Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/treatiseonoriginOOport_0 THE CABINET CYCLOPAEDIA. CONDUCTED BY THE REV. DIONYSIUS LARDNER, LL.D. F.R.S. L. & E. M. R. I. A. F. R. A. S. F. L. S. F. Z. S. Hon. F. C. P. S. &x. &c. ASSISTED BY EMINENT LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN. USEFUL ARTS. A TREATISE ON THE' ' ORIGIN, PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT, AND PRESENT STATE OF THE SILK MANUFACTURE. CAREY & LEA— CHESTNUT STREET. 1832. TREATISE ORIGIN, PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT, PRESENT STATE SILK MANUFACTURE. CAREY & LEA — CHESTNUT STREET. 1832. " The Arts may be said to imitate Nature, or to help, or to overcome and advance Nature : nor are they therefore to be esteemed less noble because more practical, since our best and most divine knowledge is intended for action ; and those may justly be counted barren studies, w hich do not conduce to practice as their proper end." Bishop Wilkins. STEREOTYPED BY J. HOWE- THE GETTY CENTER UBHARY LIST OF WOOD ENGRAVINGS. Page 1. Silkworms 98 2. Cocoons 100 3. Chrysalis 101 4. Moths 104 5. Frame with Slides or Drawers for Worms 117 6. Arbors for Silkworms to spin 120 7. Reeling-machine 155 8. Winding-machine 167 9. Thro wing-machine 169 10. Doubling-machine 172 11. Silk-loom 180 12. Part of Do. (Batten) 182 13. Shuttle 185 14. Diagram descriptive of the Method of giving "a Pearl edge" to Ribands 191 15. Movable Shuttle-boxes 195 16. Diagram descriptive of plain Weaving 196 17. Ditto of twilled Weaving ib. 18. Jacquard-machine, fig. 1 202 19. Needle of ditto 203 20. Revolving Bar of ditto ib. 21. Perforated Card-slips of ditto 204 22. Jacquard-machine, fig. 2 206 23. Jennings's Improvement on the Jacquard-machine 210 24. Part of ditto (perforated board) 211 25. Design Paper for Figure-Weaving 212 26. Diagram to show the Structure of Velvet 226 27. Section of Wire used in weaving Velvet 227 28. Diagram descriptive of Gauze Weaving . 230 A2 1168 CONTENTS. PART I. HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND PRESENT STATE OF THE CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF SILK, TO THE PERIOD WHEN SILKWORMS WERE FIRST INTRODUCED INTO EUROPE. Time of its earliest Use uncertain. — First produced and adopted in the East. — China the Country of the Silkworm.— The Seres of the An- cients, the Chinese of the Moderns. — Silk manufactured at an early- Period in the Island of Cos. — Curious Process. — Silk among the Persian Spoils acquired by Alexander the Great. — Aristotle's De- scription of the Bombyx. — Absurd Notions of different Writers. — Silk highly prized in Rome. — Marcus Antoninus sends Ambassadors to China. — Persian Monopoly. — Attempts of Justinian to destroy this. — His Failure. — Introduction of the Silkworm into Constanti- nople. — Imperial Manufacture. — Silkworms successfully reared in other Parts of Greece. — Surprise of the Sogdian Ambassador. — De- struction of Mulberry trees in China Page 13 CHAP. II. HISTORY OF SILK CONTINUED: FROM THE PERIOD WHEN SILKWORMS WERE FIRST INTRODUCED INTO EUROPE. Diffusion of the Silk Manufacture. — Successful Establishment in Sicily. — Gradual Introduction into other Parts of Europe. — Marco Polo. — His Account of the Prosperity of China. — Enormous Quantity of Silk produced there. — Production and Manufacture in Italy. — In Spain. — In France. — Commerce of Antwerp. — Acceptable Gift to Queen Elizabeth. — Manufacture of Silk in England. — Invention of the Stocking Frame. — Tardiness of its Adoption 25 CHAP. HI. HISTORY OF SILK CONTINUED. — ATTEMPTS TO NATURALIZE THE SILK- WORM IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. Extension of the Culture in France by Henry IV. — Efforts of James I. to promote the same Object in England. — His Failure. — Partial and temporary Success in American Colonies. — Renewal of the Attempt in England. — Signal Success in India. — Exertions of the Russian Government — Silk produced in Bavaria. — In Prussia. — In the Mau- viii CONTENTS. ritius. — Notice of Attempt in Sweden. — Formation of a Silk Com- pany in England. — Endeavor to produce Silk in Ireland. — This At- tempt abandoned. — Hope of Success in Malta. — Recent Attempt in St. Helena 34 CHAP. TV. TRADE OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES IN SILK. China. — France. — Italy. — Sicily. — Turkey. — Switzerland. — Prussia. — Russia 46 CHAP. V. PROGRESS MADE IN ENGLAND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF AND TRADE IN SILK. Earliest Records of the Introduction of small Wares. — Of broad Silks. — Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. — Royal Lustring Company. — Treaty of Utrecht. — Commercial Treaty with France. — Introduction of Throwing-machinery at Derby from Piedmont. — Distress of Weavers. — Their tumultuary Proceedings. — Prohibitory Laws. — Spitalfields Act. — Bengal Silk. — Reduction of Duties. — Removal of Restrictions on foreign Importations. — Repeal of Spitalfields' Acts. — Great Extension of Silk Manufacture. — Improvements. — Compara- tive Amount of Trade. — Smuggling. — Cost of manufacturing in France and England. — Duties and Drawbacks 55 PART II. ON THE CULTURE OF SILK. CHAPTER I ON THE CULTURE OF THE MULBERRY TREE. Different Species of the Mulberry tree. — Comparative Qualities as Food for Silkworms. — Soil and Situation most favorable for its Growth. — Manner of raising it. — From Seed. — From Cuttings. — In- grafting. — Number of Broods of Silkworms annually reared in dif- ferent Countries. — Nutritive Qualities of the Mulberry leaf —Pre- servation of Leaves. — Quantity of Leaves that may be annually taken from one Tree. — The Mulberry leaf sacred to the Silk- worm 86 CHAP. II. DESCRIPTION OF THE SILKWORM. Various Changes of the Worm. — Its small Desire of Locomotion. — Manner of casting its Exuviae. — Sometimes cannot be fully accom- plished. — Consequent Death of the Insect. — Progress of its Existence. — Material of which its Silk is formed. — Mode of its Secretion. — Manner of Spinning. — Floss silk. — The Cocoon. — Its Imperviousness to Moisture. — Transformation of Worm into a Chrysalis. — Periods in which its various progressions are effected in different Climates. — CONTENTS. ix Effects of increased Temperature. — Modes of artificial Heating. — Coming forth of the Moth. — Manner of its Extrication. — Increase in Weight and Bulk of the Silkworm. — Number of Eggs produced. — Length, &c. at different Ages. — Silkworms injuriously affected by Change of Climate. — Varieties of Silkworms. — Small Worms. — Large Species. — Produce yielded by these 94 CHAP. III. MODE OF REARING SILKWORMS IN CHINA. Silkworms sometimes reared on Trees. — Produce inferior to that spun in Houses. — Mode of delaying the hatching of Eggs. — Method of hatching. — Situation of Rearing-rooms. — Number of Meals. — Ne- cessity for preventing Damp. — For preserving Cleanliness. — Space allotted to Worms. — Preparations for Spinning. — Collection of Co- coons. — Destruction of Chrysalides. — Buildings employed for rearing Silkworms in India 108 CHAP. IV. MODE OF REARING SILKWORMS IN EUROPE. Great Degree of Carefulness required. — Absurdities formerly believed concerning Silkworms. — Choice of Eggs. — Modes of hatching. — Use of Stove-rooms. — Their Temperature. — Conveying of Worms to Rearing-house. — Necessity for classing Worms according to their Ages. — Rev. Mr. Swayne's Apparatus. — Space allowed to Worms. — Mode of feeding. — Quantity of Leaves consumed. — Arbors for spinning. — Necessity for Attention to minute Points in Management. — Regulation of Temperature. — Silkworms. — Will not spin in cold Atmosphere. — Ventilation. — Effect of Noise. — Electric Influence. — Conductors 112 CHAP. V. GATHERING AND SORTING COCOONS. Method of gathering. — Sorting. — Selecting for Seed. — Proportion set apart for breeding. — Methods of destroying Vitality of Chrysalides. — By the Solar Rays. — In Ovens. — By Steam Heat. — Preservation of Cocoons. — Separation of damaged. — Good Cocoons. — Pointed Co- coons. — Cocalons . — Dupions. — Soufflons. — Perforated Cocoons. — • Choquettes. — Calcined Cocoons. — Their relative Value. — Proportion of pure Silk in Cocoons. — Proportional Weight of Eggs and Cocoons ; and of Mulberry leaves. — Quantity of reeled Silk from each Cocoon. — Weight and Size. — Labor required. — Deductions 124 CHAP. VI. DISEASES OF SILKWORMS. Generally result from bad Treatment. — Silkworms frequently reared in Cottages of Peasants. — Count Dandoio. — His great Improvements. — Dandolieres. — MephiticAir. — Moisture. — Experiments. — Jaundice. — Remedy. — Chlorine Gas. — Chloride of Lime. — Fumigation. — Light not injurious. — Description of Apartments allotted to Silkworms in Cottages. — 111 Effects which arise to their Attendants 132 CONTENTS. CHAP. VII. ATTEMPTS TO SUBSTITUTE OTHER FOOD FOR MULBERRY LEAVES IN REARING SILKWORMS. Doctor Bellardi's Experiment. — Lettuce-leaves. — Comparative Produce of Worms fed with these and with Mulberry leaves. — Miss Rhodes's Experiments. — Lettuce-leaves successfully used in a Hot-house. — Mrs. Williams's Experiments. — Natural Antipathy of Silkworms. — Leaves of Scorzonera. — Recent Attempt to rear Silkworms in Eng- land. — Abandoned for want of sufficient and appropriate Food. . . 137 CHAP. VIII. ATTEMPTS TO PRODUCE SILK FROM DIFFERENT ANIMATE CREATURES. The Spider. — Discovery by Mons. Bon. — Manner of Spiders producing their Web. — Power of producing this of various degrees of Tenu- ity. — Great number of Fibres composing one Filament. — Different Kinds of Threads. — Spider Bags. — Silk made from these by Mons. Bon. — Manner of its Preparation. — Great comparative Advantages adduced by Mons. Bon. — His Spider Establishment. — Investigations by Reaumur. — His Objections. — Small Produce of Silk from Spiders. — The Pinna. — Description.— Delicacy of its Threads. — Reaumur's Observations. — Spinning Organ of the Pinna. — Manner of forming its Thread. — How different from that of Land Insects. — Power of continually producing new Threads. — " The Pinna and its Cancer Friend." — Nature of their Alliance. — Manner of taking the Pinna. — Its Threads known to the Ancients. — Peculiar Qualities of this Material 141 PART III. ON THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. CHAPTER I. REELING. Arrangement of Filature. — Separation of different kinds of Cocoons. — Description of Reel. — Manner of Reeling. — Construction and Proportions of Reel regulated by Law in Piedmont — Precautions. — Size of Threads. — Regulation of Temperature. — Waste Silk. — Quantity reeled in a given Time. — Mode of ascertaining Fineness of Thread. — Spun Silk. — Fleuret. — French inferior to Italians in the Art of Reeling. — Regulations and Restrictions in Piedmont. — Their Oppressiveness and Impolicy 154 CHAP. II. THROWING. Art brought from Italy.— Improvements since made. — Singles. — Tram. — Organzine.— Boiling to discharge Gum.— -Italian thrown Silk.— CONTENTS. xi Reasons for its superior Quality. — High protecting Duty on Importa- tion. — Reduction thereof. — Improved Quality of English Thrown Silk. — Great Extension of the Business. — Improvements in Throw- ing Machinery, not adopted abroad. — Low Wages the Occasion of this. — Expense of Organzining.— Waste in the Process 165 CHAP. Jit PLAIN WEAVING. Antiquity of the Art. — Involved in Obscurity. — Little Improvement in Weaving Apparatus. — Indian Manner of Weaving. — Simple Loom. — Mode of its Action. — Warping Machine. — Mounting the Loom. — Shuttle. — Methods of Weaving. — Riband Weaving. — Engine- loom 178 CHAP. IV. FIGURE WEAVING Sumptuary Laws. — Antiquity of ornamental Weaving. — Stripes. — Checks. — Changes of Colors. — Twills. — Draw-loom. — Draw-boy. — Jacquard Machine. — Principle and Mode of its Action. — Card-slips. — Advantages of the Machine. — Jennings's Improvement. — Obsta- cles to its original Introduction in Lyons. — Superiority of French Patterns 192 CHAP. V. MECHANICAL OR POWER WEAVING. Great Advantages of Machinery in abridging Labor. — First Proposal for a Power-loom. — Dr. Cartwright's Invention. — Causes of its little Success. — Parliamentary Reward. — Austin's Power-loom. — Mode of its Action. — Reasons for preferring Hand-weaving for Silken Fabrics. — Hand Power-looms. — Mr. Sadler's Invention. — Double and Quadruple Looms, Proportion wherein they are said to abridge Labor 215 CHAP. VI. VELVET WEAVING. Its first Introduction into England. — Chinese Velvets. — Structure of Velvet. — Process of weaving it. — Improvements therein. — Figured Velvet. — German Velvet 225 CHAP. VII. GAUZE WEAVING. Its Origin. — Structure. — Peculiarity of Arrangements in Weaving it. — Mode of putting these in Action. — Difficulty of the Process. — Supe- riority of the French in Gauze- weaving, accounted for 229 Xll CONTENTS. CHAP. VIII. BROCADE, DAMASK, ETC. Gold and Silver Brocade. — Metallic Threads. — Gilt and silvered Paper- — Damasquitte. — Machinery employed in its Production. — Method of Restoring tarnished Brocade. — Silk Brocade. — Damask.— Its Manufacture brought to England. — Mode of Manufacture. — Cafard Damask. — Persian. — Sarsnet. — Gros-de-Naples. — Ducape. — Satin. — Crape. — Levantine. — Gros-des-Indes. — Watering. — Embossing. — Mixed Goods. — Bombasins. — Poplins. — Lustres. — Shawls 231 PART IV. CHEMICAL, MEDICAL, AND ELECTRIC PROPERTIES OF SILK. Coloring Matter of the Cocoon. — Manner of bleaching Silk. — " The bitter Principle." — Various Chemical Experiments. — Guttae Angli- canse. — Silk a Protection against Malaria. — Formerly used as a Med- icine. — Its Electric Properties. — How first discovered. — Various Ex- periments detailed 243 Notes. Index. 255 267 TREATISE ON THE ORIGIN, PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT, AND PRESENT STATE OF THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. PART I. HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND PRESENT STATE OF THE CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. CHAPTER L HISTORY OF SILK, TO THE PERIOD WHEN SILKWORMS WERE FIRST INTRODUCED INTO EUROPE. Time of its earliest use uncertain.— First produced and adopted in the East. — China the Country of the Silkworm. — The Seres of the Ancients the Chinese of the Moderns. — Silk manufactured at an early period in the Island of Cos. — Curious process. — Silk among the Persian spoils acquired . by Alexander the Great. — Aristotle's Description of the Bombyx. — Absurd notions of different writers. — Silk highly prized at Rome. — Marcus Anto- ninus sends Ambassadors to China. — Persian Monopoly. — Attempts of Justinian to destroy this. — His Failure. — Introduction of the Silkworm into Constantinople. — Imperial Manufacture. — Silkworms successfully reared in other parts of Greece.— Surprise of the Sogdian Ambassador. — Destruction of Mulberry Trees in China. Silk, and the many textures wrought from this beautiful material, are so universally and familiarly known, that the peculiar manner of its production cannot fail to be a subject of interesting investigation. It is a wonderful fact, that the thick velvet and the stiff brocade, the thin gauze and the delicate blonde, should all be formed from the product of the labors of a little worm ; and we are irresistibly prompted to inquire how such results are accomplished. To trace from their origin the progressive steps by which man has adapted to his use the various productions of nature, is rarely possible. All that can be collected concerning sev- eral of the important arts of life is, that they have flowed to us from the east, and that many among them have issued from China in a state of comparative perfectness. This is particularly the case with the subject of our present inquiry. i4 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART I. It is impossible to fix the period when man first divested the chrysalis of its dwelling, and discovered that the little yellow ball, which adhered to the leaf of the mulberry tree, could be evolved into a slender filament, and thence be made to form tissues of endless beauty and variety. From a cer- tain point, we can trace the progressive improvements of the silk manufacture, but seek in vain for authentic information respecting its earliest origin ; and, while compelled to assign the merit of this to the Chinese, we cannot account for the degree of excellence which the art had attained previous to the time when even the existence of the material became known in the West. This proficiency alone, however, af- fords sufficient proof that the manufacture was of no recent origin. The manual arts arrive at perfection by very slow degrees. Improvements resulting from invention, as distin- guished from imitation, are seldom rapid ; and if this position hold good as a general principle, it is more especially applica- ble to labors unassisted by any save the rudest machinery, and practised by a people who, so far at least as we are in- formed, could derive little aid from science. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, the Chinese, in the remotest ages, produced sugar, silk, and many other manu- factures, with a degree of excellence which even now is scarcely surpassed. Yet while other nations have been rapid- ly advancing in knowledge, they have remained stationary. Debarred from intercourse with their kind, less by the ob- structions which* they raised to the ingress of strangers, than by the vanity which led them to make so false an estimate of other nations, this extraordinary people drew upon the re- sources of their own intelligence for discoveries the most im- portant, and pursued them to an useful end with industry the most persevering. Their industry remains, but the intelli- gence to which it owed its principal value appears to have been arrested.* In the faculty of imitating, they are still considered unrivalled ; but this is a quality which would seem to place them in the train of other nations, rather than as taking the lead in discovery and civilization. The first introduction of Indian luxuries to the knowledge of the ancients, was accompanied by the most fabulous ac- counts of the regions of their production, and gave occasion for many absurd speculations. This state of ignorance was, no doubt, in a great part owing to the peculiar policy of the Chinese, who, habitually and exceedingly jealous of all other * Note A. CHAP. I. HISTORY OF SILK* 15 people, enveloped the practice of their various arts in so much mystery, that stratagem was often baffled in the en- deavor to unravel it, leaving us indebted for the disclosure to fortuitous circumstances. In the attempt here made to trace, from the dark ages of antiquity to the present time, the progress of a trade and manufacture so widely diffused over the civilized world as those of silk, chronological order is followed as closely as the nature of the hquiry will permit. Reasons already stated lead us to consider it probable that the inhabitants of China enjoyed the use of silk trom a period greatly anterior to its introduction elsewhere. By the writ- ten records of that country, we are told that the art of con- verting to their own advantage the labors of the silkworm was known and practised among them 2700 years before the commencement of the Christian era. Their most ancient authorities represent the empresses of China as surrounded by their women, engaged in the occupations of hatching and rearing silkworms, and in weaving tissues from their produce. To the empress See-ling-shee, the consort of Hoang-tee, is ascribed the honor of having first observed the silk produced by the worms, of unravelling their cocoons, and of working the fine filament into a web of cloth. Silk is described by the ancients as coming first from Serica or Sereinda, that part of India which lies beyond the Ganges. Seres is the designation given by the Greeks and Romans to the people who inhabited those remote regions, and Sereinda is, apparently, a compound of Seres and Indi. The latter is a general term, applied by the ancients to all distant nations, with as little precision as India is now used by modern Europeans. It is now so generally admitted that the Seres of the an- cients are the Chinese of the moderns, that it is unnecessary to enter into any discussion in proof of this belief. Se is the name for silk in the Chinese language ; this, by a faulty pro- nunciation, not uncommon in their frontier provinces, acquired the final r, thus changing the word into Ser, the very name adopted by the Greeks. We can, therefore, hardly doubt that these obtained the name, as well as the material itself, first from China. The labors of the silkworm, whose produce holds so im- portant a place among the luxuries of modern life, were, until the tiire of the emperor Justinian, wholly confined to China, Long before that period, however, not only were manufac- tures of silk introduced among the nations which then en- 3 6 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART U gaged in commercial pursuits, but the raw material gave employment to extensive manufactories in Persia, Tyre> Be- rytus, and elsewhere. The celebrated historian Ammianus Marcellinus describes the Seres as a sedate and gentle people, who avoid all conten- tions with neighboring nations, and are therefore exempt from the miseries and alarms of war. Being without the necessity for using offensive weapons, they are even unacquainted with them. Blessed with a fertile soil, and a delicious and salubri- ous climate, they are represented as passing their happy days in the most perfect tranquillity and delightful leisure, amid shady groves fanned by gentle breezes, and producing fleeces of downy wool, which, after being sprinkled with water, is combed off in the finest threads and woven into sericum* 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. In the island of Kos, situated in the Archipelago, silk was manufactured at a very early period. Aristotle relates, that horn- bykia, or the stuff produced from the bombyx (the silkworm), was respun and rewove by the industrious women of this island. Pamphila is celebrated as the inventress of this pro- cess. She unwove the precious material to recompose it in her loom into fabrics of a more extended texture ; thus con- verting the substantial silks of the Seres into thin transparent gauze, obtaining in measure what was lost in substance. Attempts have been made to rob the inventress of all the merit belonging to this process, by identifying the bombykia with the raw material, which, it is said, Pamphila and her nymphs procured from Seres, and spun and wove into sericupsr or silk. But the fact of the reweaving rests upon too good authority to be doubted. It will be seen that the Roman ladies subsequently adopted this Pamphilian process. Pliny asserts that the bombyx was a native of Kos ; 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 manu- * Note B. CHAl*. t. ItlSTOKY/ OF 1 SILK. 17 facture 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 Zona- ras, the Byzantine historians, that before silkworms 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 Kos.* Among all the rich materials gathered from various coun- tries for the embellishment of the celebrated temple of Solo- mon, no mention is made of silk. The costly cloths used at its dedication, and appropriated to the service of the priest- hood, are described as being of the finest linen. In Jerome's translation of the Bible, we find sericum enumerated among other articles of commerce sent to Tyre from Syria, 588 years before Christ. The supply must, however, have been exceedingly scanty, since, on the rebuilding of the temple, which was completed sixty-four years after the last-mentioned period, the records of the Jews make no mention of the sub- stitution of silken for linen fabrics, as might reasonably be ex- pected among a people who introduced so much magnificence into their religious rites. The victorious army of Alexander the Great brought home, among other eastern luxuries, wrought silks from Persia. Tiiis ambitious conqueror, while eagerly intent upon adding to his dominions, was desirous also of extending the bounda- ries of knowledge ; not forgetting, amid his insatiable lust of empire, the more rational counsels of his learned preceptor, Aristotle, that he should explore the arcana of nature. To fa- cilitate this object, Alexander took with him, in his Asiatic ex- pedition, 1000 men, whose sole employment it was to collect animals, either by fishing, hunting, or hawking : these were, lk>m time to time, carefully transmitted for the inspection of the philosopher ; and for his further encouragement in the prosecution of his inquiries, Alexander presented him with the sum of 800 talents. So well did Aristotle avail himself of these opportunities afforded by his royal pupil, that although his writings on natural history are the most ancient extant, they are yet found to be more correct than those of many who wrote at later periods on that branch of science. Aristotle certainly gives the best account of the silkworm that is to be found in any ancient author, describing it as a horned worm, which passes through several transformations, * Note C. B2 SILK MANUFACTURE. PA.RT I. and produces bombykia. It is remarkable, however, that al- though minute in his description of the worm, he yet feils to indicate the country of its origin. Pliny, whose writings afford evidence of so much erudi- tion, has given an account of the silkworm which greatly varies from that of the Grecian philosopher. Assyria is as- signed by the Roman naturalist as the native country of the bombyx, and he transplants Pamphila and her manufacture to Ceos, an island on the opposite side of the iEgean Sea, near to the coast of Attica. He tells us that the stuff which the women of Rome unravelled and wove anew, was made from a woolly substance, combed by the Seres from the leaves of trees, and that draperies formed of this material were import- ed from the country of the Seres. During a period of nine centuries following the time; of Aristotle, various writers* asserted that sericum was made, either from fleeces growing upon trees, 1 Velleraque ut foliis depeclant tenuia Seres, — "t from the bark of trees, or from flowers. With that confus ion of ideas which was unavoidable in attempting to describe what they did not understand, these writers mingled together what they had heard or read of silkworms feeding on mulberry leaves, with cotton growing upon shrubs, with flax, and with coir, or the inner rind of the cocoa-nut. Some few authors came nearer to the truth, and stated, that the silken filament was obtained from a species of the spider or beetle. So slow- ly was the truth on this point disseminated, even among* learned men, that Isidorus, bishop of Hispalis in Spain, though he lived a century after the introduction into Europe of silk-« worms and the manufacture of silk, was wholly ignorant upon the subject, and servilely copied Pliny ; so prone is the scholar to obtain his information from books, rather than to seek for accurate ideas in the study of things. Silk was very little known in Europe before the reign of Augustus, and, during a long succeeding period, it remained extremely costly ; only a small quantity reaching the imperial city, by a circuitous and expensive land and water carriage. In the reign of Tiberius the use of oriental sericum was appropriated in Rome wholly to women of rank. Men were restrained by a law of the senate from clothing themselves with such effeminate apparel. This prohibition did not indeed prevent their using, during the heat of summer, the lighter * Note D. t Virgil. CHAP. I. HISTORY OF SILK. 19 and inferior fabrics of Cos, notwithstanding the disapproval of the graver people, whose frowns proved of little effect in counteracting- the incitements of vanity. The extreme slight- ness and transparency of these textures, which were also adopted by such females as could not procure the more costly stuffs, furnished occasion for the censure and ridicule of the moralists and satirists of more than a century.