is thus seen that, in a few short weeks, the insect has multiplied its weight more than nine thousand fold! From this period, and during the whole of its two succeeding states of being, the worm imbibes no nourishment, and gradually diminishes in weight; being supported by its own substance, and [Pg 116] appearing to find sufficient occupation in forming its silken web, and providing successors for our service, without indulging that grosser appetite which forms the beginning and the end of their desires during their caterpillar existence.

The moth enjoys its liberty for only a very brief space. Its first employment is to seek its mate; after which the female deposits her eggs; and both in the course of two or three days after, end their being.

Formation of Silk. By M. H. Straus, of Durckheim.—“It is generally admitted by naturalists that the thread of the caterpillar is produced by a simple emission of liquid matter through the orifice of the spinner, and that it acquires solidity at once from the drying influence of the air. It was easy to entertain such an hypothesis, for nothing is more simple than the formation of a very fine thread by such a process. But a little reflection will soon show us, even à priori, that it is not possible; for how can we comprehend that so fine a fibre, liquid at the instant of its issue from the aperture, should instantly acquire such a consistence as to bear the weight of the animal suspended by it, and at the same time that it is rapidly produced? Though the fluid, holding the silk in solution, should be quickly volatilised, it must still be a matter of conjecture, how the animal suspended by this thread could be able to arrest its issue, holding on only by the thread itself, for it cannot pinch the thread, seeing that it is only in a liquid state inside, and the thread cannot be glued to the edge of the opening, as its rapid adhesion would prevent its issue while the animal is spinning. A little examination would satisfy us that silk cannot be produced in this manner, but that it is secreted in the form of silk in the silk vessels, and that the spinning apparatus only winds it. The thread is produced in the slender posterior part of the vessel, the inflated portion of which consists of the reservoir of ready formed silk, where it is found in the form of a skein; each thread being rolled up so as to occupy in the silk-worm (Bombex mori) a space of only about a sixth part of the real length of the skein. The fact is shown by the following experiment I made for the purpose of ascertaining whether the silk is formed in the body of the caterpillars.

[Pg 117]

‘Take one of the animals when about to form its cocoon, clean it in common vinegar, in which it may remain from four to six hours, open it on the back and extract the silk vessels, there being one on each side of the alimentary canal. Take them up by the hinder end, just where they begin to swell (further back the silk is not solid enough), and draw them out. The membrane forming the vessel is easily torn open, and the contents expand to six or seven times its original length. The skein having attained its full length by the letting out of its gathers, we obtain a cord perfectly equal in size throughout, except at the end, where it is attenuated. This cord resembles a large horse-hair, and constitutes what fishermen call “Florence hair.” I ought to add that in simply drawing out the silk vessel, the Florence hair is found enveloped in a golden yellow gummy matter, forming the glutinous portion by which the worm fastens its thread. This must be got rid of by drawing the cord through the fold formed on the inside of the joint of the left fore finger, converted into a canal by applying to it the end of the thumb. The glutinous substance and the membranes being thus separated, we have the naked hair. In this state, before the silk becomes dry and hard, not only will it be indefinitely divided longitudinally, which proves its fibrous structure, but in trying to split it by drawing it transversely, the little filaments of silk which form it are perfectly separated, making a bundle of extremely fine fibrils.’

We cannot better conclude this interesting portion of our subject, than by quoting the following beautiful lines by Miss H. F. Gould:—

[Plate III]

[Pg 119]

In China, the tradition of the silk culture is, as already shown, carried back into the mythological periods, and dates with the origin of agriculture itself. These two pursuits or avocations, namely, husbandry and the silk-manufacture, form the subject of one of the sixteen discourses to the people. It is there observed, that “from ancient times the Son of Heaven directed the plough: the Empress planted the mulberry-tree. Thus have these exalted personages, not above the practice of labor and exertion, set an example to all men, with a view to leading the millions of their subjects to attend to their essential interests.”

In the work published by Imperial authority, entitled “Illustrations of Husbandry and Weaving[135],” there are numerous [Pg 120] wood-cuts, accompanied by letter-press explanatory of the different processes of farming and the silk-manufacture. The former head is confined to the production of rice, the staple article of food, and proceeds from the ploughing of the land to the packing of the grain; the latter details all the operations connected with planting the mulberry and gathering its leaves, up to the final weaving of the silk.

The mulberry-tree is chiefly cultivated in Chĕ-kiang, which province, together with the only three others that produce fine silk, namely, Kiang-nân, Woo-pĕ, and Sze-chuen, is crossed by the thirtieth parallel of latitude. Chĕ-kiang is a country highly alluvial, intersected by numerous rivers and canals, with a climate that corresponds pretty nearly to the same latitude as that in the United States of America. The soil is manured with mud, dug from the rivers, assisted with ashes or dung; and the spaces between the trees are generally filled with millet, pulse, or other articles of food. The time for pruning the young trees, so as to produce fine leafy shoots, is at the commencement of the year. About four eyes are left on every shoot, and care is taken that the branches be properly thinned, with a view to giving plenty of light and air to the leaves. In gathering these, they make use of steps, as the young trees could not support a ladder, and would besides be injured in their branches by the use of one. The trees, with their foliage, are carefully watched, and the mischiefs of insects prevented by the use of various applications, among which are some essential oils.