* Further to gratify the tastes of those whose circumstances did not allow them to adopt the use of so admired a material of dress, a fabric was invented, in which the costly filament was interwoven with a cheaper material. This manufacture was sub-sericum, and was worn indiscriminately by males and females. The accumulating wealth and increasing luxury of the Ro- man people caused the demand for silk manufactures to in- crease faster than their supply, and their price became exor- bitantly high. In the second century, the emperor Marcus Antoninus sent, on this account, ambassadors to China, in or- der to open a more direct commercial intercourse with that country.f These ambassadors proceeded to their destination by the way of Egypt and India. The Annals of the Chinese historian Ven-hien-tung record this embassy, which did not prove more successful than embassies to China in other days have been. The Persians were, for centuries, the channel of communication betw T een Rome and China, and their caravans, laden with merchandise, traversed the whole extent of Asia, from the Chinese ocean to the sea-coast of Syria. The price of silk in Rome, during the third century, must fhave been very high, when, amid the grosser enormities and £nore wanton prodigalities of Heliogabalus, it is yet deemed -worthy of mention and accusation, that he habited himself in -a garment made wholly of that material, and which was whence called a holosericum. In the latter part of the same -century we find the more prudent emperor Aurelian refusing to the entreaties of his empress a similar luxury, alleging that such could only be obtained in exchange for its weight in gold|. The luxurious habits of the Romans accompanied them to Byzantium, and offered a rich harvest to the Persians, which they were long enabled to reap, owing to their monopoly of the trade with India and China. This desire of obtaining a continued supply of luxuries, to which the former had been long accustomed, has been much censured, as evincing de- * Note E, t Note F. $ Note G. 20 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART I« generacy from the sterner virtues of their ancestors. It would be difficult, however, to show that the Romans of the fifth century, employing their superfluous wealth in giving a profit- able direction to native industry, while encouraging that com- mercial enterprise to which they were indebted for imported gratifications, were inferior to their rude forefathers, who followed no trade save that of the sword, and whose com- merce with other countries consisted in war, and rapine, and desolation. Persia, in the prosecution of this intermedial traffic, fur- nished silks to the inhabitants of Constantinople at prices out of all proportion with their cost in the country of production. Their trade needed the infusion of some of the modern spirit of competition, so useful to the great class of consumers ; or it probably was trammelled by the regulations and exactions of an arbitrary government. The Romans being at war with the Persians in the reign of Justinian, that monarch endeavored to obtain supplies of Indian produce for his subjects through other channels. For this purpose he sent embassies to Elasbaan, king of Axuma, and Esimiphasus, who governed the Homerites, in Arabia Felix, then tributary to Axuma. Stimulated by the desire of gain, these princes fell readily into the views of Justinian ; but, through their deficiency of skill and experience, were little able to fulfil their commercial engagements ; and the price of silk rose in Constantinople to a height which obliged even the most luxurious in a great degree to forego its use. This state of privation must not be altogether ascribed to the external relations of the imperial government. The Phoeni- cian manufacturers were still willing to supply their silken fabrics ; but Justinian, with short-sighted rapacity, injured the trade, by burthening the importation with heavy duties, and still more by regulating the price at which merchants were allowed to dispose of their merchandise. The arbitrary or- ders of the emperor limited this price to a rate which, when converted into English money, was equal to 4Z. 15s. 9c?., es- timated in gold, for the pound avoirdupois. This price was really greater than a similar amount at the present day, the value in exchange of the precious metals having been much reduced by the greater richness of the mines since discovered, and by the superior methods used for working them. This interference of Justinian was enforced with the greatest strictness ; the merchants engaged in the traffic were ruined ; the scarcity of silk at Constantinople was converted into ab- jsolute privation; and the revenue of the emperor, the in> CHAP. I. HISTORY OF SILK. 21 provement of which was doubtless the great motive for inter- ference, suffered in consequence. The commerce of the Romans was in this state, as re- garded the article of silk, when they obtained relief in a very extraordinary and unexpected manner. Two Persian monks, having been employed as missionaries in some of the Christian churches, which, according to Cosmas, were already established in different parts of India, had penetrated into the country of the Seres, or China. " There, amidst their pious occupations,, they viewed with a curious eye the common dress of the Chinese, the manufactures of silk, and the myriads of silkworms, whose education, either on trees or in houses, had once been considered the labor of queens. They soon discovered that it was impracticable to transplant the short-lived insect, but that in the eggs a numerous progeny might be preserved, and multiplied in a distant climate."* They observed with interest the labors of the little creature, and strove to make themselves acquainted with all the manual arts employed in working up its productions into so great a variety of fabrics. On their return to the West, instead of communicating their knowledge thus acquired to their own countrymen, they proceeded on to Constantinople. The pros- pect of gain, or, as some have asserted, an indignant zeal, excited by seeing a lucrative branch of commerce engrossed by unbelieving nations, prompted them to impart to the em- peror the secret, hitherto so well preserved by the Chinese, that silk was produced by a species of worm; and to acquaint him with their belief that the eggs of these might be suc- cessfully transported, and the insects propagated in his do- minions. They likewise explained to Justinian the modes of preparing and manufacturing the slender filament, mysteries hitherto altogether unknown or but imperfectly understood in Europe. By the promise of a great reward, the monks were induced to return to China, and there, with much difficulty, eluding the vigilant jealousy of the Chinese, they succeeded in obtaining a quantity of silkworms' eggs. These they con- cealed in a hollow cane, and at length, in the year 552, con- veyed them in safety to Constantinople. The eggs were hatched in the proper season by the warmth of manure, and the worms were fed with the leaves of the wild mulberry tree. These worms, in due time, spun their silk, and propa- * Robertson's Disquisitions on the Commerce of India. D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient, art. Harir. Procopius, Hist. Arcan. Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xl. 22 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART I. gated under the careful tendance of the monks ; who also in- structed the Romans in the whole process of manufacturing their production.* The insects thus pruduced were the progenitors of all the generations of silkworms which have since been reared in Europe and the western parts of Asia, — of the countless myriads whose constant and successive labors are engaged in supplying a great and still increasing demand. A caneful of the eggs of an oriental insect thus became the means of establishing a manufacture which fashion and luxury had already rendered important, and of saving vast sums annually to European nations, which in this respect had been so long dependent on and obliged to submit to the exactions of their oriental neighbors. The desire of augmenting his revenue, that powerful mo- tive with rulers both ancient and modern, induced the emperor Justinian to take the infant manufacture into his own hands : it was conducted under the management of his treasurer ; and the weavers, apparently those brought from Tyre and Berytus, as well as others instructed by the monks, were compelled to work in the imperial manufactory. The altered circumstances wherein the manufacture was thus placed, wrought a corresponding alteration in the mind of the emperor as to the price which it was fitting should be paid by his subjects for the indulgence of their vanity. Silks of the imperial manufacture were sold at prices prodigiously beyond those which he had formerly prohibited as excessive. An ounce weight of the fabric thus manufactured could not be obtained under the price of six pieces of gold. The article was thus rendered eightfold more expensive than it had been under the restriction before the silkworm was introduced. This was the price demanded for common colors ; but when tinged with the royal hue, the fabric immediately assumed a quadruple value. Under these circumstances of imperial rapacity, the intro- duction of silkworms could not have much benefited the Ro- man people. But the exclusive rearing of silkworms, and the manufacture of their produce, did not long remain a merely royal prerogative. The discovery that the worm could con- duct its labors with as much advantage in Europe as in the climes where it first became the object of human attention, * Procopius, De Bello Gothico, lib. iv. c. 17. Theophan. Byzant. apud Photium. Theophylact, lib. viii, et apud Photium. Zonaras, vol. iii, p, SO, edit. 1557, CHAP. I. HISTORY OF SILK. 23 was quickly made subservient to practical utility. The mul- berry tree was planted with eager haste, and vast numbers of these valuable insect laborers were soon nourished by their natural food, successfully reared in different parts of Greece, and particularly in the Peloponnesus. The demand of silk from the East diminished ; the subjects of the Greek emperors were no longer obliged to have re- course to Persia for a supply of this article ; and thence a considerable change took place in the nature of the commer- cial intercourse with India. The establishment of the Turkish power in Asia, about the 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, to whom they were become subjects, to send an embassy to Chosroes, king of Per- sia, to open a negotiation for this purpose. Maniak, a Sog- dian prince, who was ambassador, was instructed to request that the Sogdians might be allowed to supply the Persians with silk. The ambassador presented himself before the Per- sian 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 lega- tion, and rather uncourteously showed his contempt of the Sogdian traders. He bought up the whole of the silk which the ambassador had carried with him, and immediately de- stroyed it by fire, thus giving the most convincing proof of the little value which it held in his estimation. After this the Persians and Chinese united against the Turks, who, to strengthen themselves, sought an alliance with Justin, the emperor of the Romans. 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 silkworms, and the establishments for manufacturing their produce, in Constantinople, were as unwelcome as unexpected; but he concealed his mortification, and, with perhaps an overstrained civility, acknowledged, that the Romans were already become as expert as the Chinese in the management of the worms and the manufacture of their silk.* * Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xlii. 24 SILK MANUFACTURE. i*ART It The Venetians, soon after this time, opened commercial re- lations with the Greek empire, aud continued for many cen- turies the channel for supplying the western parts of Europe with silks. The estimation wherein this manufacture was held continued sufficiently high for it to be considered worthy of being made a regal gift. It appears that in the year 790" the emperor Charlemagne sent two silken vests to Offa king of Mercia. It was fortunate for the European admirers of silken gar- ments that they were thus rendered independent of oriental supplies ; for, in the year 877, Baichu, a rebel, made himself master of most part of the Chinese empire. When Canfu, the port of resort for foreign merchants, fell into his hands, he wantonly massacred all the inhabitants, among whom it is said there were 120,000 foreign merchants, consisting of Ma- hometans, Jews, Christians, and Persees. The number must, doubtless, have been greatly exaggerated by the historian on this occasion ; but the population of Canfu must have been very great, or no writer would have ventured upon recording so vast a number of sufferers. This savage monster, Baichu, not content with warring on his own species, extended his cruelty to those insects which were here so peculiarly the care of man ; devoting to indis- criminate destruction all those trees on which the silkworm was nourished, and consequently entirely destroying the silk trade during his reign. To complete the ruin of the country, he practised such extortions upon foreign merchants, that during his sway they altogether gave up trading with China. In the year 938, according to Massoudi, Canfu had recov- ered from the calamities thus inflicted, and again became a place of resort to the Arabian merchants as well as for trading vessels from India. Many kinds of silk manufactures, such as velvet, (Janiask,. and satin, remained unknown for a long period after this, during which time silk fabrics continued to be wrought in in- creasing abundance in the Roman territories, which, either directly or indirectly, supplied most parts of Europe, until the middle of the twelfth century. Although at this period (1146) the Roman empire was fast declining in the scale of nations, and its possessions were reduced within nearly the same limits as bounded modern European Turkey before its late dismemberment ; still, even in their degenerate state, its once powerful people continued to excel other nations of Europe m the quality and variety of their manufactures, and in the CHAP. II. HISTORY OF SILK. 25 ingenuity of their artisans. They alone possessed the valuable breed of silkworms which, 600 years before, had been trans- ferred from the remotest extremity of the East; and none others, up to this time, had manufactured its costly spoils. CHAPTER II. HISTORY OF SILK CONTINUED, FROM THE PERIOD WHEN SILK- WORMS WERE FIRST INTRODUCED INTO EUROPE. Diffusion of the Silk Manufacture. — Successful Establishment in Sicily. — Gradual Introduction into other parts of Europe— Marco Polo. — His Ac- count of the prosperity of China. — Enormous quantity of Silk produced there. — Production and Manufacture in Italy. — In Spain. — In France. — Commerce of Antwerp. — Acceptable gift to Queen Elizabeth. — Manu- facture of Silk in England. — Invention of the Stocking Frame. — Tardi- ness of its adoption. It has been shown in the preceding chapter in what man- ner the culture of silk was introduced, and its manufacture laid open to the ingenuity of the western hemisphere. The extension of this branch of human ingenuity was at first ex- ceedingly slow, and we have seen, that for a period of 600 years, it was wholly confined to the territories of the Greek empire. Its first diffusion followed upon the invasion of these territories by Roger L, king of Sicily, who, not content with carrying off the wealth of Athens, Thebes, and Corinth, as some fruits of his successful enterprise, also led into captivity a considerable number of silk- weavers, whom he compulsorily settled in Palermo, obliging them to impart to his subjects the knowledge of their art. Without stepping aside to question the right of the royal marauder thus tyrannously to sever these unoffending artisans from the ties of country and 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 bless- ings, 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 the misery of millions, but sometimes prove the harbingers of peaceful arts, heralds of science, and even 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 at- tained a decided excellence ; as being of diversified pattern* 26 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART I. and colors ; some fancifully interwoven with gold ; some richly adorned with figures ; and others tastefully embellished 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. By degrees the knowledge of the several processes required in the art spread over the greater part of Italy, and was car- ried into Spain ; but it was not until the reign of Francis L that the silk manufacture took root in France. A still longer interval occurred before its adoption in England ; and its in- troduction, even then, was very slow. There is no doubt, however, that the use of silk was extensively adopted in this country at an early period after the conquest ; for in the year 1251, at the celebration of the marriage between Margaret, daughter of Henry III., and Alexander III., of Scotland, a most extravagant display of magnificence was made, and, on the nuptial day, 1000 English knights appeared in cointises of silk. These, however, were not retained during the entire festivities ; but on the next day were thrown aside, to be re- placed by robes equally gorgeous and splendid. At the close of the thirteenth century, the celebrated traveller Marco Polo gave to the world a narrative of his wanderings, wherein is contained a particular and interesting account of Cambalu, the royal city of China. It would be irrelevant to the subject of this volume to repeat many details of its opulence ; but this will be sufficiently evidenced by showing the abundance of silk in which it traded. "No fewer," he informs us, " than 1000 carriages and pack-horses, loaded with raw silk, make their daily entry into the city; and silks of various textures are manufactured to an immense extent." He describes the whole country of China to be fl^ed with great, rich, and crowded cities, thronged with manufac- turers of silk and other valuable merchandise. Several provinces of China are so fertile with mulberry trees, and their climate is so congenial to the nature of silk- worms, that the quantity of silk produced is very great. Du Halde says, " Every body knows the abundance and beauty of the silk Which is made throughout China." The ancients showed their knowledge of this abundance, when they called it the Kingdom of Silk ; and the moderns know it from ex- perience — for many nations both of Asia and of Europe draw from it the superabundance of its produce ; and every year ships and caravans leave the cotintry, laden with vast quanti- * Note H. CHAP. II. HISTORY OF SILK. 27 ties of both the wrought and unwrought material. Yet although thus lavishly sent forth, still, such is the amount produced, that silken fabrics, either wrought of the simple material, or mixed with gold or silver, are consumed through- out the empire to an almost incredible amount. If any other proof were wanting of this inexhaustible abundance, it might be found in the 365 barks, which the two provinces of Nan- kin and Che-kiang alone send every year to the court, laden not only with pieces of wrought silk, satins, and velvets, of various kinds and colors, but even with rich and costly gar- ments. To this evidence may also be added, the many hun- dred thousands of pounds' weight of wrought and unwrought £ilk which the provinces pay each year as tribute to the em- peror.* It has always appeared to be the policy of the rulers of this empire to restrain rather than to encourage a taste for com- mercial enterprise among its people. Abounding in so many productions coveted by other nations, it is remarkable that they have at all times merely tolerated foreign commerce, esteeming the great influx of money which it pours into their country as of no advantage. Possessing, under their varied range of climate, not only all the necessaries and comforts, but even the luxuries of life, and believing that they are mas* ters of every kind of knowledge that is useful to or attainable by man, they feel themselves wholly independent of foreign nations, and affect to look with contempt upon such less fortu- nate beings as are compelled to leave their own countries in search of Chinese superfluities.-)- Although the various periods when establishments for the production and manufacture of silk were first introduced into the different countries of Europe may be ascertained with a tolerable degree of exactness, yet some discrepancies occur in the many authors who have noticed the subject. The authority, therefore, of those among them whose assertions possess the least degree of probability, must be rejected. There is much discordance in the various accounts of the introduction of silkworms and the manufacture of their pro? ,duce in Italy. In the year 1203, when the Venetians became masters of those provinces of the Greek empire which were the princi- pal seats of the silk trade, they would hardly omit or delay to transport the manufacture and the worms into their own equally favorable climate ; and it is also reasonable to imagine, that f PJouyelle Relation port and deposit was extended also to Dunkirk ; but in the lat- ter year it was again confined to Lyons, with the additional regulation, that no foreign silk should be imported into France by any other port than Marseilles, or by land except by the bridge Beauvoisin. This ordinance also decreed, that all silk grown in France should be sent to Lyons for sale, where it was subjected to a duty of three and a half sols per pound, while silk of foreign growth was burdened with the heavier impost of fourteen sols per pound. The regulations which thus favored Lyons at the expense of every other part of the French kingdom were not adopted with the view of obtaining revenue for the state, but with the single object of benefit- ing that one city. The amount received in duties was ap- propriated towards the payment of its municipal debts, which would appear to have been somewhat considerable, as the 48 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART I. privilege was continued down to the period of the French revolution. When Lyons was in its most flourishing state, it was com- puted that, on an average number of years, 6000 bales of silk, each weighing 160 pounds, passed through the city annually. Of these 1400 bales came from the Levant, 1600 from Sicily, 1500 from Italy, 300 from Spain, and 1200 from Languedoc, Provence, and Dauphine. In the zenith of its former prosperi- ty it had been reckoned, that Lyons employed 18,000 looms in silk manufactures. But the disastrous effects of the revo- cation of the edict of Nantes in 1685 gave a serious blow to this prosperity ; and in the year 1698 the number of looms amounted only to 4000. This manufacture afterwards revived, and a great part of Europe long drew supplies of brocade and rich silks from Lyons. The decay of the manufacture at Tours was not less re- markable. This city, before the revocation, could boast of pos- sessing 800 mills for winding and preparing silk, and 8000 looms for weaving it ; while 40,000 persons were employed in the manufacture : 3000 looms were then at work in the manufacture of ribands alone. But soon after the period men- tioned, Tours employed only 70 mills, 1200 looms, and about 4000 workmen ; while the consumption of silk, which in the time of its prosperity had amounted to 2400 bales of 160 to 200 pounds' weight each, had decreased to 700 or 800 bales. The revolution, of necessity, caused much alteration in the general state of manufactures in France ; but Lyons, although its exclusive privileges were withdrawn, remained, and still continues to be, the principal seat of the silk manufacture. At a very early period, this city had acquired celebrity for the brilliancy of its dyes, which were used, not only for its own manufactures, but also for those of Paris and Tours. So much jealousy did the government evince of retaining this superi- ority, that it prohibited the exportation of dyed silk, lest other countries should imitate and rival the beauty of French manu- factured goods : a senseless prohibition, which obliged the silk merchants of France to forego a present advantage, lest at some future period it might possibly escape from them. At the period when Savary wrote, it is stated that the manufacture of ribands had very much retrograded in France. Those made in Paris were considered as the best ; but con- siderable quantities of an inferior quality were manufactured at Chaumont and St. Etienne. English ribands, which were then admitted into use in France, subject to a duty of four livres per pound, were greatly preferred by the Parisians to CHAP. IV. IN FKANCB. 