The young trees of course suffer by being stripped of their leaves, which are the lungs of plants, and this is an additional reason for renewing them after a certain time. They endeavor in part to counteract the evil effect, by pruning and lopping the tree, so as to diminish the wood when the leaves have [Pg 121] been gathered. It is surprising, however, to observe how soon a tree in those climates will recover its leaves in the summer or autumn, after having been entirely stripped of them by a typhoon or hurricane. Fresh plants are procured by cuttings or layers, and sometimes from seed. When the trees grow too old for the production of the finest leaves, and show a greater tendency to fruiting, they are either removed or so cut and managed as to produce young branches.

The principal object, in the cultivation of the mulberry, is to produce the greatest quantity of young and healthy leaves without fruit. For this reason the trees are not allowed to exceed a certain age and height. They are planted on the plan of a quincunx[136], and said to be in perfection in about three years.

Mr. Barrow, who observed the management of the trees and silk-worms in Chĕ-kiang, confirms the usual Chinese accounts, by saying that “the houses in which the worms are reared are placed generally in the centre of each plantation, in order that they may be removed as far as possible from every kind of noise; experience having taught them that a sudden shout, or the bark of a dog, is destructive of the young worms. A whole brood has sometimes perished from the effects of a thunder-storm.”

Some notion of the extent of the care required in the management of the worms may be formed from the following extract, taken from the Chinese work referred to at the beginning of this chapter.

“The place where their habitation is built must be retired, free from noise, smells, and disturbances of every kind. The least fright, makes great impressions on these sensitive creatures; even the barking of dogs, &c., is capable of throwing them into the utmost disorder.

For the purpose of paying them every attention an affectionate mother is provided, who is careful to supply their wants; [Pg 122] she is called Isan-mon, ‘mother of the worms.’ She takes possession of the chamber, but not before she has washed herself and put on clean clothes, which have not the least repulsive smell; she must not have eaten anything immediately before, or handled any wild succory, the smell of which is very prejudicial. She must be clothed in a plain habit, without any lining, that she may be more sensible of the warmth of the place, and accordingly increase or lessen the fire. She must also carefully avoid making a smoke or raising a dust, which would also be offensive.”

Silk-worms require to be carefully humored before the time of casting their slough. Every day is to them a year, having in a manner, the four seasons; the morning being the Spring; the middle of the day: Summer; the evening: Autumn; and the night, Winter.

The chambers are so contrived as to admit of the use of artificial heat when necessary. Great care is taken of the sheets of paper on which the eggs have been laid; and the hatching is either retarded or advanced, by the application of cold or heat according to circumstances, so as to time the simultaneous exit of the young worms exactly to the period when the tender spring-leaves of the mulberry are most fit for their nourishment.

They proportion the food very exactly to the young worms by weighing the leaves, which in the first instance are cut, but as the insects become larger, are given to them whole. The greatest precautions being observed in regulating the temperature of the apartments. The worms are fed upon a species of small hurdles of basket-work, strewed with leaves, which are constantly shifted for the sake of cleanliness, the insects readily moving off to a fresh hurdle with new leaves, as the scent attracts them. In proportion to their growth, room is afforded to them by increasing the number of these hurdles, the worms of one being shifted to three, then to six, and so on until they attain their greatest size. When they have cast their several skins, reached their greatest size, and assumed a transparent yellowish color, they are removed to places divided into compartments, preparatory to casting forth their silken filaments.

In the course of a week after the commencement of this operation, [Pg 123] the cocoons are complete, and it now becomes necessary to take them in hand before the pupæ turn into moths, which would immediately bore their way out, and spoil the cocoons. When a certain number, therefore, have been laid aside for the sake of future eggs, the chrysalides are killed by being placed in jars under layers of salt and leaves, with a complete exclusion of air. They are subsequently placed in moderately warm water, which dissolves the glutinous substance that binds the silk together, and the filament is wound off upon reels. This is put up in bundles of a certain size and weight, and either becomes an article of merchandise under the name of “raw silk,” or is subjected to the loom, and manufactured into various stuffs, for home or foreign consumption. The Chinese notwithstanding the simplicity of their looms (see frontispiece), will imitate exactly the newest and most elegant patterns from France. They particularly excel in the production of damasks, figured-satins, and embroidery. Their crape has never yet been perfectly imitated; and they make a species of washing silk, called at Canton “ponge,” which, the longer it is used, the softer it becomes.

The Chinese have from time immemorial been celebrated for the beauty of their embroideries; indeed, it has been doubted whether the art was not originally introduced into Europe by them, through the Persians.

From what has been said, it is evident that the raising of the mulberry-tree should first engage the attention of the cultivator, since its leaves form the almost exclusive nourishment of the silk-worm. It is scarcely necessary that we should in a work of this description enter more fully into the cultivation of the mulberry-tree. This has already been so ably done by Jonathan Cobb, Esq. of Dedham, Mass., Dr. Pascalis of New York, Judge Comstock of Hartford, Conn., and E. P. Roberts, Esq. of Baltimore, as to leave no stone unturned, or any want upon the subject.

In such parts of the Chinese empire where the climate is favorable to the practice, and where alone, most probably, the silk-worm is indigenous, it remains at liberty, feeding on the leaves of its native mulberry-tree, and going through all its mutations [Pg 124] among the branches, uncontrolled by the hand and unassisted by the cares of man. As soon, however, as the silken balls have been constructed, they are appropriated by the universal usurper, who spares only the few required to reproduce their numbers, and thus furnish him with successive harvests[137].