49 those of their own make, and we consequently enjoyed a con- siderable trade in them until the year 1701, when the import- ation of foreign silk goods into France was wholly prohibited. The first frames used in France for weaving silk stockings were introduced into Paris, from England, in 1656. This manufacture spread so rapidly, that in sixteen years from that time the stocking weavers were considered of sufficient im- portance to be incorporated by royal ordinance, which at the same time indicated the kinds of silk that it was permitted the manufacturers to use in their construction. Various arrets were issued by successive monarchs to regulate this branch of industry : from these it appears, that extensive stocking manufactories were established in numerous towns, to which, in the usual meddling spirit of the government, they were restricted in the year 1700. The stocking manufacture no longer exists in the greater part of those towns, but is prin- cipally carried on in the Cevennes. It is stated, in the " Commerce du 19 me Siecle," that be- tween the years 1688 and 1741 France annually exported to England manufactured silks to the amount of 12^ millions of francs. In 1765 the English government commenced its sys- tem of prohibition against the introduction of foreign silk goods ; and to this circumstance it must, perhaps, be ascribed, that in the year 1784 the exportation of wrought silks from France to all countries amounted in value to only 25,600,000 francs. In 1789 it had increased to 29,745,000 francs. Immediately after this, and during the early years of the revolutionary war, the quantity fell off very much ; but after a time the trade somewhat revived. In 1801 the value of exported wrought silk was 39,314,000 francs ; in 1820 this had increased to 123,063,000 francs ; in 1821 it was 111,689,000 francs; in 1822, 99,063,000 francs; and in 1823, 84,302,000 francs. In 1786 Lyons employed 15,000 looms ; the ferment of the incipient revolution reduced this number in the year 1789 one half ; when there were 12,700 workmen employed. The state of the manufacture cannot be well ascertained during the convulsions of the revolution ; but it is known that among the effects of that dreadful event, the number of silk looms was reduced, that in the year 1800 they amounted to no more than 3500, employing only 5800 artisans in the manu- facture. After that time the trade greatly revived. In 1812 it employed 10,720 looms, and 15,506 workmen. In 1824 the silk looms of Lyons were said to amount to 24,000, employ- ing 36,000 men. A Lyons newspaper of 1825 gives the 60 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART t* exact number of factories in that year as being 8526, and the number of looms 20,101. Since that period both are said to be diminished. One of the causes of this diminution is, per- haps, to be found in the dispersion of looms among the villages comprised within a circle of ten or fifteen leagues round Lyons ; provisions, and consequently labor, being cheaper in these places than in the city. Foreign competition, and some inauspicious measures of in- ternal policy, have also produced fluctuation in this manufac- ture ; and we learn from the Lyons newspapers, as well as from other sources, that much misery has prevailed at inter- vals in that once flourishing city. In the beginning of 1829, the operative silk-weavers of Lyons were in so great distress that a public subscription was raised for their relief. At the meeting convened for this purpose it was stated, that, of 22,000 looms existing in the city and its immediate neighborhood, not more than one third were in use, while the wages of those artisans who could obtain employment had, as a neces- sary consequence, fallen very considerably. France produced in 1812, according to good authority, 987,000 pounds' weight of raw silk, and imported a like quan- tity. The average annual consumption of the country for the years 1822 and 1823, w T as estimated at 1,600,000 pounds. During the last sixteen years great efforts have been made to increase the cultivation of the mulberry and the production of silk in France. It is believed that, in consequence, the annual produce has, since the year 1814, been increased one third. A merchant of Lyons states, that foreign silk does not form more than one tenth or one eighth of the whole quantity now used in the French manufactories : thirty years ago one half was foreign. No very authentic information can, indeed, be obtained on this point. The want of even approximative notions respecting the growth of silk in France cannot be better exemplified than by contrasting statements furnished by those who profess to have good information on the subject. In " Le Commerce du 19 me Siecle," the annual produce of 1825 is stated to amount in value to 15^ millions of francs. Estimating the average value per pound at 22 francs, the quantity produced is found rather to exceed 700,000 pounds ; and in the " Annals of Agriculture," published in 1828, the produce of raw silk is estimated to be of the value of 60 mil- lions of francs, and in weight rather more than 2,700,000, if the price per pound be equally reckoned at 22 francs. No information of a more accurate description can be ac- CHAP. IV. IN ITALY. 51 quired concerning the quantity of silk goods which form part of the external trade of the country. This cannot be ascer- tained even by reference to the French custom-house reports, as, when a declaration is made, which is not always the case, the declared is usually in the proportion of from a half to two thirds of the real value. The greater part is exported with- out any declaration of value ; and, in particular, the quantity of goods smuggled into other countries is never noticed in their custom-house reports. France prohibits the exportation of its raw silk ; the reason assigned for which restriction is, that the country does not produce a supply sufficient for its own manufactories. It is difficult to see how France can possibly benefit by this pro- hibition, so long as the markets of Italy are open to her mer- chants, and foreign silk is continually passing through her territories for the supply of other countries. The .raw silk which we receive from France is the produce of Italy, merely passing through the hands of French commission agents in its transit between the countries. In this way England is supplied with a large proportion of the raw silk which is im- ported from foreign European nations. It is the policy adopted by some Italian states to prohibit the exportation of their raw silk. England is in consequence obliged to obtain a great part of the Italian silk which her manufacturers require, through France, into whose territory it is smuggled. An intermediate nation thus reaps a profit which, but for these absurd restrictions, would be acquired by the country of production. It is impossible to conceive that these Italian governments can remain ignorant of this fact, which is notorious to all the world beside ; and it is almost as difficult to imagine that they can believe the interests of their subjects to be protected, by placing restraints upon the exportation of their raw produce. Any country which produces superabundantly, would be plunged into far greater distress by the loss of a market, than would be experienced by the people of other countries whom it was sought to deprive of that superabundance These can generally obtain the object of their wishes elsewhere, and, failing in this, may either find a substitute, or discover that the privation is easily supportable, while the cultivator, who has produced the articles thus unprofitably left upon his hands, is plunged into real and serious misery. When may we hope to see princes take a higher moral ground of action, and 52 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART I* scorning to connive secretly at acts which they openly pro- fess to discountenance 7* The raw silk imported direct from Italy into England comes from the ports of Nice, Genoa, and Leghorn. The quantity thus obtained does not equal that which is brought through France. A great quantity of raw and thrown silk is, how- ever, annually exported from Italy into various other countries. The average annual amount, computed from the four years between 1807 and 1810 inclusive, was equal to the value of 81,407,810 Milan livres, or about two and a half millions of pounds sterling. The exportation consisted principally of organzine, or thrown silk, that is, silk twisted, or " thrown," in the mill in readiness for weaving. The aggregate propor- tion of every other description of silk was very inconsidera- ble. More than three millions of poundsf of organzine were exported in each of the years 1806 and 1807. Sicily, into which island the silk manufacture was intro- duced at so early a period, still continues to derive much ad- vantage from this branch of industry, which is considered as the second great source of riches to that island, the trade in corn ranking as the first. In all ages since its first establishment, the rulers of that country appear to have encouraged this manufacture among its people. In 1752, the king of Naples established and in- vested with many privileges a commercial company at Mes- sina, for erecting manufactories of silks, stuffs, and camblets. It is computed that, on an average of years, a quantity of silk equal in value to a million of ducats (187,500/.) is annu- ally exported from the island. Palermo employs 900 looms ; its exports, however, are very insignificant, most of its silk being woven for home use. There are 1200 looms at Messina, and rather more at Catania. A variety of fabrics is made in the Messinese factories ; but the material is seldom well reeled, dyed, or sorted, and the work is not well performed. Great part of this is exported to the Levant. Very little Sicilian silk finds its way to Eng- land : the length of its skein differs from the general import- ations, which circumstance is found to be inconvenient to the throwster, and the quality of the filament is unsuited to the general purposes of the manufacturer. * Note L. t About seven of these pounds are equa) to five pounds avoirdupois. CHAP. IV. IN TURKEY, PERSIA, AND SWITZERLAND. 53 Turkey supplies England with a considerable quantity of raw silk. Our imports from that country average more than 300,000 pounds' weight annually. It is brought to us from Aleppo, Tripoli, Sayda, &c. ; but Smyrna is the principal port of commerce, especially for the silk of Persia, which forms a f great part of that which is imported from Turkey. The silks of Persia are brought to Smyrna in caravans during part of the year — from January to September. Tiie caravans dis- patched in January are laden with the finest silk, and the quality is found to deteriorate with each following month. The silk of Persia comes chiefly from the provinces of Ghilan and Shirvan, and the city of Schamachia, situated near the edge of the Caspian Sea. It is said that in some years no less than 30,000 bales of silk have been sent from these three places. The produce of Ghilan is the most abundant in quantity and the best in quality. Shirvan and Erivan rank next ; then Mazanderan, and, lastly, Astrabad ; but the latter is so inferior as to be usually employed in forming fabrics in- termixed w r ith cotton. It is seldom or never exported. The silk from these different places is stored at Ardevil or Ardebil, unother Persian city, whence caravans set out for Smyrna, Aleppo, Scanderoon, and Constantinople. The silk manufacture has of late years made such rapid progress in Switzerland as considerably to alarm the French manufacturers. This advance is entirely of recent date, and has been caused by the political state of France. When, in the year 1810, Napoleon made such strenuous but vain efforts to destroy the commerce of England, and pro- hibited so strictly the admission of foreign cotton goods into France, the inhabitants settled about the lake of Zurich were extensively employed in the weaving of muslins. Losing by this prohibition their accustomed market, they transferred their labors to the manufacture of silk goods, as the one for which their previous habits best fitted them. Their course of industry was in this way changed with so much success and rapidity, that in a very few years they were able successfully to compete with their neighbors, in many branches of silk manufacture, in the German markets. When the Bourbon government was restored in France, the Swiss weavers were still further benefited by the injury brought on the French manufacturers through the internal policy of their govern- ment. The religious persecutions of 1815, 1816, and 1817, induced a considerable number of persons to emigrate from Lyons, carrying to Zurich their skill and industry. " Thus," 54 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART I. as a writer in the Precurseur of Lyons remarks, " at this epoch, as well as in that of 1793, strangers profited and were enriched by our bloody quarrels: an important lesson, fre- quently given to governments, and but too often given in vain t w In 1814, Zurich and its environs contained not more than 2000 looms. To so late a period as 1820, Germany was en- tirely supplied by France with wrought silks; but since that period the quantities of silk goods of Swiss manufacture poured into the markets of Frankfort and Leipzig have been so abundant as to interfere materially with the sales of the French merchants. In the beginning of 1828, Zurich contained from 9000 to 10,000 silk looms, and some of its factories were considerable. Three of the largest of these gave employment to 2600 work- men, one of them alone maintaining 1204 artisans. Zurich at one time confined its manufacture to Florentines, and Basle to taffetas ; in both these towns all other kinds of silk fabrics, with the exception of crape and satin, are now made ; and in Basle the manufacture of ribands is become very considerable. At Berne, silk for umbrellas is manufactured on so extensive a scale as to supply Germany and the north of Europe with this article of constant consumption. At Schaffhausen and St. Gall, only fine cotton goods used formerly to be manu^ factured ; but such is the encouragement offered by the re^ cent success of other cantons, that silk manufactures have likewise been commenced in those places. At Crevelt, in Prussia, are established very considerable factories of ribands and broad velvets, which not only find a very ready market in Germany and the north of Europe, but are likewise extensively exported into America, The Russians are very active and enterprising in increase ing and perfecting the silk manufactures of their own coun* try, and have already attained to great excellence in them, being indefatigable in their endeavors to obtain skilful arti* sans. An anecdote, found in the Precurseur of the 25th of October, 1828, shows the degree to which they have sue* ceeded in these efforts. A Russian merchant, in the preceding year, visited the warehouse of a silk merchant at Leipzig, who had also a house of business at Lyons. The Russian merchant purchased a dozen pieces of French silk, and with these obtained many patterns of various kinds of fabrics wrought in this material. At the fair of the following year, the astonishment and mortification of the German merchant CHAP. V. IN ENGLAND. 55 were not a little excited, on finding his ex-purchaser converted into a competitor, and offering a complete assortment of silken stuffs manufactured at Novogorod, from the identical patterns which he had himself unwittingly furnished. CHAP. V. PROGRESS MADE IN ENGLAND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF AND TRADE IN SILK. Earliest Records of the Introduction of small Wares.— Of broad Silks. — Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. — Royal Lustring Company — Treaty of Utrecht. — Commercial Treaty with Fiance. — Introduction of throw- ing Machinery at Derby from Piedmont. — Distress of Weavers. — Their tumultuary Proceedings. — Prohibitory Laws. — Spitalrlelds Act. — Bengal Silk. — Reduction of Duties. — Removal of Restrictions on foreign Import- ations.— Repeal of Spitalfields Acts. — Great extension of Silk Manufac- ture-Improvements.— Comparative amount of Trade. — Smuggling. — Cost of manufacturing in Fiance and England.— Duties and Drawbacks. The earliest historical notice of the silk manufacture in England is contained in an act of parliament, passed in the year 1363 (37 Edward III. cap. 5. and 6.), to restrict different artificers, merchants, and shopkeepers to the manufacture of or trading in one particular kind of goods, according to their own choice, which they were required to make and declare by a certain day named in the act, and in which extraordinary restriction especial exception is made in favor of female brewers, bakers, weavers, spinsters, and other women em- ployed upon works in wool, linen, or silk, in embroidery, &c. J&ut this manufacture must have been of little importance, £md appears to have made very slow progress, since in the year 1454, nearly a century later, a law was passed (33 Hen. v I. cap. 5.) for the protection of the silk women of London against the importation, for five years, of foreign articles, which were enumerated and described as similar to those manufactured by them ; such articles comprising only small wares, such as " twined-ribands, chains, or girdles." This prohibition was further continued and extended to the pro- tection of various other branches of native industry, in the year 1463, by an act (3 Edward IV. cap. 4.), to continue in force during the king's pleasure ; which act, enumerating all the prohibited articles, specifies " laces, ribands, and fringes f silk, silk twined, silk embroidered, tires of silk, purses, and girdles." We may further infer from this restriction, that the pro- 56 SILK MANUFACTURE. PAIIT I* ductions of the London silk women did not then equal in quality or in cheapness the manufactures sought to be ex- cluded. In the year 1482, the above-mentioned act being no longer in force, the English makers of silk goods were all thrown out of employment ; and in consideration of their great dis- tress, the importation of all such goods was prohibited for four years from that time. Twenty-two years later, an act of parliament (19 Hen. VII. cap. 21.) prohibited the importation of "any manner of silk wrought either by itself, or with any other stuff, in ribands, laces, girdles, corses, and corses of tissues or points," upon pain of forfeiture of the same; and by the same act it was made lawful for any persons, as well foreigners as English, to import all other kinds of silk, as well as raw and unwrought silk, the above only excepted. From this it may be plainly inferred, that no manufacture of broad silks was at that time practised within these kingdoms ; and, indeed, lord Bacon, in his " History of King Henry VII.," notes this circumstance. It was only near the close of the reign of James I. that, upon some encouragement afforded by that monarch to Mr. Burlamach, a merchant of London, some silk throwsters, silk dyers, and broad weavers were brought from the continent of Europe, and a beginning was made in the manufacture of raw silk into broad silk fabrics, which has since become of so much profit and importance to the coun- try, and which then increased so rapidly, that in the year 1629 the silk throwsters of London formed a body of sufficient importance to be incorporated, under the style of "the master, wardens, assistants, and commonalty of silk throwers." The progress made in this branch of industry may be further collected from the terms of a proclamation, issued in the year 1630, by king Charles I., setting forth, " that the trade in silk within this realm, by the importation thereo'f raw from foreign parts, and throwing, dyeing, and working the same into manufactures here at home, is m^ich increased within a few years past. But a fraud in the a||eing thereof being lately discovered, by adding to the weighflbf silk in the dye beyond a just proportion, by a false and deceitful mixture in the ingredients used in dyeing, whereby also the silk is weakened and corrupted, and the color made worse ; where- fore we strictly command, that no silk dyer do hereafter use any slip, alder-bark, filings of iron, or other deceitful matter, in dyeing silk, either black or colored ; that no silk shall be dyed of any other black but Spanish black, and not of the CHAP. V. IN ENGLAND* 57 dye called London black, or light weight ; neither shall they dye any silk before the gum be fair boiled off from the silk, being raw." The same monarch, in the year 1638, issued directions re- moving, in part, the prohibitions imposed by his former pro- clamation, and permitting such silk to be dyed upon the gum, commonly called hard-silk, as was proper for making tufted taffetas, figured satins, fine slight ribands, and ferret ribands, both black and colored ; and as his reason for this departure from his former directions stated, with a degree of candor not always admitted into the edicts of princes, that he had now become better informed upon the subject. This order further directed, that no stuffs made of or mixed with silk should be imported, if of a less breadth than a full half yard, nail, and half nail, on pain of forfeiture. It will be remarked that this misguided and unfortunate prince thus took upon himself to regulate, by the authority of proclamations, matters which had previously been ordered by acts of parliament. In many of these orders, the king was guided by his own impulses, or influenced by the persuasions of others, rather than by any sound or enlightened views of the nature of commerce ; and he endeavored to render the trade of the country subservient to his political and religious designs, without reference to that freedom which is essential to the success of all commercial enterprise. In another proc- lamation, issued by him for the reforming of abuses which it was alleged had crept into practice in the manufacture and breadth of silks, the weavers' company were empowered to admit into their commonalty a competent number of such per- sons, whether strangers or natives, as had exercised the trade of weaving for one year at least before the dale of a new charter then recently granted to that company; provided the parties so admitted should be conformable to the laws of the realm, and to the constitution of the church of England ; as though the fabrics which they wrought were susceptible of contamination if touched by heretical hands ! In the reign of his son these matters were brought once more under the more constitutional "control of legislative en- actments. We learn from the preamble of an act passed in theiyear 1661 (13 and 14 Car. II., cap. 15.,) that the company of silk throwsters in London then employed above 40,000 men, women, and children; and, upon the petition of that company, an enactment provided, that none should set up in that trade without serving an apprenticeship of seven years, and becoming free of the throwsters' company. 