This silk, the spontaneous offering of nature, is not, however, equal in fineness to that produced by worms under shelter, and whose progressions are influenced by careful management. Much attention is, therefore, bestowed by the Chinese in the artificial rearing of silk-worms. One of their principal cares, is to prevent the too early hatching of the eggs, to which the nature of the climate so strongly disposes them. The mode of insuring the requisite delay, is, to cause the moth to deposit her eggs on large sheets of paper: these, immediately upon their production, are suspended from a beam in the room, while the windows are opened to expose them to the air. In a few days the papers are taken down and rolled loosely up with the eggs inside, in which form they are again hung during the remainder of the summer and autumn. Towards the end of the year they are immersed in cold water wherein a small portion of salt has been dissolved. In this state the eggs are left during two days; and on being taken from the salt and water are first hung to dry, and then rolled up rather more tightly than before, each sheet of paper being thereafter inclosed in a [Pg 125] separate earthen vessel. Some persons, who are exceedingly particular in their processes, use a lye made of mulberry-tree ashes, and place the eggs likewise, during some minutes, on snow-water.

These processes appear efficacious for checking the hatching, until the expanding leaves of the mulberry-tree give notice to the silk-worm-rearer that he may take measures for bringing forth his brood. For this purpose the rolls of paper are taken from the earthen vessels, and hung up towards the sun, the side to which the eggs adhere being turned from its rays, by being placed inside, and thus allowing the heat to be transmitted to them through the paper. In the evening the sheets are rolled closely up and placed in a warm situation. The same proceeding is repeated on the following day, when the eggs assume a grayish color. On the evening of the third day, after a similar exposure, they are found to be of a much darker color, nearly approaching to black; and the following morning, on the paper being unrolled, they are covered with worms. In the higher latitudes the Chinese have recourse to the heat of stoves, in order to promote the simultaneous hatching of the eggs.

The apartments in which the worms are kept stand in dry situations, in a pure atmosphere, and apart from all noise, which is thought to be annoying to the worms, especially when they are young. The rooms are made very close, but adequate means of ventilation provided: the doors being open to the south. Each chamber is provided with nine or ten rows of frames, placed one above the other. On these frames, rush hurdles are ranged; upon which the worms are fed through their five ages. A uniform degree of heat is constantly preserved, either by means of stoves placed in the corners of the apartments, or by chafing-dishes which from time to time are carried up and down the room. Flame and smoke being always carefully avoided: cow-dung dried in the sun is preferred by the Chinese to all other kinds of fuel for this purpose.

The most unremitting attention is paid to the wants of the worms, which are fed night and day. On their being hatched they are furnished with forty meals for the first day, thirty are given on the second day, and fewer on and after the third. [Pg 126] The Chinese believe that the growth of silk-worms is accelerated, and their success promoted by the abundance of their food, and therefore, in cloudy and damp weather, when the insects are injuriously affected by the state of the atmosphere, their appetites are stimulated by a wisp of very dry straw being lighted and held over them, thus causing the cold and damp air to be dissipated.

The Chinese calculate that the same number of insects which would, if they had attained the full size in twenty-three or twenty-four days, produce twenty-five ounces of silk, would give only twenty ounces if their growth occupied twenty-eight days, and only ten ounces if forty days. In order, therefore, to accelerate their growth, they supply them with fresh food every half-hour during the first day of their existence, and then gradually reduce the number of meals as the worms grow older. It deserves to be remarked as a fact unnoticed in Natural Theology, that the substance on which this valuable caterpillar feeds, is the leaf of the mulberry-tree; and Providence, as if to ensure the continuance of this useful species, has so ordained it that no other insect will partake of the same food; thus ensuring a certain supply for the little spinster.

Many persons believe that light is injurious to silk-worms; but, so far from this opinion being correct, the opposite belief would probably be nearer to the truth. In its native state, the insect is of course exposed to light, and suffers no inconvenience on that account; and it has been observed by one who gave much attention to the subject (Count Dandolo), that in his establishment, “on the side on which the sun shone directly on the hurdles, the silk-worms were stronger and more numerous than in those places where the edge of the wicker hurdle formed a shade.” The obscurity wherein the apartments are usually kept has a very pernicious influence on the air: the food of the worms emits in light oxygen, or vital air, while in darkness it exhales carbonic acid gas, unfit for respiration. This well-known fact occurs alike with all leaves similarly circumstanced[138]. To the bad effects thus arising from the exclusion [Pg 127] of the sun’s rays, another evil is added by the nature of the artificial lights employed, being such as still further to vitiate the air.

An almost incredible quantity of fluid is constantly disengaged by evaporation from the bodies of the insects; and if means be not taken to disperse this as it is produced, another cause of unwholesomeness in the air arises. Noticing this, Count Dandolo observes, “This series of causes of the deterioration of the air which the worms must inhale, may be termed a continual conspiracy against their health and life; and their resisting it, and living throughout shows them to have great strength of constitution.”

In seven days from the commencement of the cocoons they are collected in heaps; those which are designed to continue [Pg 128] the breed being first selected and set apart on hurdles, in a dry and airy situation. The next care, is to destroy the vitality of the chrysalides in those balls which are to be reeled. The most approved method of performing this, is to fill large earthen vessels with cocoons, in layers, throwing in one-fortieth part of their weight of salt upon each layer, covering the whole with large dry leaves resembling those of the water-lilly, and then closely stopping the mouths of the vessels. In reeling their silk the Chinese separate the thick and dark from the long and glittering white cocoons, as the produce of the former is inferior.

We are indebted to Dr. Ure for the two following articles (extracted from the Journal of the Asiatic Society, for January, 1837), on wild silk-worms. The first article is from the pen of Thomas Hugon, a resident of Nowgong, and relates to wild silk-worms of Assam.

“The Assamese select for breeding, such cocoons only as have been begun to be formed in the largest number on the same day, usually the second or third after the commencement; those which contain males being distinguishable by a more pointed end. They are put in a closed basket suspended from the roof; the moths, as they come forth, having room to move about, at the expiration of a day, the females (known only by their large body) are taken out, and tied to small wisps of thatching-straw, selected always from over the hearth, its darkened color being thought more acceptable to the insect. If out of a batch, there should be but few males; the wisps with the females tied to them are exposed outside at night; and the males thrown away in the neighborhood, find their way to them. These wisps are hung upon a string tied across the roof, to keep them from vermin. The eggs laid after the first three days, are said to produce weak worms. The wisps are taken out morning and evening, and exposed to the sun, and in ten days after being laid, a few of them are hatched. The wisps being then hung up to the tree, the young worms find their way to the leaves. The ant, whose bite is fatal to the worm in its early stages, is destroyed by rubbing the trunk of the tree with molasses, and tying dead fish and toads to it, to [Pg 129] attract these rapacious insects in large numbers, when they are destroyed with fire; a process which needs to be repeated several times. The ground under the trees is also well cleared, to render it easy to pick up and replace the worms which fall down. They are prevented from coming to the ground, by tying fresh plantain-leaves round the trunk, over whose slippery surface they cannot crawl; and then transferred from exhausted trees to fresh ones, on bamboo platters tied to long poles. The worms require to be constantly watched and protected from the depredations of both day and night birds, as well as rats and other vermin. During their moultings, they remain on the branches; but when about beginning to spin, they come down the trunk, and being stopped by the plantain-leaves, are there collected in baskets, which are afterwards put under bunches of dry leaves, suspended from the roof, into which the worms crawl, and form their cocoons—several being clustered together: this accident, owing to the practice of crowding the worms, which is most injudicious, rendering it impossible to wind off their silk in continuous threads, as in the filatures of Italy, France, and even Bengal. The silk is, therefore, spun like flax, instead of being unwound in single filaments. After four days the proper cocoons are selected for the next breed, and the rest are reeled. The total duration of a breed varies from sixty to seventy days; divided into the following periods:—

“On being tapped with the finger, the body renders a hollow sound; the quality of which shows whether they have come down for want of leaves on the tree, or from their having ceased feeding.

“As the chrysalis is not soon killed by exposure to the sun, the cocoons are put on stages, covered with leaves, and exposed to the hot air from grass burned under them; they are next boiled for about an hour in a solution of the potash, made from [Pg 130] incinerated rice-stalks; then taken out and put on a cloth folded over them to keep them warm. The floss being removed by hand, they are then thrown into a basin of hot water to be unwound; which is done in a very rude and wasteful way.

“The plantations for the mooga silk-worm in Lower Assam, amount to 5000 acres, besides what the forests contain; and yield 1500 maunds of 84 lbs. each per annum. Upper Assam is more productive.

“The cocoon of the Koutkuri mooga is of the size of a fowl’s egg. It is a wild species, and affords filaments much valued for fishing-lines.

“The Arrindy, or Eria worm, and moth, is reared over a great part of Hindostan, but entirely within doors. It is fed principally on the Hera, or Palma christi leaves, and gives sometimes 12 broods of spun silk in the course of a year. It affords a fibre which looks rough at first; but when woven, becomes soft and silky, after repeated washings. The poorest people are clothed with stuff made of it, which is so durable as to descend from mother to daughter. The cocoons are put in a close basket, and hung up in the house, out of reach of rats and insects. When the moths come forth, they are allowed to move about in the basket for twenty-four hours; after which the females are tied to long reeds or canes, twenty or twenty-five to each, and then hung up in the house. Of the eggs that are laid the first three days, about 200, only are kept; then tied up for seed. When a few of the worms are hatched, the cloths are put on small bamboo platters hung up in the house, in which they are fed with tender leaves. After the second moulting, they are removed to bunches of leaves suspended above the ground, beneath which a mat is laid to receive them when they fall. When they cease to feed, they are thrown into baskets full of dry leaves, among which they form their cocoons, two or three being often discovered joined together.

“The Saturnia trifenestrata has a yellow cocoon of a remarkably silky lustre. It lives on the soom-tree in Assam, but seems not to be much used.”