58 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART I. Many acts of parliament were from time to time, during this reign, passed for the regulation of the manufacture and importation of silk ; but these acts were subject to continual alterations or repeals, and seem to have had but little perma- nent influence. In the year 1685, the revocation of the edict of Nantes compelled many merchants, manufacturers, and artificers to fly from France. The numbers of these emigrants have been variously stated by different writers, at from 300,000 to 1,000,000 persons. About 70,000 made their way to Eng- land and Ireland, with such property as the emergency of their case allowed them to carry away. A large number of them, who had been engaged in the fabrication of silks, re- sorted to Spitalfields, contributing much, by their knowledge and skill, to the improvement of the manufacture in Eng- land. The silks called alamodes and lustrings were intro- duced by them ; and we are also indebted to them for our manufactures in brocades, satins, black and colored mantuas, black paduasoys, ducapes, watered tabbies, and black velvets, all of which fabrics had previously been imported. Descendants of many of these refugees still are found in the same spot, engaged in the same occupation. The revo- cation of the edict of Nantes was attended with effects bene- ficial to other countries, which those who decreed that meas- ure had not the skill to foresee. A large population, possess- ing knowledge and dexterity in the arts of life, were thus scattered over Europe, and intermingled with the less in- structed of other nations. The cultivation of arts and manu- factures was thus stimulated, and the general civilization of Europe accelerated. The manufacture of lustrings and alamode silks, then arti- cles in general use, which, previously to the settlement of the French refugees in Spitalfields, had been imported from France, was, in the year 1692, brought to a state of consid- erable perfection ; the persons engaged therein were this year incorporated by charter, under the name of " the royal lustring company," and obtained from parliament an act, pro- hibiting the importation of foreign lustrings and alamodes, alleging as the ground for such a restriction in their favor, that which, had it been well founded, should have made them indifferent to all legislative interference — that the manufac- ture of these articles in England had now reached a greater degree of perfection than was attained by foreigners. The author of a pamphlet, entitled " Anglise Tutamen; or, the Safety of England," written in 1695, with the intention of CHAP. V. IN ENGLAND. 69 discountenancing a great variety of joint-stock trading com- panies, which then were much patronized by the public, makes exceptions in favor of some few incorporations, and mentions, among these, the royal lustring company, as having thriven greatly, to the advantage of the manufacturing indus- try of the kingdom. In the sequel, however, this company suffered materially from the illegal importation of the pro- hibited articles ; and, for its greater protection, a new charter was confirmed to it by act of parliament in 1698, whereby its powers and privileges were importantly enlarged, and the sole use, exercise, and benefit of making, dressing, and lus- trating plain black alamodes, renforces, and lustrings in Eng- land and Wales was granted to it for fourteen years. But this favored corporation was doomed to encounter a deadlier foe than foreign competition, in a change of the public taste, and fabrics of a different texture coming to be generally worn, to the neglect of those in which they dealt, the com- pany expended all its money, and was entirely broken up be- fore the expiration of its charter. The treaty of Utrecht, concluded in April, 1713, was ac- companied by a commercial treaty with France, under which the manufactures of each kingdom were to be admitted into the other, upon the payment of low ad valorem duties. In this measure of liberal commercial policy, the government appears to have been too far in advance of the general intel- ligence of the people, whose commercial prejudices were so strongly excited, that petitions innumerable were presented to the parliament against its ratification ; and after very vio- lent debates, the bill for rendering the treaty of commerce effectual was rejected in the house of commons by a small majority. In the petition presented on this occasion by the weavers' company of London, it is stated, that, owing to the encouragement afforded by the crown and by divers acts of parliament, the silk manufacture at that time was twenty times greater in amount than in the year 1664 ; that all sorts of black and colored silks, gold and silver stuffs, and ribands, were made here as good as those of French fabric; that black silk for hoods and scarfs, which, twenty-five years before, was all imported, was now made here to the annual value of more than 300,000?., whereby a great increase had been occasioned in the exportation of woollen and other manufactured goods to Turkey and Italy, whence the raw silk was imported. There seems to have been the less pretence for this oppo- sition on the part of the silk trade, since it formed their boast that they had successfully imitated, and even outdone, the 60 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART I. French manufacturers in the quality of those goods where- with these had formerly supplied almost all the rest of Eu- rope. And it appears to have wholly escaped the penetration of the government, that one argument upon which the weav- ers principally relied for the continuance of restrictive regu- lations in their favor, was capable, as regarded the general commercial benefit, of being more forcibly used against them : for if, in payment for the raw silk then imported, woollen and other manufactured goods were given, to how much greater an extent would these more natural branches of industry have been carried, if payment had been required for manu- factured silk instead of the raw material 1 It is true that in such case the labor bestowed upon silk fabrics would have been so far lessened, but the demand for manufacturing labor throughout the kingdom would have been augmented rather than diminished, since a larger proportion of the value of woollen manufactures consists in the wages of artisans, than is the case with those of silk, whose original production is so much more costly ; and even with reference to the operative weavers themselves, their hardships would not have equalled those which, in such circumstances, usually fall upon me- chanics, since they would have found an employment for which they were qualified by previous habits and knowledge, in the weaving of those additional cloths and stuffs which would have been demanded. The truth of this statement has been recently confirmed by the transference of manufacturing: industry from the cotton factories to the silk looms of Man- chester and Macclesfield. When, at a later period (September, 1786,) a treaty of commerce was signed and confirmed between the two courts of France and England, under which the importation of many of the productions of either country was permitted into the* other, on principles of reciprocal liberality, and subject to only moderate ad valorem duties, no evil consequences resulted to? our manufacturers. This treaty remained in force until the declaration of. war by the French republic against this country in February, 1793 ; and during the entire six years of its continuance, al- though our shopkeepers were daily resorting to France for their purchases, and articles of French production were as commonly met with in our warehouses as were those of home manufacture, yet during no period of our commercial' annals have our manufactures experienced a more steadily progres- sive march of prosperity ; for, if the taste of English consumers led many to prefer the fabrics of France r the tide of fashion ciiap. t> IN ENGLAND. 61 in the latter country set with at least equal strength in favor of English goods, and the warehouses of London and Man- chester became the resort of French merchants, to a degree which furnished constant and increasing employment to our artisans. There can be little reason for doubting that, had the French commercial treaty of 1786 extended to the introduc- tion of silk goods upon liberal terms, our weavers would, at a much earlier period, have placed their productions upon the same equality, in point of excellence, with those fabrics with which they would have come into competition* as they have, beyond all controversy, lately attained. Up to the year 1718, our machinery for that purpose was so defective, that this country was, in a great degree, de- pendent upon the throwsters of Italy for the supply of organ- zined silk ; but at that time Mr. Lombe of Derby, having, in the disguise of a common workman, succeeded in taking ac- curate drawings of silk-throwing machinery in Piedmont, erected a stupendous mill for that purpose on the river Der- went at Derby, and obtained a patent for the sole and exclu- sive property in the same during the space of fourteen years. This grand machine was constructed with 26,586 wheels, and 97,746 movements, which worked 73,726 yards of organ- zine silk thread with every revolution of the water wheel whereby the machinery was actuated ; and as this revolved three times in each minute, the almost inconceivable quanti- ty of 318,504,960 yards of organzine could be produced daily. Only one water wheel was employed to give motion to the whole of this machinery, the contrivance of which, consider- ing the then state of mechanical science in England, speaks highly for that of the constructor, who possessed the means of controlling and stopping any one or more of the movements at pleasure without obstructing the continued action of the rest. The building wherein this machinery was erected was of great extent, being five stories in height, and occupying one eighth of a mile in length. So long a time was occupied in the construction of this machinery, and so vast was the outlay it occasioned, that the original duration of the patent proved insufficient for the adequate remuneration of its enter- prising founder, who, on these grounds, applied to parliament, in the year 1731, for an extension of the term for which his privilege had been granted. This, however, in consideration of the . great national importance of the object* which was op- posed to its continued limitation in the hands of any individ- ual, was not granted ; but parliament voted the sum of 14,000 62 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART I. pounds to Sir Thomas Lombe, as some consideration for the eminent services rendered by him to the nation, in discover- ing and introducing, with so much personal risk and labor, and in bringing to perfection at great expense, a work so beneficial to this kingdom ; the grant being made upon the sole condition that competent persons should be allowed to execute an exact model of the machinery, to be deposited in such a place as his majesty should appoint, in order to diffuse and perpetuate the manufacture. The act authorizing the is- sue of this money mentions, among other causes which justi- fied the grant, the great obstruction offered to Sir Thomas Lombe's undertaking by the king of Sardinia, in prohibiting the exportation of the raw silk which the engines were in- tended to work. The imperfect records which until a comparatively recent period, were kept of the progress of our commercial and manufacturing occupations, make it necessary to search in the pages of contemporary writers, in order to glean such in- formation as may serve to denote that progress. In a work published in 1721, entitled "The British Merchant," and which bears marks of considerable authority upon mercantile subjects, it is stated (vol. ii. p. 220.), that the value of the silk manufacture in England amounted at that time to 700,000 pounds more than at that period of the revolution, when im- portations of wrought silks were made from France to the annual value of half a million sterling. For the further encouragement of this manufacture, an act was passed (3 Geo. I. cap. 15.) for granting, during the space of three years then next ensuing, certain bounties on the ex- portation of fabrics composed wholly of silk, or of mixed materials whereof silk formed a portion. This concession in favor of the silk manufacture was one of the very few legislative interferences affecting the trade which has been founded in justice. The money granted on the exportation of wrought fabrics, although under the title of bounty, was, strictly speaking, only a drawback x>r repayment of part of the duties exacted on the importation of the raw mate- rial, and which, otherwise, placed the English manufacture at an unfair disadvantage in foreign markets. It is stated that the silk manufacture of England had now been brought to so great perfection in all its branches as to equal the finest productions of any foreign nation ; and this act for granting a drawback on exportation, was declared to have for its object "the giving of new encouragement to so noble a manufacture." By the same statute a farther advan- CHAP. V. IN ENGLAND* 63 tage was afforded to the silk trade, by the repeal of all duties on the importation of drugs used in dyeing. The Russia company, which enjoyed by charter the sole right of trading between England and Russia, obtained permis- sion, in the year 1741, to import raw silk, the produce of Per- sia, from the dominions of the czar of Muscovy, upon payment of the same duties as were levied on the importation of the same article from the Levant. And it affords strong evidence of the favor wherewith the silk manufacture was still regarded by the English government, that they were willing so far to relax in its behalf the Navigation Act (12 Charles II.) which for so long a period had been, and which, even down to our own time, continued to be guarded with so much jealous watchfulness, as a main pillar of support for our commercial edifice. Considerable quantities of raw silk were imported in this way, and this branch of business long continued to prove highly profitable to the Russia company. To meet the growing demand for the raw material on the part of the English silk throwster, parliament, in the year 1749, reduced the duties payable on the importations of raw silk by the East India Company from China to the same rate as was levied on that brought from Italy ; and, in order to foster and extend the production of silk in the North Ameri- can colonies of Georgia and Carolina, where already some considerable progress had been made in the pursuit, it was permitted to be brought thence to the port of London free of duty. There is reason for believing that the so long boasted su- periority of English silk fabrics over those of foreign produc- tion existed less in reality than in sanguine imagination and prejudice ; since, in the face of such declared superiority, and under the burden of duties fully equivalent to those paid on the raw material by the British manufacturer, foreign goods continued to find their way to England, to the great dissatis- faction of the weavers, who, in a memorial presented by them to the lords of trade in the year 1764, prayed that, at least, double duties might be laid upon all foreign wrought silks. To this prayer their lordships do not seem to have given im- mediate attention ; for in the following year, on the day ap- pointed for the meeting of parliament, (the 10th of January), the journeymen silk weavers of London, who were suffering from the then prevailing fashion of wearing French silks, as- sembled in vast numbers, and marched to the parliament house with drums beating and colors flying (as their successors have frequently done on subsequent occasions affecting their inte- 64 SILK MANUFACTURE. rests), in order to promote their petitions for relief, making personal application to the several members as they proceeded to the house of commons, and representing the wretched situ* ation of themselves and their families. The weavers were at this time not contented with asking for the imposition of ad* ditional import duties in their favor, but prayed for the total prohibition of all foreign wrought silks. The sight of such a multitude of people, who seemed ripe for the commission of almost any outrages, added to a report that the weavers were preparing to set out from inland towns in order to join their London brethren, caused a great conster- nation in the public generally, and more especially among the principal silk mercers, who, by dealing in the obnoxious ar- ticles, conceived themselves more exposed to resentment. To make their peace, these dealers came under engagements with the weavers to countermand all their orders for foreign silks; a contribution was made for the immediate relief of the suf- ferers, and parliament reduced the duties payable upon the importation of raw and thrown silks. By these measures the weavers were appeased ; and the only violence committed by them consisted in breaking the windows of some of those mer- cers who dealt in silks of French manufacture. At a later period of the session an act was passed prohibit- ing the trade in foreign manufactured silk stockings, silk mitts, and silk gloves ; and the prohibition which already existed against the importation of ribands, laces, and girdles of silk, under the act of Henry VII., was now enforced with addition- al penalties. These compliances, on the part of the legislature, with the demands of the weavers, do not appear to have produced all the beneficial results which were expected ; as, in the very next year, it was rendered necessary, by their outrages, to pass an act, declaring it to be felony, and punishable with death, to break into any house or shop with the intention of maliciously damaging or destroying any silk goods in the pro- cess of manufacture. At the same time, the importation and sale were totally prohibited of all foreign made silks and vel- vets, with the only exceptions of those brought from India, and of silk crapes and tiffanies from Italy, but which last were burdened with an additional duty of seventeen shillings and sixpence for every pound weight, one half only of which was to be drawn back on exportation. The journeymen weavers were, from this time, frequently led to form combinations for compelling the masters to raise the wagfes of their labor: and, in the month of October, CHAP. V. IN ENGLAND. 65 1769, notwithstanding the severity of the enactment just re» cited, and in defiance of it, frequent acts of violence were committed upon the property of their employers, and looms, together with the goods in them, were often destroyed. These riots were not suppressed without bloodshed, several soldiers, as well as some of the misguided weavers, being killed in the skirmishes. The constant disputes which occurred between the jour- neymen and master weavers on the subject of wages, occa- sioned the passing of an act in the year 1773, whereby the aldermen of London for that city, and the magistrates of Mid- dlesex for the county, were empowered to settle, in quarter sessions, the wages of journeymen silk weavers ; and penal- ties were inflicted upon such masters as gave, and upon such journeymen as received or demanded, either more or less wages than should be thus settled by this authority. By the same act, all weavers of silk were restricted, under penalties, from having, at any one time, a greater number of apprentices than two. This regulation, which applied only to the district of Spital- fields, and which was confirmed by two subsequent acts (32 Geo. III. cap. 44. and 51 Geo. III. cap. 7), the first to include in its operation manufactures of silk mixed with other mate- rials, and the second to extend its provisions to female wea- vers, continued in force until the year 1824. During its con- tinuance it was the occasion of great difference of opinion among those affected by it. It is only during very recent years that a better understanding has been generally enter- tained of the principles which should influence the trading laws of a country. The favorable consequences which have followed the abandonment of many restrictions, once viewed with favor by the nation as being productive of commercial advantages, have proved how greatly those advantages were over-rated ; or, to speak more correctly, how wholly the re- strictions failed of attaining their intended objects, and how impossible they are to be upheld unless when accompanied by the forced and unnatural aid of war, during the continuance of which the strongest nation may dictate commercial as well as political law, and render other countries tributary to her aggrandizement. Every legislative interference between the manufacturer and the working artisan must prove hurtful to the trade in which they are engaged. By tending unduly to augment the rate of wages, it must exercise an injurious effect upon consumption ; and so much is this the case, that an augmenta- F2 6G feILK MANUFACTURE. PART U tion in the price of a production, which would seem too email in amount for exercising any influence, has been known to ruin a manufacture altogether, by turning the public taste per- manently into new channels, or by raising up competition from quarters unchecked by similar restraints. There being a great scarcity in the beginning of the year 1779 of Italian organzined silk, which was indispensably re- quired for the warp in silk manufactures, its importation was permitted from any port and under any flag until twenty days after the commencement of the next session of par- liament; and this relaxation was extended from year to year, by successive acts of parliament, until the conclusion of the war. In an estimate of the condition and the annual produce of the principal manufacturers of Great Britain, which was pub- lished in the year 1783, the different branches of silk manu- facture were said to amount to the sum of 3,350,000/., and it was farther stated, that this amount was progressively in- creasing. In 1784, additional duties were imposed of one shil- ling and ten-pence per pound on raw silk, and of two shil- lings per pound on thrown silk, and larger countervailing drawbacks were granted on the exportation of manufactured goods composed wholly or partially of silk. The production of raw silk in Bengal, with the view to its exportation thence, was but of trifling amount until the mid- dle of the eighteenth century ; and its quality was so inferior as to occasion its sale for a price equal only to one third or one half that of Italian silk. The total quantity received from Bengal and China in the year 1750 was only 43,876 pounds ; but soon after that period it became a favorite object with the East India Company to encourage its production, as one means whereby to draw from India to Europe the surplus revenues which were expected to flow into their coffers. In the year 1772, with the view of rendering the silk of Bengal, which hitherto was of the commonest kind and fit only for inferior purposes, acceptable to the English manufac- turer, proper machinery and competent persons were sent to that country for the establishment of filatures, or silk-winding factories, on the Italian system. The period chosen was, in one respect, very unfortunate, owing to a dreadful famine which at that time visited India ; and it was not until the year 1776 that any material advantage could be derived from this improved system. In the year just mentioned, the ship- ments of raw silk from Bengal alone amounted to 515,913 pounds ; and during ten years, from 1776 to 1785 inclusive CHAP. V, IN ENGLAND. 