The second article is from the pen of Dr. Helfer, upon those [Pg 131] wild silk-worms which are indigenous to India. Besides the Bombyx mori, the Doctor enumerates the following seven species, formerly unknown:—1. “The wild silk-worm of the central provinces, a moth not larger than the Bombyx mori.” 2. “The Joree silk-worm of Assam, Bombyx religiosæ, which spins a cocoon of a fine filament, with much lustre. It lives upon the pipul tree (Ficus religiosa), which abounds in India, and ought therefore to be turned to account in breeding this valuable moth.” 3. “Saturnia silhetica, which inhabits the cassia mountains in Silhet and Dacca, where its large cocoons are spun into silk.” 4. “A still larger Saturnia, one of the greatest moths in existence, measuring ten inches from the one end of the wing to the other[139]; observed by Mr. Grant, in Chirra punjee”. 5. “Saturnia paphia, or the Tusseh silk-worm, is the most common of the native species, and furnishes the cloth usually worn by Europeans in India. It has not hitherto been domesticated, but millions of its cocoons are annually collected in the jungles, and brought to the silk factories near Calcutta and Bhagelpur. It feeds most commonly on the hair-tree (Zizyphus jujuba), but it prefers the Terminalia alata, or Assam tree, and the Bombax heptaphyllum. It is called Koutkuri mooga, in Assam.” 6. “Another Saturnia, from the neighborhood of Comercolly.” 7. “Saturnia assamensis, with a cocoon of a yellow-brown color, different from all others, called mooga, in Assam; which, although it can be reared in houses, thrives best in the open air upon trees, of which seven different kinds afford it food. The Mazankoory mooga, which feeds on the Adakoory tree, produces a fine silk, which is nearly white, and fetches 50 per cent. more than the fawn colored. The trees of the first year’s growth produce by far the most valuable cocoons. The mooga which inhabits the soom-tree, is found principally in the forests of the plains, and in the villages. The tree grows to a large size, and yields three crops of leaves in the year. The silk is of a light fawn color, and ranks next in value to the Mazankoory. There are generally five breeds of mooga worms in the year; 1. In January and [Pg 132] February; 2. In May and June; 3. In June and July; 4. In August and September; 5. In October and November; the first and last being the most valuable.”

Dr. Anderson informs us, that in Madras the silk-worm goes through all its evolutions in the short space of twenty-two days. It appears, however, that the saving of time, and consequently labor, is the only economy resulting from the acceleration; as the insects consume as much food during their shorter period of life, as is assigned to the longer-lived silk-worms of Europe.

We extract the following paper, with slight emendations, from Ellsworth’s Report of the Patent Office for the year 1844, being a communication from Dr. Stebbins of Northampton, Mass[140]., to the Editor of the American Agriculturalist, as having some bearing upon the present subject.

We will now conclude this Chapter with Dr. Bowling’s admirable illustration, of the mutual dependence of the arts upon each other:—

[Pg 137]

[Pg 138]

Of spiders there are many species; most of them extend their labors no farther than merely to make a web to ensnare and detain their food. But others are known to go beyond this, and spin a bag in the form of a cocoon, for the protection of their eggs, nearly similar to that of the silk-worm.[142]

Modern naturalists do not rank spiders among insects, because they have no antennæ, and no division between the head [Pg 139] and shoulders. They breathe by leaf-shaped gills, situated under the belly, instead of spiracles in the sides; and have a heart connected with these. But as spiders are popularly considered insects, it will sufficiently suit our purpose to introduce them here as such.

Spiders are usually classed according to their difference of color, whether black, brown, yellow, &c., or sometimes by the number and arrangement of their eyes: of these organs some possess no fewer than ten, others eight, and others again six[143].

Some species of spiders are known to possess the power of not merely forming a web, but also of spinning, for the protection of their eggs, a bag somewhat similar in form and substance to the cocoon of the silk-worm. The apparatus by which they construct their ingenious fabrics, is much more complicated than that which is common to the various species of caterpillars. Caterpillars have only two reservoirs for the materials of their silk; but the spider spins minute fibres from fine papillæ, or small nipples placed in the hinder part of its body. These papillæ serve the office of so many wire-drawing machines, from which the silken threadlets are ejected. Spiders, according to the dissections of M. Treviranus, have four principal vessels, two larger and two smaller, with a number of minute ones at their base. Several small tubes branch towards the reservoirs, for carrying to them, no doubt, a supply of the secreted material. Swammerdam describes them as twisted into many coils of an agate color[144]. We do not find them coiled, but nearly straight, and of a deep yellow color. From these, when broken, threads can be drawn out like those spun by the spider, though we cannot draw them so fine by many degrees.

From these little flasks or bags of gum, situated near the apex of the abdomen, and not at the mouth as in caterpillars, a tube originates, and terminates in the external spinnerets, which may be seen by the naked eye in the form of five little teats surrounded by a small circle, as represented in Fig. 8. [Pg 140] Plate IV.; this figure shows the garden spider (Epeira diadema) suspended by a thread proceeding from its spinneret.

We have seen that the thread of the silk-worm is composed of two filaments united, but the spider’s thread would appear, from the first view of its five spinnerets, to be quintuple, and in some species which have six teats, so many times more. It is not safe, however, in our interpretations of nature to proceed upon conjecture, however plausible, nor to take anything for granted which we have not actually seen; since our inferences in such cases are almost certain to be erroneous. If Aristotle, for example, had ever looked narrowly at a spider when spinning, he could not have fancied, as he does, that the materials which it uses are nothing but wool stripped from its body. On looking, then, with a strong magnifying glass, at the teat-shaped spinnerets of a spider, we perceive them studded with regular rows of minute bristle-like points, about a thousand to each teat, making in all from five to six thousand. These are minute tubes which we may appropriately term spinnerules, as each is connected with the internal reservoirs, and emits a thread of inconceivable fineness. Fig. 9. represents this wonderful apparatus as it appears in the microscope.

We do not recollect that naturalists have ventured to assign any cause for this very remarkable multiplicity of the spinnerules of spiders, so different from the simple spinneret of caterpillars. To us it appears an admirable provision for their mode of life. Caterpillars neither require such strong materials, nor that their thread should dry as quickly. It is well known in our manufactures, particularly in rope-spinning, that in cords of equal thickness, those which are composed of many smaller ones united are stronger than those spun at once. In the instance of the spider’s thread, this principle must hold still more strikingly, inasmuch as it is composed of fluid materials that require to be dried rapidly, and this drying must be greatly [Pg 141] facilitated by exposing so many to the air separately before their union, which is effected at about the tenth of an inch from the spinnerets. In Fig. 10. Plate IV. each of the threads shown is represented to contain one hundred minute threads, the whole forming only one of the spider’s common threads. In the figure the threads are, of course, greatly magnified, so that, for the small space represented, the lines are shown as parallel. The threadlets, or filaments as they come from the papillæ, are too fine to be counted with any degree of accuracy, but it is evident that very many are sent forth from each of the larger papillæ. This fact tends to explain the power possessed by the spider of producing threads having different degrees of tenuity. By applying more or less of these papillæ against the place whence it begins its web, the spider joins into one thread the almost imperceptible individual filaments which it draws from its body; the size of this thread being dependent on the number of nipples employed, and regulated by that instinct which teaches the creature to make choice of the degree of exility most appropriate to the work wherein it is about to engage.

Réaumur relates that he has often counted as many as seventy or eighty fibres through a microscope, and perceived that there were yet infinitely more than he could reckon; so that he believed himself to be far within the limit of truth in computing that the tip of each of the five papillæ furnished 1000 separate fibres: thus supposing that one slender filament of a spider’s web is made up of 5000 fibres!

Leeuwenhoeck, in one of his extraordinary microscopical observations on a young spider, not bigger than a grain of sand, upon enumerating the threadlets in one of its threads, calculated that it would require four millions of them to be as thick as a hair of his head!

Another important advantage derived by the spider from the multiplicity of its threadlets is, that the thread affords a much more secure attachment to a wall, a branch of a tree, or any other object, than if it were simple; for, upon pressing the spinneret against the object, as spiders always do when they fix [Pg 142] a thread, the spinnerules are extended over an area of some diameter, from every hair’s breadth of which a strand, as rope-makers term it, is extended to compound the main cord. Fig. 11. Plate IV. exhibits, magnified, this ingenious contrivance. Those who may be curious to examine it, will see it best when the line is attached to any black object, for the threads, being whitish, are, in otherwise, not so easily perceived.

Shooting of the lines.—It has long been considered a curious though difficult investigation, to determine in what manner spiders, seeing that they are destitute of wings, transport themselves from tree to tree, across brooks, and frequently through the air itself, without any apparent starting point. On looking into the authors who have treated upon this subject, it is surprising how little there is to be met with that is new, even in the most recent. Their conclusions, or rather their conjectural opinions, are, however, worthy of notice; for by unlearning error, we the more firmly establish truth.

1. One of the earliest notions upon this subject is that of Blancanus, the commentator on Aristotle, which is partly adopted by Redi, by Henricus Regius of Utrecht, by Swammerdam[145], by Lehmann, as well as by Kirby and Spence[146]. “The spider’s thread,” says Swammerdam, “is generally made up of two or more parts, and after descending by such a thread, it ascends by one only, and is thus enabled to waft itself from one height or tree to another, even across running waters; the thread it leaves loose behind it being driven about by the wind, and so fixed to some other body.” “I placed,” says Kirby, “the large garden spider (Epeira diadema) upon a stick about a foot long, set upright in a vessel containing water.... It let itself drop, not by a single thread, but by two, each distant from the other about the twelfth of an inch, guided, as usual, by one of its hind feet, and that one apparently smaller than the other. When it had suffered itself to descend nearly to the surface of the water, it stopped short, and by some means, which I could not distinctly see, broke off, close to the spinners, the smallest thread, which still adhering by the other end to [Pg 143] the top of the stick, floated in the air, and was so light as to be carried about by the slightest breath. On approaching a pencil to the loose end of this line, it did not adhere from mere contact. I, therefore, twisted it once or twice round the pencil, and then drew it tight. The spider, which had previously climbed to the top of the stick, immediately pulled at it with one of its feet, and finding it sufficiently tense, crept along it, strengthening it as it proceeded by another thread, and thus reached the pencil.”

1. “We have repeatedly witnessed this occurrence,” says Mr. Rennie, “in the fields, and when spiders were placed for experiment, as Kirby has described; but we very much doubt that the thread broken is ever intended as a bridge cable, or that it would have been so used in that instance, had it not been artificially fixed and again accidentally found by the spider. According to our observations, a spider never for an instant, abandons, the thread which she dispatches in quest of an attachment, but uniformly keeps trying it with her feet, in order to ascertain its success. We are, therefore, persuaded, that when a thread is broken in the manner above described, it is because it has been spun too weak, and spiders may often be seen breaking such threads in the process of netting their webs.”

The plan, besides, as explained by these distinguished writers, would more frequently prove abortive than successful, from the cut thread not being sufficiently long. They admit, indeed, that spiders’ lines are often found “a yard or two long, fastened to twigs of grass not a foot in height.... Here, therefore, some other process must have been used[147].”