67 the average importation reached 560,283 pounds. Although in some individual years the quantity has fallen short from accidental causes, yet its average amount has continued to advance with tolerable steadiness ; and the importations now amount to nearly 1,500,000 pounds annually. The quality of the East India Company's importations, al- though much improved by the use of the machinery sent from England in 1772, was still considered to be greatly inferior to that produced in Italy and Turkey ; and, prior to the year 1794, it was thought applicable only to a very limited num- ber of uses. This state of things, causing their importations to accumulate in their warehouses, led the directors to devise means for the more general introduction of Bengal silk into use; and, complying with the recommendation of a com- mittee of their body appointed for the purpose, they, in the last-mentioned year, caused a portion of their stock to be con- verted into organzine by silk throwsters in this country. Although this measure encountered a strong opposition at that time from some branches of the silk trade, it was soon perceived to be of considerable benefit to the country, inas- much as the experiment tended to remove much of the pre- judice existing against the use of Bengal silk, and the trade was rendered less dependent upon Italy, whence, during so long a period, the greatest part of the organzine used by our weavers was brought. Up to this year (1794), the total quantity of silk organzined in the English mills did not ex- ceed 50,000 pounds' weight annually : the mills being prin- cipally occupied in working singles and trams, the importa- tion of which descriptions was wholly prohibited ; and as the English throwsters were often out of employment, they were willing enough to encourage this experiment on the part of the East India directors. On the supposition that the quality of Bengal silk was suited to the objects for which organzine was required, there could be no difference of opinion concerning the policy of the step, since it was a means for providing profitable employ- ment for English labor and capital. The opposition which had been offered to the measure proceeded from merchants interested in the importation of Italian thrown silk, who found means to influence, for a time, many among the manu- facturers; but these, seeing at length that they were acting in opposition to their true interests, resumed the exercise of their own judgment, and employed organzined East India silk for many of their principal fabrics. From that time the importations of Bengal silk have been 68 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART I* progressively improving in quality ; and, in consequence, the organzine made from it has grown gradually into favor, until it now ranks, for the most part, very little below Italian or- ganzine, and, in some few instances, has even sold for the highest prices afforded by the market. Sanguine hopes have been expressed by some persons of competent judgment, that at no very distant day the improvement may be such as to render our manufacturers nearly independent of foreign sup- plies. The facilities for extending the production in India are such as to create reasonable expectations that, in regard both to quality and price, Bengal silk will force the produc- tions of Italy, and the supplies from Turkey, out of the market. In these western countries there is but one regular annual crop, while in Bengal there are three, at intervals of four months, in March, July, and November. The quality of China silk, governed by the same circum- stances which limit the progress of improvement in all the institutions of that extraordinary country, has continued with- out variation from the period of its first introduction into Europe to the present hour. Its brilliant whiteness, the prin- cipal merit of China silk, is supposed to be owing to the ap- plication of some indigenous production, the knowledge of which is confined to that country. A great part of the raw silk imported from China is used in the fabrication of hosiery and gloves, in which articles it is acknowledged by foreigners that the English manufacturer has long greatly excelled the French, an advantage attributable to the superiority of ma- chinery. Bengal raw silk is distinguished by two appellations — country wound, and filature ; the former being furnished by native adventurers, who can employ none but the rudest methods for winding it ; while the latter is produced by ser- vants of the East India Company, and treated according to the most approved European methods. Different degrees of fineness or coarseness are denoted in the company's filatures in Bengal by the letters A, B, C; silk of 4 to 5 cocoons is called A No. 1. ; of 6-8 cocoons, A No. 2 ; of 8-10 cocoons, B No. 1. ; of 10-12 cocoons, B No. 2. ; of 12-14 and 16-18 cocoons, B No. 3. ; of 18-20 cocoons, C No. 1. ; of 20-22 cocoons, C No. 2. ; 22-24, &c., cocoons, C No. 3. The silk which the natives reel by hand is much in- ferior, and is marked by the letters A, B, C, D, E. It must, therefore, be understood, that the A No. 1. silk of one district in India will differ very importantly in quality from that of another district, although bearing the same distinctive letter CHAP. V. IN ENGLAND. 69 and number; this depending much upon the mode of culture, method of winding, &c. Even the filature- wound silks of different districts are subject to the same difference of quality. Thus, Bauleah filature is said to produce silk inferior in fine- ness to Radnagore or Cossimbazar filature, which, again, are excelled by the produce of Gonatea and Comercolly. In the last-mentioned of these filatures, through the scientific skill and energy of the East India Company's resident, a system has lately been adopted of giving the necessary degree of heat to the cocoons while being wound, by means of steam ; and both the arrangement and execution of the plans for this purpose speak very favorably for the talents of the parties employed, when the remoteness of the situation and the con- sequent difficulties and obstacles to be surmounted are taken into account. The number of artisans needing employment was greatly augmented throughout the kingdom at the return of peace in the year 1815 ; and this event being soon afterwards followed by two bad harvests, the situation of the laboring poor was rendered still more distressing. The increased number of hands, and the rise in the price of provisions, conspired in reducing the rate of wages so low as to render it impossible for the laborer, even when fully employed, to obtain the quan- tity of the cheapest food necessary for subsistence. General complaint and discontent of course ensued. The riband weavers of Coventry, and parts adjacent, having, early in the year 1818, petitioned the legislature for relief, their case was referred for investigation to a committee of the house of commons. A most laborious inquiry upon the subject was instituted ; in the course of which they obtained evidence and information from great numbers of the most in- telligent silk manufacturers and weavers of London, Coven- try, Macclesfield, and, in short, of every district wherein the silk manufacture had seated itself in England. The result of this investigation proved that, although there doubtless was much individual misery among laboring artisans, arising from the causes just mentioned, there w T as no reason for imagining that any particular distress had visited those Con- nected with the trade in silk ; but, on the contrary, it ap- peared, from the concurring testimony of all the witnesses, that the quantity of silk goods manufactured and used through- out the kingdom was on the increase, and that, notwithstanding the greater number of looms, the weavers were all fully em- ployed, and even forced to extend their toil beyond the usual tours to obtain support from the low rate of wages. 70 SILK MANUFACTURE, PART I. That, under these circumstances, the despairing artisans should seek relief, by any means which they thought likely to afford it, can excite no wonder ; but that the master manu- facturer, who saw one establishment after another rising up around him, while, at the same time, his own commercial transactions were continually extended, should declare his opinion that this increase of the trade was occasioned by the distress which accompanied it, and should pray, as a remedy, for the imposition of additional restrictions upon his trade, is somewhat surprising; and when, in compliance with this prayer, a committee of legislators are seen gravely recom- mending enactments, one of the first inevitable consequences of which would have been the aggravation of the evil, by throwing a large number of artisans out of employment, it becomes difficult to withhold the expression of astonishment. The house of commons spared itself the imprudence of car- rying into effect this recommendation of their committee; and within three years from that time a committee of the house of lords recommended strenuously the entire abolition of those restrictions, the extension of which had so lately been declared " absolutely necessary." During the whole of the period between the years 1773 and 1824 the silk trade in England was kept in its artificial state by restraints on the importation of foreign manufactured goods. Being thus secured in the possession of the home market, and in the supplying of our immediate dependencies, there was but little incitement for the weavers to improve their art. Thus the same inartificial loom, and the same throwing machinery, continued to be used down to the very moment when the competition of foreign artisans compelled the attention of our throwsters and weavers, and obliged them to devise means for more successfully meeting the produc- tions of foreign looms in our own markets. The silk goods of France had always found their way to this country, in a limited quantity, through smugglers ; and being, in consequence of their then superior quality, eagerly sought by all who could procure them, our manufacturers were dismayed at the prospect of their legal admission, al- though loaded with heavy protecting duties. From being always wholly dependent upon home demand, the silk manu- facture was liable to serious fluctuations with every change of fashion. The extensive sales of one season were fre- quently followed by the diminished consumption of the next. The weavers then deprived of employment would sink into the depth of wretchedness. This constant alternation of proa- CHAP. V. IN ENGLAND. 71 perity and distress had always attended the silk trade of England, although the preponderance of the former state was proved by the increasing amount of the manufacture, com- paring one period with another in the course of years. It was with a view to lessen this fluctuation, and meet the altered state of commerce attending the return of peace, and to place the silk trade upon a basis of natural capability, rather than of artificial support, that, in the year 1824, the whole system was changed. The high duty on raw silk was aban- doned, for one merely nominal ; that on thrown silk was re- duced nearly one half, and the admission of foreign manufac- tured goods was rendered legal after the 5th of July, 1826. It was hoped that the weavers, having so material a con- cession in their favor, in the alteration of the duties, would have been enabled, during the two years which must elapse before the admission of manufactured goods, to prepare for a successful rivalry with the foreign weaver ; but they were led by the increased demand, consequent upon the abatement of duty, rather to employ their powers in augmenting the quantity than in improving the quality of their fabrics. The local acts of 1773, regulating the wages of silk weavers in and about London, commonly called the Spital- fields Acts, the provisions of which had been subsequently applied to Dublin, were wholly repealed, as has already been mentioned, in the month of March, 1824. The acts were approved and defended by some persons well acquainted with the trade, on the ground that their operation tended to secure to the workman only fair and reasonable wages for his labor, and to prevent an exorbitant rise of poor rates. When the demand for any particular article of manufacture is slack, a competition among the artisans engaged in its production must always ensue, which, in the absence of prohibitory en- actments, will lead them to accept less wages ; and thus the articles of their production being furnished at lower prices, an increased demand is created, which brings things once more to their natural level. But the operation of this local act, by constantly maintaining the prices of goods at their highest point, lessened the chances of increased consumption, and consequently protracted the period of relief ; while the master manufacturer, being restricted from the payment of less than the regulation prices for labor, was without the temptation to add to his stock of goods, in the hope of a re- vived demand, which, under similar circumstances, has often lightened the evil to the laboring artisan. In its general operations, this compulsory regulation of 72 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART 1. wages was fatally opposed to the adoption of improvements depending on the use of machinery. The weaver was paid a certain price for the performance of labor with his own im- plements. However much it would have abridged that labor could he have borrowed the aid of machinery, the means for this were never within his reach. In other branches of manu- facture, processes have been importantly simplified by the in- vention of artisans, who always find in their employers every willingness to incur the necessary risk, and to assist them by making the requisite experiments, knowing that they must share in the consequent advantage. The greatest improvement that has yet been made in figured silk weaving was the pro- duction of an operative weaver. Had this invention been in- troduced in England during the existence of the local act, the important branch of manufacture just mentioned must have been abandoned in Spitalfields. The weavers could not by any means have accomplished the purchase of the machine ; and as the masters must have paid the same prices in either case, they assuredly would not have put themselves to ex- ense in the matter. The consequence in such case would ave been, that the country manufacturer, being able to make such arrangements with the weavers in his employ as were called for by the alteration of circumstances, would have undersold the London trader, and monopolized the business. That this is not a fanciful or doubtful view is proved by the fact ; for since the repeal of this restrictive enactment, the master manufacturers have, at their own charge, ac- tually furnished improved machinery for the use of the ope- rative weavers, and have participated with them in the re- sulting benefits. During the continuance of these acts, there was, in the Spitalfields district, no medium between the full regulation prices and the total absence of employment. It does not ap- pear that wages were ever fixed so high as to enable the weavers to save much of their earnings, when even they were fully employed. Had it been otherwise, the improvi- dence which usually characterizes the uneducated poor, would have prevented their reaping advantage from the circum- stance ; and it must surely be better, on every account, that a man so circumstanced should, in seasons of dullness, work for even a scanty pittance rather than that he should be wholly incapacitated from contributing to the support of himself and his family. The district of Spitalfields has, it is true, enjoyed a very ma- terial advantage over every other place in the kingdom where CHAP. V. IN ENGLAND. 73 the silk manufacture has been established. Its proximity to the great mart for consumption, and the ever-varying demands of fashion in the metropolis, have given constant employment to a certain extent, without much reference to the cost of production ; but as this source of demand must necessarily be far below the power of supplying it, superior artisans alone have obtained employment by reason of it, and the relief has consequently been far more partial in its effects than under other circumstances it might have proved. Some intelligent manufacturers, who advocated the regulation system, argued, that since, on account of duties on the raw material and the cost of its transport, England could not compete with the Con- tinent, but must have its market limited strictly to its own wants, and those of its immediate dependencies, it was of little importance whether wages were high or low ; for if the prices had been reduced by the whole amount of wages, the actual consumption would not have been extended by it ; and, on the other hand, if the price of labor were left without re- striction, the selfish disposition of many master manufactu- rers would lead them to take every unfair advantage of the journeymen weavers, who would thence be driven, habitually, to the resource of the poor-rates, and thus, deprived of their feelings of honest independence, would sink in the scale of society, with morals deteriorated equally with their outward condition. Allowing to this argument all the force and phi- lanthropy which can be demanded, it must be admitted that to be effectual and equitable the acts should have embraced the regulation of wages in all the silk manufactories throughout the kingdom ; and the proof of this is afforded by the fact, which has never baen disputed by even the warmest advo- cates for regulation, that the operation of the Spitalfields act occasioned the removal of many branches of the silk trade from London to districts in the country beyond the limits of that restrictive enactment. Notwithstanding the contrary tendency of this measure, the trade of Spitalfields has, accompanied, it is true, by some distressing fluctuations, gone on increasing. If one branch of manufacture was attracted elsewhere oy the greater cheapness of labor, others were called into existence ; and London, from the cause before explained, has always been, and will continue to be, the nursery for the infant branches of the manufacture. The abolition of duties on the importation of raw silk in the year 1824, and the total alteration in our system of re- 74 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART I- strictions which followed that measure, have tended, hy their happy consequences, greatly to enlighten the public mind upon the subject of commercial prohibitions. The silk trade of England, which, in the opinions of many experienced per- sons, existed only through the exclusion of the manufactures of other countries, has received new life from the breaking down of the barriers raised for its protection. During the ferment which accompanied this revolution in our commercial policy, and when the minds of some were filled with apprehensions, preparations were made by the great majority of the manufacturers for a most important extension of our productive powers. The capital set free by the abolition of the duty was not suffered to lie dormant, but was employed by them in accomplishing this extension. The number of throwing mills in the country was increased from 175 to 266, and of spindles from 780,000 to 1,180,000 : the looms employed in Spitalfields amounted in number to 17,000 ; and so great was the demand for thrown silk, that although, for the moment, the foreign supply was increased by nearly fifty per cent., and the number of mills was aug- mented in the degree just mentioned, still the weavers were frequently obliged to wait during months for the full execu- tion of their orders by the throwsters. In 1824 and 1825 all was excitement and over-production in every branch of our national commerce and industry, and then followed the dreadful revulsion which will live so long in the memories of our merchants and manufacturers. In the month of July, 1826, the admission of foreign silk manufac- tured goods was to commence, under a duty equivalent to about thirty per cent, on their value ; during the season of depression, which is ever unfavorable to the formation of sound opinion, a clamor was raised against this relaxation, the prospect of which was alleged as the main cause of the weavers' distress. Happily, however, for the best interests of the country, its commercial policy was swayed by one, who, like the celebrated Turgot, had the ability to see, and the firmness to uphold, measures of wisdom and of prudence, in opposition to the clamor of his opponents. Among these, it is to be presumed, there is scarcely to be found one who does not now acknowledge, with thankfulness and admiration, the justness of his views, which then passed for visionary specu- lations, and the constancy of his mind, which they were then prone to stigmatize as obstinacy. The law permitting the importation of foreign manufac- CHAP. V. IN ENGLAND. 75 tured silks was allowed to come into operation, and has done more for the development of skill in the English weavers, than might have been produced during ages of a dull and en- ervating monopoly. The boast of former days, so often made, and with so little foundation, is now fully realized, and the fabrics of our artisans vie successfully, in excellence, with the most beautiful performances of the continental weavers, so that many of the productions of our looms are sought and viewed with preference in countries whose superior advan- tages were held up to the English weavers as causes for ap- prehension amounting to dismay. A short time previous to the full operation of the law of 1824, a silk manufacturer of high respectability and skill quitted France and formed an establishment in London ; this became an immediate object of jealousy to the English wea- vers, who complained that it was used principally as a cover for an illicit introduction of the then contraband fabrics of France. This accusation was met, on the part of the foreigner, with a demand for the strictest investigation, and the contents of his warehouse were subjected to a severe scrutiny. When, as the result of the inspection, a seizure had been made of thirty- seven pieces of goods, which, in the estimation of the most competent judges from Spitalfields, were unquestionably of foreign make, the individual English weavers, whose skill had produced the articles, were brought forward to disprove the allegation. Is any further argument required, to prove the accuracy of judgment that dictated this departure from a system of bur- thensome duties and restrictions, which, while other branches of our manufacturing industry had been advancing with giant strides in the race of improvement, kept the silk trade alone in a state of listless inactivity 1 If so, it will be found in the evidence of custom-house returns. Were any individual year singled out as an example of this fact, it might be considered as inconclusive, and perhaps un- fair. The period immediately following the alteration of a system is not one wherein the permanent effects of that al- teration can be rationally considered ; and the trading of the first year after the abolition of the heavy duties might have been thereby stimulated to an unnatural extent ; but this objection cannot apply, if the period of comparison be spread over a space of five years, for in that time, any amount of un- due excitation and over-trading would have found its correc- tion in following years of consequent depression. 76 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART I. Contrasting, therefore, the five years immediately preced- ing the alteration of system, with an equal period following that measure, we find, that in the year lbs. 1819, the importation was, —raw silk, - - 1,480,990 thrown, - - 301,588 1820, raw silk, thrown, 1821, raw silk, thrown, 1822, 1823, raw silk, thrown, - raw silk, thrown, Making a total of - 10,925,646 in the last five years of prohibition. 1,702,416 309,953 1,940,516 350,209 2,037,415 370,273 2,085,972 346,314 lbs. 1,782,578 2,012,369 2,290,725 2,407,688 2,432,286 In 1824, the first year of low duties, the importation was — lbs. raw silk, - - 3,540,910 thrown, - - 452,469 1825, raw silk, thrown, 1826 raw silk, thrown, 1827, ------- raw silk, thrown, 1828, raw silk, thrown, Making a total of 3,030,756 556,642 1,955,042 289,325 3,755,242 454,015 4,162,550 385,262 lbs. 3,993,379 3,587,398 2,244,367 4,209,257 4,547,812 18,582,213 in the first five years of relaxation ; exhibiting an increase of no less than seventy per cent, in the annual consumption of the country. It has been stated, that when, in the year 1824, the legis- lature determined upon altering the system by which the silk manufacture was conducted ; and legalized, prospectively, the importation of foreign silk goods under a rate of duty which was judged to afford sufficient protection to the home manufacturer, concession was so far made to the apprehen- CHAP. V. TN ENGLAND. 77 sions of this class as to defer the operation of that portion of the law for two years, which interval was asserted to be re- quisite in order to enable the English weaver to prepare him- self, by the production of goods fitted for that object, for the formidable competition in which he was about to engage. That men occupied in any particular calling should by want of judgment and information be betrayed into measures against their interest, is not extraordinary ; prevented by the circumstances wherein they are placed from taking more than a partial view of the subject, they are prone to fill up the prospect with chimeras, and shrink with apprehension from phantoms of their own creation : but it is, on the other hand, truly surprising that others, whose faculties had no such in- fluences to mislead them, should yet have failed on this occa- sion to perceive that the same interval which was granted to the home manufacturer was equally enjoyed by the foreigner, during which he might accumulate a large stock of goods ready to be poured into our markets at the moment of the act coming into operation. This, in fact, w^as the course pursued by the French ; and when the near prospect of this inunda- tion had created a new subject for alarm in the minds of our own manufacturers, an expedient was adopted as a remedy, which was equally at variance with liberality as it affected our neighbors, and contrary to sound policy as it regarded ourselves. The French weavers had already been accustomed to make their silk goods of one particular length ; and with the design of rendering these their preparatory labors unavailing, a law was passed by parliament, whereby it was, among other things, enacted, that only silks of certain declared lengths, different altogether from those hitherto made and used in France, should be admitted ; disqualifying thus from legal importation all goods then made with a view to the English market. The consequences of this enactment were, that the French manu- facturers set instantly to work to make fresh goods of the pre- scribed length for English consumption, while the prohibited pieces, falling as instantly in value, were purchased by the illicit trader, and smuggled into this country ; their low price causing them more effectually to interfere with our domestic production.* It had never been found practicable, under the system of exclusion, to prevent the prosecution of this contraband trade in silk goods. French silks and ribands, from their then supe- * Note M. G2 78 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART I. riority to those of our own production, had always been pre- ferably sought by our countrywomen : and to such an extent was this trade systematized, that silk goods of all descriptions might be purchased in France ; the seller taking upon himself to guaranty their safe delivery in England, at the very house of the purchaser, and relieving himself in turn from the chances of loss, by insuring the amount at offices established for that purpose, and where policies were granted with as much facility against loss by seizure, as for proteciion against the elements- — the premium varying, of course, according as a greater or less degree of vigilance was found to be exerted by our revenue-officers.