2. The celebrated English naturalist, Dr. Lister, whose treatise upon the native spiders of that country, has been the basis of every subsequent work on the subject, maintains that “some spiders shoot out their threads in the same manner that porcupines do their quills[148]; that whereas the quills of the latter are entirely separated from their bodies, when thus shot out, the threads of the former remain fixed to their anus, as the sun’s rays to its body[149].” A French periodical writer goes a little farther, and says, that spiders have the power of shooting out threads, and directing them at pleasure towards a determined point, judging of the distance and position of the object [Pg 144] by some sense of which we are ignorant[150]. Kirby also says, that he once observed a small garden spider (Aranea reticulata) “standing midway on a long perpendicular fixed thread, and an appearance caught” his “eye, of what seemed to be the emission of threads.” “I,” therefore, he adds, “moved my arm in the direction in which they apparently proceeded, and, as I had suspected, a floating thread attached itself to my coat, along which the spider crept. As this was connected with the spinners of the spider, it could not have been formed” by breaking a “secondary thread[151].” Again, in speaking of the gossamer-spider, he says, “it first extends its thigh, shank, and foot, into a right line, and then, elevating its abdomen till it becomes vertical, shoots its thread into the air, and flies off from its station[152].”

Another distinguished naturalist, Mr. White of Selborne, in speaking of the gossamer-spider, says, “Every day in fine weather in autumn do I see these spiders shooting out their webs, and mounting aloft: they will go off from the finger, if you take them into your hand. Last summer, one alighted on my book as I was reading in the parlor; ran to the top of the page, and shooting out a web, took its departure from thence. But what I most wondered at, was, that it went off with considerable velocity in a place where no air was stirring; and I am sure I did not assist it with my breath[153].”

“Having so often witnessed,” says Mr. Rennie, “the thread set afloat in the air by spiders, we can readily conceive the way in which those eminent naturalists were led to suppose it to be ejected by some animal force acting like a syringe; but as the statement can be completely disproved by experiment, we shall only at present ask, in the words of Swammerdam—‘how can it be possible that a thread so fine and slender should be shot out with force enough to divide and pass through the air?—is it not rather probable that the air would stop its progress, and so entangle it and fit it to perplex the spider’s operations[154]?’” [Pg 145] The opinion, indeed, is equally improbable with another suggested by Dr. Lister, that the spider can retract her thread within the abdomen, after it has been emitted[155]. De Geer[156] very justly joins Swammerdam in rejecting both of these fancies, which, in our own earlier observations upon spiders, certainly struck us as plausible and true. There can be no doubt, indeed, that the animal has a voluntary power of permitting the material to escape, or stopping it at pleasure, but this is not projectile.

3. “There are many people,” says the Abbé de la Pluche, “who believe that the spider flies when they see her pass from branch to branch, and even from one high tree to another; but she transports herself in this manner; and places herself upon the end of a branch, or some projecting body, and there fastens her thread; after which, with her two hind feet, she squeezes her dugs (spinnerets), and presses out one or more threads of two or three ells in length, which she leaves to float in the air till it be fixed to some particular place[157].” Without pretending to have observed this, Swammerdam says, “I can easily comprehend how spiders, without giving themselves any motion, may, by only compressing their spinnerets, force out a thread, which being driven by the wind, may serve to waft them from place to place[158].” Others, proceeding upon a similar notion, give a rather different account of the matter. “The spider,” says Bingley, “fixes one end of a thread to the place where she stands, and then with her hind paws draws out several other threads from the nipples, which, being lengthened out and driven by the wind to some neighboring tree or other object, are by their natural clamminess fixed to it[159].”

Observation gives some plausibility to the latter opinion, as the spider always actively uses her legs, though not to draw out the thread, but ascertain whether it has caught upon any object. The notion of her pressing the spinneret with her feet [Pg 146] must be a mere fancy; at least it is not countenanced by anything which we have observed.

4. An opinion much more recondite is mentioned, if it was not started, by M. D’Isjonval, that the floating of the spider’s thread is electrical. “Frogs, cats, and other animals,” he says, “are affected by natural electricity, and feel the change of weather; but no other animal more than myself and spiders.” In wet and windy weather he accordingly found that they spun very short lines, “but when a spider spins a long thread, there is a certainty of fine weather for at least ten or twelve days afterwards[160].” A periodical writer, who signs himself Carolan[161], fancies that in darting out her thread the spider emits a stream of air, or some subtle electric fluid, by which she guides it as if by magic.

A living writer (Mr. John Murray) whose learning and skill in conducting experiments give no little weight to his opinions, has carried these views considerably farther. “The aëronautic spider,” he says, “can propel its thread both horizontally and vertically, and at all relative angles, in motionless air and in an atmosphere agitated by winds; nay more, the aërial traveller can even dart its thread, to use a nautical phrase, in the ‘wind’s eye.’ My opinion and observations are based on many hundred experiments.... The entire phenomena are electrical. When a thread is propelled in a vertical plane, it remains perpendicular to the horizontal plane always upright, and when others are projected at angles more or less inclined, their direction is invariably preserved; the threads never intermingle, and when a pencil of threads is propelled, it ever presents the appearance of a divergent brush. These are electrical phenomena, and cannot be explained but on electrical principles.”

“In clear, fine weather, the air is invariably positive; and it is precisely in such weather that the aëronautic spider makes its ascent most easily and rapidly, whether it be in summer or winter.” “When the air is weakly positive, the ascent of the [Pg 147] spider will be difficult, and its altitude extremely limited, and the threads propelled will be but little elevated above the horizontal plane. When negative electricity prevails, as in cloudy weather, or on the approach of rain, and the index of De Saussure’s hygrometer rapidly advancing towards humidity, the spider is unable to ascend[162].”

Mr. Murray tells us, that “when a stick of excited sealing-wax is brought near the thread of suspension, it is evidently repelled; consequently, the electricity of the thread is of a negative character,” while “an excited glass tube brought near, seemed to attract the thread, and with it the aëronautic spider[163].” His friend, Mr. Bowman, further describes the aërial spider as “shooting out four or five, often six or eight, extremely fine webs several yards long, which waved in the breeze, diverging from each other like a pencil of rays.” One of them “had two distinct and widely diverging fasciculi of webs,” and “a line uniting them would have been at right angles to the direction of the breeze[164].”

“Such is the chief evidence in support of the electrical theory,” says Mr. Rennie; “but though we have tried these experiments, we have not succeeded in verifying any one of them. The following statements of Mr. Blackwall come nearer our own observations.

5. ‘Having procured a small branched twig,’ says Mr. Blackwall, ‘I fixed it upright in an earthen vessel containing water, its base being immersed in the liquid, and upon it I placed several of the spiders which produce gossamer. Whenever the insects thus circumstanced were exposed to a current of air, either naturally or artificially produced, they directly turned the thorax towards the quarter whence it came, even when it was so slight as scarcely to be perceptible, and elevating the abdomen, they emitted from their spinners a small portion of glutinous matter, which was instantly carried out in a line, consisting of four finer ones, with a velocity equal, or nearly [Pg 148] so, to that with which the air moved, as was apparent from observations made on the motion of detached lines similarly exposed. The spiders, in the next place, carefully ascertained whether their lines had become firmly attached to any object or not, by pulling at them with the front pair of legs; and if the result was satisfactory, after tightening them sufficiently, they made them pass to the twig; then discharging from their spinners, which they applied to the spot where they stood, a little more of their liquid gum, and committing themselves to these bridges of their own constructing, they passed over them in safety, drawing a second line after them, as a security in case the first gave way, and so effected their escape.

‘Such was invariably the result when spiders were placed where the air was liable to be sensibly agitated: I resolved, therefore, to put a bell-glass over them; and in this situation they remained seventeen days, evidently unable to produce a single line by which they could quit the branch they occupied, without encountering the water at its base; though, on the removal of the glass, they regained their liberty with as much celerity as in the instances already recorded.

‘This experiment, which, from want of due precaution, has misled so many distinguished naturalists, I have tried with several geometric spiders, and always with the same success[165].’”

Mr. Blackwall, from subsequent experiments, says he is “confident in affirming, that in motionless air, spiders have not the power of darting their threads even through the space of half an inch[166].” The following details are given in confirmation of this opinion. Mr. Blackwall observed, the 1st of Oct., 1826, a little before noon, with the sun shining brightly, no wind stirring, and the thermometer in the shade ranging from 55°.5 to 64°, a profusion of shining lines crossing each other at every angle, forming a confused net-work, covering the fields and hedges, and thickly coating his feet and ankles, as he walked across a pasture. He was more struck with the phenomenon because on the previous day a strong gale of wind had [Pg 149] blown from the south, and as gossamer is only seen in calm weather, it must have been all produced within a very short time.

“What more particularly arrested my attention,” says Mr. Blackwall, “was the ascent of an amazing quantity of webs of an irregular, complicated structure, resembling ravelled silk of the finest quality, and clearest white; they were of various shapes and dimensions, some of the largest measuring upwards of a yard in length, and several inches in breadth in the widest part; while others were almost as broad as long, presenting an area of a few square inches only.

“These webs, it was quickly perceived, were not formed in the air, as is generally believed, but at the earth’s surface. The lines of which they were composed, being brought into contact by the mechanical action of gentle airs, adhered together, till, by continual additions, they were accumulated into flakes or masses of considerable magnitude, on which the ascending current, occasioned by the rarefaction of the air contiguous to the heated ground, acted with so much force as to separate them from the objects to which they were attached, raising them in the atmosphere to a perpendicular height of at least several hundred feet. I collected a number of these webs about mid-day, as they rose; and again in the afternoon, when the upward current had ceased, and they were falling; but scarcely one in twenty contained a spider: though, on minute inspection, I found small winged insects, chiefly aphides, entangled in most of them.

“From contemplating this unusual display of gossamer, my thoughts were naturally directed to the animals which produced it, and the countless myriads in which they swarmed almost created as much surprise as the singular occupation that engrossed them. Apparently actuated by the same impulse, all were intent upon traversing the regions of air; accordingly, after gaining the summits of various objects, as blades of grass, stubble, rails, gates, &c., by the slow and laborious process of climbing, they raised themselves still higher by strengthening their limbs; and elevating the abdomen, by bringing it from the usual horizontal position into one almost [Pg 150] perpendicular, they emitted from their spinning apparatus a small quantity of the glutinous secretion with which they construct their webs. This viscous substance being drawn out by the ascending current of rarefied air into fine lines several feet in length, was carried upward, until the spiders, feeling themselves acted upon with sufficient force in that direction, quitted their hold of the objects on which they stood, and commenced their journey by mounting aloft.

“Whenever the lines became inadequate to the purpose for which they were intended, by adhering to any fixed body, they were immediately detached from the spinners and so converted into terrestrial gossamer, by means of the last pair of legs, and the proceedings just described were repeated; which plainly proves that these operations result from a strong desire felt by the insects to effect an ascent[167].” Mr. Blackwall has recently read a paper (still unpublished) in the Linnæan Society, confirmatory of his opinions.