* With the knowledge of these practices full in their minds, and aware, from experience, of the impossibility of effectually stopping them, the admission of foreign silks was no longer matter of choice with our government ; and the only question for consideration was how to draw from this branch of com- merce the highest amount of revenue. It was evident, that, by fixing the rate of duty too high, the French smuggler and the insurance offices would continue their successful competi- torship ; and the government was sorely perplexed by the cer- tainty of this on the one hand, and by the overcharged fears of our manufacturers on the other, in their endeavors to effect an accurate adjustment of the question. Independently of the enormous expense attending estab- lishments for the prevention of illicit trading, — and this pe- cuniary evil is one of no inconsiderable magnitude, — govern- ments would appear to be under a moral obligation to remove, as far as possible, all incentives to the commission of the crime of smuggling. The opinion, that infractions of revenue laws are, at most, but venial offences, is one very generally held among the uneducated ; and, judging from the encour- agement afforded to smugglers, the idea is not by any means confined to that class : if, however, crimes are to be estimated with reference to their probable influence upon the general well-being of society, the smuggler's calling can by no means be considered harmless ; since, by familiarizing him with vio- lations of the law in one of its codes or branches, it tends to break down the barriers which should restrain him in regard to moral observances generally ; and, in truth, a laxity of practice in this so-esteemed venial fault leads from one step to another, through various gradations of crime, until the mind and heart become at length wholly corrupt and brutalized ; * Note N. CHAP. V. IN KNGLANB. 79 and murders the most cruel and atrocious, perpetrated in de- fending the objects of their criminal traffic, are the melancholy- consequences. While the necessity exists for the imposition of duties, it is hardly to be hoped that smuggling can altogether cease ; nor, indeed, does it appear possible for any government, however strong and vigilant, effectually to counteract the diligence and activity of those who draw their subsistence from illicit trading : but that much may be done in lessening the evil, by a judicious adjustment of the scale of duties, is rendered evi- dent by the fact, that since the duty on foreign silk goods has been placed on its present footing, it has become comparative- ly indifferent to the trader, as a question of profit, whether to pass them regularly through the custom-house, or to insure the value against the chances of seizure ; the demands of the smugglers and the insurance offices being nearly equal to those of the government. From this it may fairly be inferred, that the amount imported of smuggled silk goods has been greatly diminished : many persons who would have little or no objec- tion to these importations on the score of their illegality, would yet be restrained from embarking in adventures attended with risk of loss, and would prefer to follow the course of vir- tuous and good citizens from the moment that an opposite line of conduct ceased to be accompanied by extra profits ! The inducements for smuggling afforded by the imposition of exorbitant duties, although strong, are yet by no means so great as where the importation of an article of commerce is altogether prohibited. This affords the greatest encourage- ment to the illicit trader ; since it directly enlists among the ranks of his customers that numerous and influential class of persons which estimates the value of things according to their scarcity and difficulty of attainment, giving to the interdicted article a factitious superiority, which disappears at the first breath that destroys the prohibition. Is it not notorious, that during the whole period of their interdiction, French silks and ribands were to be seen in every society that laid claim to the distinction of fashion ; and that India silk handkerchiefs were to be found universally in the pockets of men of the upper and middle classes, and even adorning the necks of the laborer and the artisan 1 Prohibitory laws seem to be considered unjust and arbitrary interferences with the natural liberty of man, and to carry with them none of the sanctions of morality : they are broken, consequently, without hesitation, by persons who would yet SO SILK MANUFACTURE. PART ti scruple to withhold clandestinely the payment of any rate of duty that might be imposed.* It is not asserted that the introduction of foreign manufac- tured silk goods should be at once permitted free from the imposition of any duty. It has been contended, that some pro- tection is called for, because the foreign manufacturer is in the country of production, while the cost of the raw material is enhanced to us by the expense of carriage ; an argument scarcely deserving of any consideration, since the conveyance of manufactured articles must be at the least as expensive as that of the raw material ; and, besides, so long as France con- tinues to draw any part of her supplies from abroad, the price of the whole of the silk manufactured in that country must be governed by the cost of the portion which is imported. But while the expense of living is higher in Great Britain than it is in those countries whose political and financial cir- cumstances place them in a less artificial state, the wages of labor ought to be and will be higher in something like an equal ratio. Greater comforts are needed by the English artisans, in consequence of the less favorable nature of our climate ; and if, after taking all these circumstances into cal- culation, it is yet found that the laboring classes here are not all sunk so deeply into the abyss of poverty and wretchedness as those of some neighboring states may be, it will not thence be argued that their situation is too favorable, and that the principle of buying in the cheapest market should, as is some- times insisted on, be carried to so extreme a length as would lower them to the same miserable level, and reduce them to the procurement of bare subsistence.! There is too much reason for believing that this is, in many of our manufacturing districts, the unhappy condition of our laboring artisans; and occurring, as it generally does, with reference to branches of industry wherein we have no foreign rival to contend against, legislative protection would be unavailing; but so long as, by the imposition of a moderate duty upon importa- tion, the real comfort of a large and deserving class of our fellow-countrymen can be maintained, there are surely few, if any, who would object to the impost : but to carry this pro- tection beyond the limit here pointed out, would be injurious towards other classes of the community, without insuring, in any adequate degree, the particular benefit that was intended. In regard to the silk manufacture, the duty required in order to maintain the English weavers in the same relative * Note O. t Note P. CHAP. V. IN ENGLAND. ei position which they already hold with those of France, is very much lower than, without inquiry, many would be led to imagine. On consulting a comparative statement drawn up by an experienced silk manufacturer of London, it appears that, independent of duties, which are purposely kept out of view, the entire difference in the cost of one pound of the best thrown silk, when manufactured into sixteen yards of Gros-de-Naples, is five shillings and sixpence, or barely four- teen and a half per eent. :* of this amount of difference, it will * Comparative estimate of tjie cost of one pound of silk when manu- factured into Gros-de-J\aples at Lyons and London respectively. In London. £ s. d. £ s. d. Price current of fine tram silk In Lyons. £. s, d. Price current of organzine 25s. per lb., 8 ounces of which 0 12 6 Ditto of tram 22s. 6d. per lb., 8 ounces of which - 0 11 3 Dyeing warp and shoot - - 0 Oil in Italy 12 Export duty and expenses - - - -00 Carriage to Calais 0 0 1 4 8 Add 4 ounces for loss in dyeing and waste, to make 16 ounces when manufac- tured 0 6 2 Winding and warping ls.2d, Weaving 16 yards., reckoning 1 oz. to the yard, at A\d. per yard 6 0 1 10 10 per lb. 124 Eight ounces of which - 0 11 2 Price current of fine organzine in Piedmont - - 1 3 0 Duty and ex- penses 0 0 9| Carriage to Calais 0 0 3} 0 7 3 1 18 1 Difference in favor of the French manufacturer - 0 5 6 per lb. 14 1 Eight ounces of which - 0 12 Dyeing warp and shoot, black and ordinary co- lors, soft and souple - 0 1 6 Add 4 ounces for loss in 1 dyeing and waste, to make 16 ounces when manufactured 0 4 8} 6 2 2 3 1 10 10J Winding and warping 2 0J Weaving 16 yards, reckoning 1 ounce to the yard, at 8d. per yard 10 8 0 12 8$ 2 3 7 The freight and expenie from Calais are not included in the above SILK MANUFACTURE, PART r. be seen that the sum of four shillings and eight pence, or twelve and a quarter per cent, is made up of the higher wages paid in London for the actual weaving of the fabric ; the higher charge of the dyer amounts to seven pence; and the small remaining sum is divided among the persons employed in warping and winding the silk. This comparison is made on the supposition that Italian thrown silk is used in both cases ; and, as already mentioned, excluding the amount of duty payable on importation to this country. This duty is after the rate of three shillings and sixpence per pound ; but the importer is furnished, when it is paid, with a transferable title to draw back the amount upon the exportation of an equivalent weight of wrought silk ; of this title he, of course, avails himself, either personally or by proxy, and it would, consequently, be improper to consider the duty in forming this comparative estimate. It has been well remarked by the baron Charles Dupin, who, from his diligent researches into all subjects connected with commercial questions, is entitled to have his opinions received with a high degree of respect and confidence, that in the most considerable branches of manufacture, the most decided superiority has been obtained by people with whom the price of labor is dearer than with their rivals. He in- stances the cotton manufactures of England, which are fur- nished better and cheaper than by any other people of Europe, although labor is dearer in Great Britain than in any other country of our hemisphere. He then brings forward the manufacture of linens, in which the Dutch and Belgians sur- pass and sell cheaper than the Bretons, although the price of labor is dearer in Belgium and Holland than it is in Britany : and he further shows, that in the production of fine woollens, France surpasses and undersells Spain, although the price of labor in the former is higher than in the latter kingdom.* The superiority in these instances, which is sufficiently striking, Dupin rather refers to higher attainments of me- chanical skill, and greater degrees of commercial knowledge and enterprise. Is it then expecting too much to hope that, by continuing to apply to the silk manufacture the same amount of skill and enterprise which have served to gain for us a pre-eminence statement : the cost of transporting manufactured goods from Lyons to London, which is greater, must, in such case, have been added to the price of the Lyons manufacture. * JVol© Q. CHAf. V. IN ENGLAND. 83 so decided in our cotton fabrics, we may shortly become suffi- ciently expert to bring the produce of our silk-looms, unpro- tected by discriminating" duties, into successful competition with those of France, and to meet the latter in the fair spirit of rivalry in those foreign markets which have hitherto been virtually closed against us 1 It does not require any very deep research into the subject to discover that the silk manufacture of England has received, in all its branches, a most important impetus from the altera- tion of system which began in the year 1824. For a time this impulsion showed itself only in the augmented quantity of raw material submitted to the labors of the weaver; but from the period when wrought silks of foreign manufacture were admitted legally into competition with those of domes- tic fabric, our artisans have proved how capable they are of evincing as great a degree of ingenuity in this branch, as England has so long been accustomed to display in other manu- factures. The once existing disparity in quality between goods of French and English make has, with some very un- important exceptions, not merely disappeared, but actually ranged itself on the side of the British artisan ; and as re- gards the cost of conversion, if the spur of competition has not urged us forward in an equal ratio, it has yet done much, — more indeed than, without experience of the fact, was once thought possible. Improvements in the machinery employed, both in throwing and weaving, have led to this gratifying re- sult — that the cost of the processes of organzining silk has fallen to little more than one half what it formerly amounted to, and a much greater proportional abatement has occurred in figure weaving. Can it be pretended, that these advantages would have en- sued under the old enervating system of high duties and pro- hibitions 7 and does it not seem desirable that the legislature should follow up this result, removing by degrees, but as rapidly as consists with safety, the remaining mounds and de- fences against foreign interference 1 Until the arrival of a state of things under which these may all be abolished, Eng- land can hardly hope to employ her silk-looms in the service of foreign countries ; but if it be desirable, — and who can dispute that it is sol — to export our silks in company with our cotton manufactures, would it not, by exciting emulation, accelerate that event, if it were known that every coming year some abatement would be made from the scale of pro- tecting duties, until they should be wholly abolished ? If the foregoing statements, carefully as they have been collected 84 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART I. and examined, should be thought entitled to credit, the duty at present levied upon foreign manufactured silk goods is, in most cases, double what is needed to place the productions of France upon an equality with our own ; and if this dispro- portion has arisen, as is believed to be the fact, since the ar- rangement of the rates, and the opening of our markets to foreign manufactured silks, in the year 1826, does it not offer reasons sufficient for revision and abatement, while it holds out the certain prospect of further and progressive opportuni- ties for reduction, until, under their abolition, the British silk manufacturers will become, first, undisputed masters of our home markets, and next artificers for others! The duties now chargeable upon the importation of raw, thrown, and manufactured silks, as well as the drawback re- coverable on re-exportation, may be found in the following table : — £ s. d. Knubs, or husks of silk, and waste of silk, the cwt 0 1 0 Raw silk, the lb 0 0 1 Thrown silk, not dyed, namely — Singles, the lb 0 1 6 Tram, the lb 0 2 0 Organzine and crape silk, the lb 0 3 6 Thrown silk, dyed, namely — Singles, or tram, the lb 0 3 0 Organzine, or crape silk, the lb 0 5 2 Manufactures of silk, or of silk mixed with any other mate- rial, namely — Silk or satin, plain, the lb O il 0 or, and at the option of the officers of the customs, for every 100Z. of the value 25 0 0 Silk or satin, figured or brocaded, the lb 0 15 0 or, and at the option of the officers of the customs, for every 100Z. of the value 30 0 0 Gauze, plain, the lb 0 17 0 or, and at the option of the officers of the customs, for every 100Z. of the value 30 0 0 Gauze, striped, figured, or brocaded, the lb 1 7 6 or, and at the option of the officers of the customs, for every 100Z. of the value 30 0 0 Velvet, plain, the lb 1 2 0 or, and at the option of the officers of the customs, for every 100Z. of the value 30 0 0 Velvet, figured, the lb 1 7 6 or, and at the option of the officers of the customs, for every 100Z. of the value - 30 0 0 Ribands, embossed or figured with velvet, the lb 0 17 0 or, and at the option of the officers of -the customs, for every 100Z. of the value . . 30 0 0 And further, if mixed with gold, silver, or other metal, in addition to the above rates, when the duty is not charged according to the value 0 10 0 CHAP. V. IN ENGLAND. 85 £ 8. d. Fancy silk, net or tricot, the lb 1 4 0 Plain silk lace, or net, called tulle, the square yard 0 1 4 Manufactures of silk, or of silk mixed with any other ma- terial, the produce of and imported from places within the limits of the East India Company's charter, for every 100Z. of the value 20 0 0 Millinery of silk, or of which the greater part of the mate- rial is of silk, namely — Turbans or caps, each ■ 0 15 0 Hats or bonnets, each 15 0 Dresses, each 2 10 0 or, and at the option of the officers of the customs, for every 100Z. of the value 40 0 0 Manufactures of silk, or of silk and any other material, not particularly enumerated, or otherwise charged with duty, for every 100/. of the value 30 0 0 Articles of manufacture of silk, or of silk and any other material, wholly or part made up, not particularly enu- merated, or otherwise charged with duty, for every 100Z. of the value 30 0 0 Drawback is allowed, as under, on the exportation of silk manufactured goods, its gross amount being limited to the amount of duties previously paid on foreign thrown silk, as has already been explained : — £ s. d. For every pound weight of manufactured goods, composed of silk only 0 3 6 For every pound weight of silk and cotton mixed, whereof one half at the least shall be silk 0 1 2 For every pound weight of silk and worsted mixed, whereof one half at the least shall be silk 0 0 7 To throw additional obstacles in the way of smuggling, the importation of foreign wrought silk goods is restricted to the ports of London, Dublin, and Dover ; and can only be effected m vessels of at least seventy tons burthen, except when brought direct from Calais to Dover, for which trade, vessels that are only of sixty tons burthen may be licensed by the lords of the treasury, or by the commissioners of his majesty's customs. H 86 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART If. PART m ON THE CULTURE OF SILK. CHAPTER t ON THE CULTURE OF THE MULBERRY TREE, pifferent Species of the Mulberry Tree. — Comparative Qualities as Food for Silkworms. — Soil and situation most favorable for its Growth. — Manner of raising it. — From Seed. — From Cuttings. — Ingrafting. — Number of Broods of Silkworms annually reared in different Countries. — Nutritive Qualities of the Mulberry Leaf. — Preservation of Leaves. — Quantity of Leaves that; may be annually taken from one Tree. — The Mulberry Leaf sacred to the Silkworm. The first object of attention, preparatory to any extensive attempt for the production of silk, must be the culture of the mulberry tree, the leaves of which form the sole subsistence of the silkworm. This tree, the moras of botanists, is a genus of the tetran-= dria order, belonging to the monaeia class of plants. Linnaeus enumerates seven distinct species of the mulberry tree. The Nigra, or black-fruited species, is well known in this country, and much prized for the fruit which it so abundantly bears. Any particular description of it here would be super- fluous. The Alba, or white-fruited mulberry, differs from the nigra in having its stem straighter, and its bark smoother and of q. lighter color. Its leaves are likewise smoother, thinner, much, smaller, and of a lighter green. The fruit, which is of a pale gray color, is small, of a vapid sweetness, and of no value. The Rubra, or red Virginia mulberry tree, differs but little from the alba, except in the red color of its fruit. The Tartar ica, or Tartarian species, abounds on the banks of the Volga and the Tanais. The Papyfera, or paper mulberry, differs from the other species in having palmated leaves. From the bark of its branches the Japanese prepare their paper. Its leaves am also used as food for the silkworm, for which purpose the tree is now successfully cultivated in France.* The two remaining species, the Tinctoria and Indica, are pot used for the nourishment of the silkworm. f Note R, t Note S- CHAP. I* CULTURE OF THE MULBERRY TREE. 87 The mulberry tree is hardy, of quick growth, and easily naturalized in all climates. The black species has always been cultivated for its fruit in Europe. The white sort comes from India, whence it has been introduced into all those western countries which have attempted the culture of silk.* The respective qualities of the different species, as con- nected with the silkworm, cannot be better pointed out than by observing, that if leaves of the white, the red, and the black mulberry be given at the same time to the insect, it will eat first the white, next the red, and lastly the black, in the order of the tenderness of the leaves. The Tartarian seems to hold as high a place in its esteem as either the red or black kind : all, however, give place to the white, which* as it came originally from China, would appear to be its most natural food. Most writers on the subject affirm that the white mulberry is always used in China, while some few assert that the Chinese now feed their silkworms on the Tartarian species. The white sort is genera] ly planted for this purpose in Europe, its leaves being more eagerly desired by the worms. The trees of this species likewise possess the advantage of coming into leaf a fortnight earlier than the black, for which reason the eggs may be hatched earlier in the spring, and the cares of rearing the insects are not prolonged too far into the hottest season. The white mulberry tree is likewise of quicker growth, is not so much injured by the constant pluck- ing of its leaves, nor is it, like the black, incommoded by a great quantity of fruit. The best reason, however, if it be correct, that has been given for preferring it, is, that the silk of worms which feed upon its leaves is finer than where other kinds are substituted. Count Daridolo has, indeed, found, that the quality of the filament does not solely depend upon the food of the insect, but is also influenced by the degree of temperature in which it is reared. In cold climates, the black thrives better than the white mulberry. It likewise bears double the quantity of leaves suitable for food.f In Persia the silkworm is nourished alto- gether by leaves of the black species. In Granada, where silk of an excellent quality is produced, the same system is followed. Swinburne, who travelled in Calabria in 1784, re- lates that the red species was there generally preferred, be- cause the leaves, not appearing until ten or fourteen days later than those of the white mulberry, are therefore less sul> * Noto T. t Note U. 88 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART ir. ject to injury by frost. This reason for its preference is in other climates assigned as the cause of its rejection. The roots of the mulberry tree strike very deep into the ground, so that the surface not being impoverished as it is by many trees, whose roots are found more in the upper soil, other kinds of cultivation may be prosecuted around it. Nei- ther its shade, nor the dropping of rain from its leaves, is con- sidered prejudicial to plants growing beneath. Moist lands in valleys and near rivers induce a very rapid growth in the trees ; but their leaves contain, in such situa- tions, too much watery matter, and, though eaten voraciously, are hurtful to the worms from their comparative want of nourishment. The labors of the insects are also delayed, and the quality of their produce injured, by the weakness of con- stitution resulting from this cause. Trees in dry soils give fewer leaves, but any deficiency in their quantity is amply compensated by the greater nutriment which they afford, and, as a necessary consequence, by the superior quality of the silk produced. It is remarked by Mayet, that the quality of the silk de- pends upon that of the mulberry leaves consumed, " which are then to be considered as being only a mine worked by the worms ; and this mine is more or less proper to furnish the fine substance, according to the soil and climate." The mulberry tree is readily raised, either by cuttings, by layers, or by seed. In countries where the seed must be saved until the favorable season for sowing it shall come round, the process is both troublesome and difficult. Pullein, who wrote in the year 1758, gives very elaborate directions, which he considers necessary for properly saving and pre- paring the seed. In climates where this delay in sowing is not necessary, the operation is more simple. The plan pur- sued in France is curious : it is thus described : — " Take the ripe berries when they are full of juice and seeds. Next take a rough horse-hair line, or rope such as we dry linen on, and with a good handful of ripe mulberries, run your hand along the line, bruising the berries and mashing them as much as possible as your hand runs along, so that the pulp and seed of the berries may adhere in great abundance to the rope or hair line. Next dig a trench in the ground where you wish to plant them, much like what is practised in kitchen gardens in England for crops of various kinds. Next cut the rope or hair line into lengths, according to the length of the trench you think fit to make, and plunge the line full of mashed berries into the trench ; then cover it well over with CHAP. I. CULTURE OF THE MULBERRY TREE. 8& earth, always remembering afterwards to water it well, which is essential to success. The seeds of the berries thus sown will grow, and soon shoot out suckers, which will bear young leaves, which are the best food for the silkworm. The facility and rapidity with which young leaves may by this means be produced, is evident ; for as many rows of trenches can thus be filled as can be wished ; and it can never be ne- cessary to have mulberry trees higher than our raspberry, currant, or gooseberry bushes. Whenever they get beyond that, they lose their value ; and if these brandies succeed, you may have a supply coming fresh up day after da^, or any quantity you please. 1 ' Snails and slugs are found to be very destructive to the young mulberry shoots, committing great devastations in a short period. In moist seasons, a whole nursery is sometimes threatened by them with ruin. To protect the tender plant from this evil, it is recommended to surround the beds or trenches with dry soot or ashes, sprinkling it afresh after rain. This protection might be advantageously adopted with other plantations, as slugs will not pass over such a fence, es- pecially while it is dry. In England, and countries of similar temperature, seed- lings will not attain a greater height than three inches in the first year. In w T armer climates their growth is much more rapid ; so that in some parts of India large quantities of seed sre sown, whose crops are mowed down in the ensuing reason as food for silkworms. Sprouts again spring forth from the roots the same year, and are used for a second brood. The silk produced by worms fed on these tender shoots is supposed to be readily distinguishable, by its superiority over that produced when the insect is fed on the leaf of the full grown mulberry tree. Plants which are raised from seed require transplantation at the end of the third year, to induce the spreading of the root. Without this removal they would acquire only one root, like a pivot, and would be liable to various casualties on that account. Some cultivators believe that it assists this branching out of roots, if the plants are cut even with the ground at the end of the second year. The most easy and expeditious way of raising mulberry trees is from cuttings. Although as great a number cannot so readily be raised in this manner as from seed, there is a great advantage in point of strength as well as in the rapidity of their growth. This method of propagation is much more successful in moist and temperate climes than in such as are H2 90 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART II. exposed to the arid heat of the lower latitudes. Cuttings will put forth shoots of about five or six inches in length during the first summer, and will, at the same time, be pro- viding themselves with roots. If they have put forth shoots, and preserve their leaves until the autumn, the plants will generally succeed : any which have failed to do so must be replaced by other cuttings. In the course of the ensuing spring and summer, if carefully watered, the shoots will frequently attain the length of eighteen inches. In the au- tumn following the beds must be thinned, and the redundant saplings planted out. Mulberry plantations which are formed in France and Italy consist of large standard trees. This is a very inconvenient method ; as the leaves cannot be gathered but by the aid of ladders, and by climbing among the branches. In this way the trees may sustain much injury ; besides which a great deal of time is unnecessarily wasted in reaching the leaves, which then are seldom gathered with regularity. Du Halde, in his history of China, relates that the Chinese are particular so to place and to prune their mulberry trees, that the leaves may be gathered in the easiest manner, and without risk of damage to the trees. These are, with this view, cut in a hollow form, without any intersecting branches in the middle ; so that a person going round the tree may gather all the outside leaves, and afterwards, by standing withinside, and merely turning round to the different parts, may pluck the leaves growing within. The trees are not allowed to grow to any great height ; so that each tree forms a sort of round hedge, and may be reached throughout with- out climbing on its branches. Pullein gives very ample directions for forming and rear- ing plantations of mulberry trees. His work has been con- sidered one of high authority, and may be profitably consults ed by any who require more minute information than it is, desirable to furnish in this volume. Ingrafting is considered to be one of the surest methods of obtaining nutritious leaves from mulberry trees. Monsieur- Bourgeois observes, that mulberries ingrafted on wild stocks, when the graft is chosen from a good kind, such as the rose-? leaved or the Spanish mulberry, produce leaves which are much more beautiful, and of much better quality for feeding silkworms, than such as are ingrafted on the common wild stock. The same observation has been made by Monsieur Thome, whose authority is of the greatest weight in what- CHAP. I. CULTURE OF THE MULBERRY TREE. 91 ever relates to the rearing of silkworms, to which object he devoted forty years of his life. Although ingrafted mulberries certainly produce a greater number of leaves than the wild trees, and these leaves are thought to contain more nourishment to the insect, yet the wild tree has an advantage over that which is ingrafted, in its superior longevity. The former has been known to exist for two centuries; while the increased quantity of leaves produced by ingrafting causes a premature dissipation of the sap of the tree, and accelerates its decay. Monsieur Pomier, in a treatise which he has written upon the subject, recom- mends that white should be ingrafted on black mulberries ; and the reason urged for the adoption of this plan is, that the white species commonly decays first in the root, while the black is not subject to any disease. The more attention that is bestowed upon the tree, by dressing and pruning the overgrown branches, the greater abundance of good leaves will it furnish. It is very hurtful to the trees to strip them when too young, because leaves are organs which fulfil important functions in plants; contrib- uting greatly to their nutrition by absorbing vessels, which imbibe moisture from the air. The leaves may be safely gathered after the fifth year. Mulberry trees are so plen- teously stored with sap, that they sometimes renew their leaves twice or thrice in the same year. When the winter has been mild, they put forth leaves very early ; but it is al- ways dangerous, in any but hot climates, to accelerate the hatching of the worms in expectation of this event ; for no leaves should be depended on till the beginning of May, as those which appear prior to this period are exposed to destruc- tion from frost. According to Monsieur Nollet, the inhabitants of Tuscany, especially in the neighborhood of Florence, do not cultivate half as many mulberry trees as the Piedmontese, in propor- tion to the number of silkworms reared and the quantity of silk produced. This economy is realized by causing the worms to be hatched at two separate periods. The first "brood is fed on the first leaves of the spring; and when these worms have gone through their progressions, and have produced silk, other eggs are hatched, and the insects are nourished by a second crop of leaves furnished by the same trees. This plan is followed in China, where two crops of silk are obtained in the year ; and it has been said that in some other parts of Asia as many as twelve broods of worms are reared in the course of one year. In the Isle of Franc© Q2 SILK MANUFACTURE. Monsieur Chazal obtained three generations between the months of December and May ; the mulberry tree there, as well as in India, affording fresh leaves through the whole year. Count Dandolo is of opinion that in Italy it is disadvantage- ous to obtain more than one crop in each season. He affirms that the mulberry tree cannot bear this constant stripping of its leaves without injury. " All things considered," says he, "I am well persuaded that one of our good crops will be equal in produce to any number that may be gathered else- where in a year." It is observed that the quality of the silk obtained in Italy from their second racolta is always inferior to that from the first brood of worms. The Persian cultivators are accustomed, from a motive of economy, to feed silkworms upon boughs of the mulberry tree, instead of using the leaf separately, as is practised in all temperate climates. The leaves, continuing attached to the branches, remain longer fresh, have a better flavor, and are more nutritious, than those separately gathered, and the silkworms feed from the branches with less waste than when the leaves are strewn singly over them. In estimating the qualities of the mulberry leaf, as regards nutrition, it should be considered as being composed of five different substances. The solid or fibrous, the saccharine, and the resinous substances, water, and coloring matter. The fibrous substance, water, and coloring matter, cannot be said to contribute towards the nourishment of the silk- worm. The saccharine matter is that which sustains the in- sect, causes its increase in size, and goes to the formation of its animal substance. The resinous substance, according to count Dandolo, is that which, " separating itself gradually from the leaf, and attracted by the animal organization, ac- cumulates, clears itself, and insensibly fills the two reservoirs or silk vessels. According to the different proportions of the elements which compose the leaf, it follows, that cases may occur in which a greater weight of leaf may yield less that is useful to the silkworm, as well for its nourishment, as with respect to the quantity of silk obtained from the animal." To complete the development of the silkworm, the quan- tity of leaves consumed must bear relation to the nutriment they contain. It is therefore important, that leaves contain- ing the most nutriment should be supplied to the insect, as it is more fatigued and more liable to disease from devouring many leaves, than it would be if an equal quantity of nour- ishment were supplied by fewer leaves containing more sac- CHAP. 1> CULTURE OF THE MULBERRY TREE. 93 charine substance. Again, if this abounds in the leaf, and the resinous substance is not found united with it in sufficient quantity, the worm will, it is true, thrive and grow, but will not produce silk proportionate to its weight. In some parts of Italy and France, mulberry leaves are commonly sold by weight in the market, and those persons who rear silkworms are often wholly dependent on this source for a supply. Judgment and experience are required in the purchaser, to enable him to make a proper selection of leaves, choosing such as are of a nourishing quality, and rejecting those whose sale would, from their greater weight, be more profitable to the vender. The interests of the two parties are consequently at variance. In other places, trees are hired for the season ; from four to six francs, according to its size and condition, being paid for the hire of each tree. Un- der equal circumstances, an old mulberry tree always yields better leaves than a young one ; and whatever may be the original quality of the tree, as it grows older the leaf will diminish in size, and will so materially improve, that at length it will attain to a very excellent quality. It is of importance that the age of the leaves should keep pace with that of the worms. The young leaf, being replete with aqueous matter, provides for the great evaporation con- tinually proceeding from the body of the young worm; while the mature leaf contains a larger proportion of solid nutritive matter, better suited to the wants of the insect at its more advanced age. To give old leaves to young worms, or young leaves to old worms, would be alike prejudicial. The greatest care must be taken to prevent the leaves be- coming heated or fermented. The nutritious substance of the leaf is altered and injured by the slightest fermentation, and it becomes too stimulating for the health of the worm. It is also essential that the leaves be given to the insects perfectly dry; contagious and fatal diseases will otherwise ensue. It is considered that a well-cultivated mulberry tree should yield, in each season, about thirty pounds of good leaves. It is not uncommon in the south of France to see large trees which will furnish five times this quantity. It is said that no insect excepting the silkworm will feed on the mulberry leaf. Pullein tried the speckled hairy cater- pillar, which feeds on the nettle, as well as several other kinds of insects, but they all rejected the mulberry leaf for their food. Once, indeed, he discovered upon a mulberry tree a green worm, about an inch long, and as thick as an £4 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART II* oat straw. He confined it in a box, and fed his prisoner with mulberry leaves. Pullein believes that it was not a native of the tree, but found itself there accidentally when it was taken. During the continued observation of three years, Miss Rhodes never once found an insect upon the leaves used by her. Other fruit trees and vegetables in the same garden were sometimes covered by myriads of insects, while the mulberry tree, surrounded by these ravagers, re- mained sacred from their depredations. Not even the aphides invade this tree, exclusively devoted to the use of the silkworm. CHAP. II. DESCRIPTION OF THE SILKWORM. Various Changes of the Worm. — Its small desire of locomotion. — Manner of casting its Exuviae. — Sometimes cannot be fully accomplished. — Con- sequent Death of the Insect. — Progress of its Existence. — Material of which its Silk is formed.— Mode of its Secretion. — Manner of Spinning. — Floss Silk. — The Cocoon. — Its Imperviousness to Moisture. — Transfor- mation of a Worm into a Chrysalis. — Periods in which its various Pro- gressions are effected in different Climates. — Effects of Increased Temper- ature. — Modes of Artificial Heating. — Coming forth of the Moth. — Man- ner of its Extrication. — Increase in Weight and Bulk of the Silkworm. — Number of Eggs produced. — Length, etc. at different Ages. — Silk- worms injuriously affected by Change of Climate.— Varieties of Silk- worms.— Small Worms. — Large Species. — Produce yielded by these. The silkworm, or bombyx, 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 ; as- suming, in each of three successive transformations, a form wholly dissimilar to that with which it was previously in- vested. Among the great variety of caterpillars, the descriptions of which are to be found in the records of natural history, the silkworm 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 ad- vantage. It has been well observed by a writer on this subject, that "there is scarcely any thing among the various wonders CUAI\ II. THE SILKWOliM. 05 which the animal creation affords, more admirable than the variety of changes which the silkworm undergoes ; but the curious texture of that silken covering with which it sur- rounds 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, undergo changes like those of the silkworm, and the beauty of many of them in their butterfly state greatly exceeds it ; but the covering which they put on before this change into a fly is poor and mean, when compared to that golden tissue in which the silkworm wraps itself. They, indeed, come forth in a va- riety 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 remem- brance after them ; but the silkworm leaves behind it such beautiful, such beneficial monuments, as at once record both the wisdom of their Creator and his bounty to man."* Silkworms proceed from eggs which are deposited during the summer by a grayish kind of moth, of the genus phalsense. 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 cli- mates, and by using proper precautions, these eggs may be preserved during the winter and spring, without risk of pre-! mature hatching. The period of their animation may be ac^ celerated or retarded by artificial means, so as to agree with the time when the natural food of the insect shall appear in sufficient abundance for its support. The whole of the curious changes and labors which ac-r company and characterize the life of the silkworm are per- formed 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 quicken- ed, and their duration proportionally abridged, by warmth. With this sole variance, its progressions are alike in all cli? mates, 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, that of the chrysalis or aurelia, and that of the moth. In addition to these more decided transformations, the progress of the silkworm in its caterpillar state is marked by five distinct stages of being. When first hatched, it appears as a small black worm, pibout a quarter of an inch in length. Its first indication of * Pullein. 96 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART II animation is the desire which it evinces for obtaining food, in search of which, if not immediately supplied, it will ex- hibit 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 chang- ing 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 at- tendants, if silkworms 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 opportu- nities of contemplating with delight and admiration. In about eight days from its being hatched, its head be- comes 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 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 supposition. The silkworm 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, this skin would with difficulty have distended itself sufficiently to keep pace with the insect's growth. The economy of nature has there- fore 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, 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 CHAP. II. THE SILKWORM. 97 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 more readily. The insect also emits from its body silken traces, which, adhering to the spot on which it rests, serve to confine the skin to its then exist- ing position. These preliminary steps seem to call for some considerable exertion, as after them the worm remains quiet for a short space, to recover from its fatigue. It then pro- ceeds, by rubbing its head among the leafy fibres surrounding it, to disencumber itself of the scaly covering. Its next ef- fort 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 remaining 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, of the en- tire skull, and even the jaws, including the teeth. These several parts may be discerned by the unassisted eye, but be- come 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 re- fuses to detach itself wholly, but breaks and leaves an annu- lar 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 inflamma- tion in other parts of the body, and, after efforts of greater or less duration, death generally terminates its sufferings. Worms newly freed from their exuviae are easily distin- guished from others by the pale color and wrinkled appear- ance 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 that already described. Its appetite then again returns, and is indulged during other five days, during which time its length in- creases to three quarters of an inch : it then undergoes its third sickness and moulting. These being past, in all re- •pects like the former, and five more days of feeding having 08 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART it 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 completed, the silkworm devours its food most voraciously, and increases rapidly in size during ten days. The silkworm has now attained to its full growth, and is a slender caterpillar from two and a half to three inches in length. The peculiarities of its structure may be better ex- amined now than in its earlier stages. It can readily be seen* that the worm has twelve membranous rings round its iody, 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, are placed under the three first Fig. 1. rings, and cannot be either sensibly lengthened, or their po- sition altered. The other ten legs are called holders : these are membranous, flexible, and attached to the body under the rings. These holders are 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 a 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 supposeCrto be the termination * The scale on which the worms, cocoons, chrysalis, and moths are repre- sented, is two thirds their usual natural size. chap. ir. THE SILKWORM. 99 of a particular organ of respiration. On each 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 silky sub- stance are placed just beneath the jaw, and close to each other. These orifices are exceedingly minute. At the period above-mentioned the desire of the worm for food begins to abate : the first symptom of this is the appear- ance of the leaves nibbled into minute portions, and wasted. It soon after this entirely ceases even to touch the mulberry leaves ; appears restless and uneasy ; erects its head ; and moves about from side to side, with a circular motion, in quest of a place wherein it can commence its labor of spin- ning. Its color is now light green, with some mixture of a darker hue. In twenty-four hours from the time of its ab- staining 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 will have become somewhat transparent towards its neck. Before the worm is quite prepared to spin, its body will have ac- quired greater firmness, and be somewhat lessened in size. The substance of which the silk is composed is secreted in the form of a fine yellow transparent gum in two separate vessels of slender dimensions, which are wound* as it were, on two spindles in the stomach : if unfolded, these vessels would be about ten inches in length. 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 spinning thin and irregular threads, 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 and consistent yellow ball ; the laborer, of course, always remaining on the inside of the sphere which it is forming.* The silky material, which when drawn out appears to be one thread, is composed of two fibres, extracted through the two orifices before described ; and these fibres are brought together by means of two hooks, placed within the silkworm's mouth for the purpo^§. The worm in spinning rests on its lower extremity throughout the operation, and employs its * Note V, 100 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART II. mouth and front legs in the task of directing and fastening the thread. The filament is not spun 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 wound 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. At the end of the third or fourth day the worm will have completed its task, and formed its cocoon. This has been compared in shape and size to a pigeon's egg. It is seldom, however, that the ball attains to so great a size. In the fol- lowing representation the cocoons are drawm two thirds of the usual size, and are shown with part of the outward or floss silk removed. When the insect has finished its labor of spinning, it smears the entire internal surface of the cocoon with a pe- culiar 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 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 chrysa- lis 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, un- less the ball be imperfectly formed, does the -water penetrate within until the silk is nearly all unwound. The continual emission of the silken .material during the formation of its envelope, together with its natural evapora- tion, uncompensated by food, causes the worm gradually to contract in bulk ; it becomes wrinkled, and the rings of ita Fig. 2. CHAP. II. THE SILKWORM. 101 body approach nearer to each other and appear more de- cidedly marked. When the formation of the ball is finished, the insect rests awhile from its toil, and then throws oft" its caterpillar garb. If the cocoon be now opened, its inhabit- ant will appear in the form of a chrysalis or aurelia, in shape Fig. 3. somewhat resembling a kidney bean, but ^mm m—^ pointed at one end, having a smooth brown Sb^Tl'ISB^ s kin- Its former covering, so dissimilar to the ^^ ^ $$ $0 ^0^ one now assume d, will be found lying beside it. The account which has been given of the progressions of the silkworm shows that, in its various modifications, the ani- mal organization of the insect has been always tending to- wards its simplification. Count Dandolo, writing upon this subject, observes, " Thus the caterpillar is in the first instance composed 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." In the foregoing description, definite periods have been as- signed to each age of the silkworm, in agreement with the fact as most generally experienced in the temperate climates of Europe. It has already Been noticed that the progressions of the insects are accelerated by an increase of temperature ; and some variation will equally be experienced where differ- ent 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 Silkworm," says, that worms which he hatched in May were eleven days old ere they were attacked by their first sick- ness ; 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 insect's caterpillar state is usually that which has been already mentioned. Dr. Anderson informs us, that in Madras the silkworm goes through its whole evolutions in the short space of twenty-two days. It appears, however, that the saving of time, and consequently of labor, is the only economy result- ing from the acceleration ; as the insects consume as much food during their shorter period of life, as is assigned to the longer-lived silkworms of Europe. 12 102 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART II. Sudden transitions from cold to heat, or from heat to cold, are highly injurious to the silkworm ; but it can bear a very- high degree of heat, if uniformly maintained, without sus- taining 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 ex- istence." Monsieur Boissier de Sauvagues made many ex- periments on this point. One year, when by the early ap- pearance of the mulberry leaves, which were developed by the end of April, he was forced to hurry forward the opera- tions of his filature, he raised the heat of the apartment in which the newly-hatched worms were placed to 100° ; grad- ually 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 in- sects would not be able to exist in so intensely heated an at- mosphere. The walls of the apartment, and the w T icker hur- dles on which the worms were placed, could scarcely be touched without inconvenience, and yet all the changes and progressions went forward perfectly well, and a most abun- dant 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 by any superadd itions of heat. In both these experiments the quantity of food consumed was as great as is usually given during the longer period employed in the com- mon manner of rearing. AfleY the second moulting had taken place in the last experiment, the temperature was lowered to 82° ; and it is remarkable that the worms occu- pied 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 silkworms, M. de Sauvagues found that his broods were un- CHAP. II. THE SILKWOBM. 105 usually healthy ; and that while the labors of cultivation were abridged in their duration, much of the attendant anx- iety w T as removed. Like other caterpillars, the silkworm is not a warm-blooded animal, and its temperature is thereibre alwaj s equal to that of the atmosphere in which it is placed. In the silk-pro- ducing countries, where modes of artificial heating have not been studied practically and scientifically, as they have of late in England, 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 high- ly heated before it mixes with and raises the general temper- ature 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, proportionally, the respirable quality of the whole atmosphere ; an effect which is easily perceptible by those who breathe it. A better plan of heating has lately been suggested, and is coming fast into practice, of warming buildings by means of a current of hot water, which is, by very simple means, kept constantly flowing in 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 vita] quality of ah% 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 means, the adoption in silk countries of such a mode of raising and regulating the temperature might, probably, prove advantageous. The silkworm 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 only eleven days. 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 began 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 have a feathery appearance. 104 SIL& MANUFACTURE. PART II. 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 adhe- siveness of the gum with which it had lined the interior sur- face of its dwelling, the insect is enabled, by frequent mo- tions of its head, to loosen, without breaking, the texture of the ball ; then using its hooked feet, it pushes aside the fila- ments 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 ; it is found, on the contrary, that Fig. 4. if carefully unwound, their continuity is by this means rarefy broken. One of the most remarkable circumstances connected with the natural history of silkworms is the degree in which their bulk and weight are increased, and the limited time wherein that increase is attained. Count Dandolo, who ap- pears to have neglected nothing that could tend to the right understanding of the subject, and to the consequent improve- ment of the processes employed, had patience enough to count and weigh many hundred thousand eggs, and to follow out to the ultimate result his inquiries respecting their pro- duce. He found that on an average sixty-eight sound silk- worm's eggs weighed one grain. One ounce,* 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 in- *This ounce contains 576 grains; 8.5325 of these grains equal seven grains troy. One ounce avoirdupoise is therefore equal to about 533 of these grains, and between 1 1-12 and 1 1-13 ounce avoirdupoise equals one of the above ounces. CHAP. II. THE SILKWORM. 105 sects, 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, the weight of the worms being increased in the inter- mediate 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 w T eight being therefore more than quadrupled. Curing the fourth age, a similar rate of increase is maintained : thirty- live worms now weigh an ounce. The fifth age of the cater- pillar 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 in- creases in size, and prepares and secretes the material which it is about to spin. When the silkworms 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 w r eeks, 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 appearing to find sufficient occupation in forming its silken w T eb, 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. It is worthy of remark, that in putting on its wings the in- sect does not acquire a greater wish for change than charac- terizes its former state of life. It remains, with the sole ex- ception just named, fixed at one spot, its w r ings serving only by their fluttering to assist the moth in moving the few inches which may be necessary in fulfilling one of the ends of its existence. The number of eggs produced by the female moth is va- riously stated ; some accounts mention 250, while others reckon 400 to 500 as the usual number. This varies, no doubt, with the circumstances wherein the moth is placed. iOO SILK MANUFACTURE. PART It* Count Danddlo obtained an ounce of eggs from 180 cocoons, in which the sexes were equally divided. Pullein states that 200 cocoons are necessary for the production of that quantity ; and in the Cours d' Agriculture, 240 cocoons are said to yield only an ounce of eggs. The relative length, at each age, of a worm which attains its greatest length, are, — at hatching, unity or- 1 at the end of the first age 4 of the second age - - - - 6 of the third age 12 of the fourth age 20 of the fifth age 40 The worm measures sometimes, when at its greatest length, more than three inches ; but few attain to so great dimensions. The following lines show the proportions of the silkworm at each age of its life. The small curved line at the top represents the worm when just hatched ; the lines to which are attached the nu- merals 1, 2, 3, 4, show the sizes at the ages corresponding to those numbers, and the lines No. 5 describe its dimensions shortly before it prepares to spin. The horizontal lines re- present the lengths, and the perpendicular lines the diameters of the insect. Change of climate materially affects for a time the breed of silkworms. In attempting, therefore, to naturalize them in any place, it is important to procure eggs from some coun- 3 4 b try of the same temperature. Where this is impracticable, they should be brought from a colder, rather than from a warmer climate. A very small variation of temperature will CHAP. II. THE SILKWORM* 107 produce a very marked effect. Monsieur Chazal relates, that worms hatched in the Mauritius, from eggs procured in Bengal, neither attained to their natural size, nor afforded the usual quantity of silk, which, besides, was of indifferent quality. His second brood, proceeding from the eggs of these imported worms, were larger, and yielded a better produce both in quantity and quality ; but the insects did not fully recover the desirable qualities of their progenitors until the fourth generation. In addition to the silkworms most commonly reared, there are two varieties of this insect, which are partially cultivated, and which require some description. One of these is a small worm, which casts its skin only thrice, and goes through its caterpillar life in four days less time than the worm already described. Its eggs are about one seventh part lighter than those of the common species, 42,620 eggs being required to make up the weight of one ounce. The worms themselves, when arrived at their full growth, are only three fifths of the ordinary size and weight, and the balls which they make are in the like proportion : four hundred of these weigh only one pound. In forming this weight of cocoons, these worms do not consume quite as much food as the larger species. The orifices through which they draw the silken material are more minute than those of common silkworms ; and the filament, which on that account is finer, has a more beautiful appearance. Their cocoons are also more perfectly formed, and, in equal weights, will yield a greater proportion of reeled silk than ordinary cocoons, 4363 affording, on an average, one pound of pure silk : each cocoon, therefore, furnishes little more than 2^ grains of silk, which measures, if one ball be estimated with another, a very small fraction under four hundred yards. They are considered by some persons as being delicate, but it does not appear that they call for a greater degree of atten- tion than should be bestowed on other worms. Their eggs may readily be obtained in Italy. The second variety becomes much larger than the common sort: their eggs, however, are not proportionally heavy, weighing little more than one thirtieth part beyond those of other worms : it requires 37,440 of them to make an ounce. When at their utmost growth, two of these insects will weigh as much as five common silkworms, and the weight of the cocoon which they construct is in nearly the same pro- portion. 108 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART II. The advantage offered to the cultivator by this description of worm, is economy in the quantity of food. In ordinary seasons, 12h pounds of mulberry leaves will nourish as many worms as produce one pound of cocoons, which is a saving of one tenth the average weight required for the production of a similar quantity by common worms. On the other hand, this variety occupies five or six days longer in passing through their mutations, and before they begin to spin. One hundred of their cocoons weigh a pound, and one thousand and ninety-one of them will yield one pound of reeled silk : each cocoon, therefore, furnishes nearly 8^ grains of silk, and the length of its thread is very nearly 1300 yards. This breed of worms is to be found in Friuli.* The constitution of worms of this larger species, does not offer inducements for their adoption into more temperate cli- mates ; but the advantages offered by the smaller variety make them worthy of observation and experiment on the part of silk cultivators. CHAP. III. MODE OF REARING SILKWORMS IN CHINA. Silkworms sometimes reared on Trees. — Produce inferior to that spun in Houses.— Mode of delaying the Hatching of Eggs.— Method of Hatching. — Situation of Rearing Rooms. — Number of Meals. — Necessity of pre- venting Damp.— Of preserving Cleanliness.— Space allotted to Worms. — Preparations for Spinning. — Collection of Cocoons. — Destruction of Chrysalides. — Buildings employed for rearing Silkworms in India. Before entering upon any description of the methods practised in Europe for rearing silkworms, it appears desi- rable to give a brief account of the means employed for that end in China. It will be seen, from this sketch, how supe- rior, in many respects, were the arrangements of the Chinese cultivators; and that in departing from the course so long pursued by them, Europeans made choice of modes less rational and simple for attaining the desired result. The in- quiries and experiments of later days have brought us back from the confused procedures, which so long imparted uncer- tainty, and so frequently led to disappointment, and have in- troduced, instead, judicious and methodical arrangements. * Friuli silk is said to be more troublesome and wasteful in its manufac- ture than that of either Franc* or Lombardy ; an effect which may b* •wing to their breed of wormt. C II APt III. SILKWORMS IN CHINA. 109 In those parts of the empire where the climate is favorable to the practice, and where alone, most probably, the silkworm is indigenous, it remains at liberty, feeding at pleasure on the leaves of its native mulberry tree, and going through all its mutations among the branches, uncontrolled by the hand and unassisted by the cares of man. So 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 to furnish him with successive harvests.* This silk, the spontaneous offering of nature, is not, how- ever, equal in fineness to that which is spun by worms under shelter, and whose progressions are influenced by careful tendance. Much attention is, therefore, bestowed by the Chinese in the artificial rearing of silkworms. 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 on their production, are suspended to a beam of the room, and the windows are opened to expose them to the air. In a few days the papers are taken down and rolled up loosely with the eggs withinside, in which form they are hung again during the remainder of the summer and through the autumn. Towards the end of the year they are im- mersed 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 are then rolled up rather more tightly than before, each sheet of paper being thereafter inclosed in a separate earthen vessel. Some persons, who are exceedingly particular in their processes, use a ley made of mulberry tree ashes, and place the eggs likewise, during some minutes, on snow water, or otherwise on a mulberry tree exposed to snow or rain. These processes appear efficacious for checking the hatch- ing, until the expanding leaves of the mulberry tree give notice to the rearer of silkworms that he may take measures for bringing forth his brood. For this purpose the rolls of paper are taken from the earthen vessels, and are hung up to- wards the sun, the side to which the eggs adhere being turn- ed from its rays, which are transmitted to them through the paper. In the evening the sheets are rolled closely up and * Note W. K 110 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART II, placed in a warm situation. The same proceeding is repeat- ed on the following day, when the eggs assume a grayish color. On the evening of the third day, after a similar ex- posure, 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 seen covered with worms. In the higher latitudes the Chinese have recourse to the heat of stoves, to promote the simultaneous hatching of 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, and especially when they are young. The rooms are made very close, but adequate means of ventilation are provided : the doors 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 all 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 are 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 during the night as well as the day. On the day of their being hatched they are furnished with forty meals, thirty are given in the second day, and fewer in and after the third day. The Chinese believe that the growth of silkworms is accelerated, and their success pro- moted, 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, by means of which the cold and damp air is dissipated. It is affirmed by these accurate observers, that the quicker the worm arrives at its maturity, the greater is the quantity of silk which it spins. They say, that if the worms become fully grown in twenty or twenty-five days, each drachm weight of eggs will produce twenty-five ounces of silk ; that if their maturity be delayed to the twenty-eighth day, only twenty ounces are obtained ; and that if thirty or forty days elapse between the hatching and the commencement of the pocoons, then only ten ounces are the result. The Chinese are exceedingly careful in preserving the CHAP. III. SILKWORMS IN CHINA. Ill nicest degree of cleanliness in their establishments fbr rear- ing silkworms ; being fully aware of the great importance which attaches to that particular. The worms, as they increase in growth, have gradually more space assigned to them ; so that the full-grown cater- pillars have four times the scope that is allotted to them when newly hatched, and sometimes even more. When the insects are about to commence their spinning, mats are provided, in the centre of which a strip of rush, about an inch broad, is fixed, and extended in a spiral form, or in concentric circles, over the whole surface of the mat, leaving an area of about an inch broad between each circle. Here the worms fix themselves to spin ; and it is found that these receptacles occasion less silk to be wasted by them in floss, than when more space is allotted wherein their first threads can be spun. At this time the whole room is care- fully covered with mats, to exclude the outward air and the light, as it is believed that silkworms work more diligently in darkness. In seven days from the commencement of the cocoons they are collected in heaps, those which are designed to continue the breed being first selected and set apart on hurdles, in a dry and airy situation. The next care is to destroy the vi- tality 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 for- tieth part of their weight of salt upon each layer, covering the whole with large dry leaves resembling those of the water-lily, and then closely stopping the mouths of the ves- sels. 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. In India, the climate admits of silkworms being reared in buildings resembling sheds rather than houses. They are composed of lattice-work, and their roofs are covered with thatch. The breadth of such buildings is usually fifteen feet, and their height eight feet ; their length is regulated by the extent of accommodation required. In the centre of the apartment a path is left, of convenient width for the attend- ants to pass and repass in supplying the wants of their charge ; and on either side are twelve tiers or stages, one above an- other, of open frame-work, or shallow boxes made of bamboo, in which the worms are placed. When ready to spin, each worm is individually transferred to a small cell formed with platted strips of bamboo, 112 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART II. CHAP. IV. MODE OF REARING SILKWORMS IN EUROPE. Great Degree of Carefulness required. — Absurdities formerly believed con- cerning Silkworms.— Choice of Eggs. — Modes of Hatching. — Use of Stove- Rooms. — Their Temperature. — Conveying of Worms to Rearing-House. — Necessity for Classing Worms according to their Ages. — Reverend Mr. Swayne's Apparatus. — Space allowed to Worms. — Mode of Feeding. — Quantity of Leaves consumed. — Arbors for Spinning.— Necessity of At- tention to minute points in Management. — Regulation of Temperature. — Silkworms will not spin in cold atmosphere. — Ventilation. — Effect of Noise. — Electric Influence. — Conductors. The various operations of an establishment for the produc- tion of silk are, ordinarily, all begun and concluded in the course of a few weeks ; yet they call for a considerable de- gree of attention on the part of its conductor, and can hardly be brought to a successful issue without the aid of experience. This is especially the case in Europe, where atmospheric changes are continually arising, which in various ways influ- ence the tender silk-producing insect. One false step in management might be fatal, and one day's relaxation of the breeder's cares would suffice to bring all his previous labors to nothing. The degree of skilfulness and care thus required for the successful rearing of silkworms upon any useful scale, cannot be adequately estimated by the experience of those persons in England, who, as a matter of curiosity or of amusement, have watched over a few hundred worms, and have wound off the silk which these have furnished, unassailed by acci- dent or misfortune. It is very natural to suppose, that what is so easily practicable with a small number, offers little diffi- culty as an extensive employment. If, however, the English breeder considers the time, however short it may have ap- peared, and the labor, however unimportant in his estimation, bestowed on his inconsiderable brood, and thence calculates the greater labor which must attend upon the rearing of hundreds of thousands, or, perhaps, millions of insects, its insignificance will disappear. He may then naturally imagine, how great is the importance of abridging that labor, of economizing expense, and of providing in every way against accidents, which, if occurring to interrupt his amuse- ment, would be merely vexatious, but upon the avoiding of which, under other circumstances, depend the subsistence and well-being of thousands. Many treatises have appeared from time to time containing CHAP. IV. SILKWORMS IN EUROPE. 113 copious information for the guidance of silk cultivators. Partaking in the generally increasing intelligence, recent Writers on this branch Of industry have treated it rationally and practically ; but it is remarkable, to how late a period this object, which addressed itself to the interests of exten- sive communities, was gravely made the subject of the most absurd and unphilosophic notions. Pomet, chief druggist to Louis le Grand, and who in the latter part of the seventeenth century wrote his " General History of Drugs," a work by which he acquired considerable reputation, seriously, and with all the signs of credence, quotes from Isnard, the following directions for improving the breed of silkworms: — "At the time when the mulberry leaves are ready to gather, which should be five days after their budding, in the beginning of the spring, they take a cow which is almost at calving, and feed her wholly with mulberry leaves, without giving her any thing else to eat of herbs, hay, &c. or the like, till she has calved ; and this they continue for eight days longer, after which, they let the cow and the calf both feed upon this some days together, without any other mixture as before. They kill the calf after it has been filled or satiated with the mulberry leaves and the cow's milk, then chop it to pieces to the very feet, and without throwing any thing away, put all together, the flesh, blood, bones, skin, and entrails, into a wooden trough, and set it at top of the house, in a granary or garret, till it is corrupted ; and from this will proceed little worms, which they lay together in a heap with mulberry leaves to raise them afterwards, just as they do those which are produced from the eggs ; so that those who deal considerably in them, never fail, every ten or twelve years, to raise them this way." The authority of Isnard upon the culture of silk was long considered unquestionable. It is difficult to account for the origin of such a childish fable ; and one is at a loss whether most to admire the impu- dence of the falsehood, or the credulity which led to its re- ception. Thousands, who, of their own knowledge, could contradict the absurdity, were living in the very country where it was put forth, and yet in the capital of that coun- try, we see a man of literature, and reputed to possess a de- gree of scientific knowledge equal to most in his day, stamp- ing the assertion with the sanction of his authority. Still later than this, Lemery, who by his writings and lectures did much to disencumber chemical science from the clouds of ignorance wherein it was enveloped in his day, republished 114 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART II. Pomet's work with a commentary, and preserved the above passage, venturing only to qualify its insertion with the very gentle remark, " this thought, however, wants confirmation." The proper choice of eggs is the first care of the culti- vator. From this he may relieve himself in succeeding seasons, the operations of his own filature producing the requisite quantity. The Italian writers on the culture of silk give very copious directions for choosing eggs, and for detecting and avoiding the fraudulent arts sometimes prac- tised by their vendors. Good sound eggs are of a bluish-gray color; those which are yellow should on no account be purchased. It is common with the peasants whose eggs are of the latter description to give them so much the appearance of sound eggs, by wash- ing them in muddy, dark-colored wine, that considerable judg- ment is required to detect the cheat. Where , silkworms' eggs are brought from a distant coun- try, much attention is demanded to prevent their premature hatching. This has been successfully accomplished by placing them, when newly-laid, and carefully dried, in glass phials closely sealed to exclude air and moisture : the whole being then immersed in earthen pots rilled with cold water, which must be renewed as often as it becomes warm. The hatching process, until within a very few years of the present time, was usually conducted in a very immethodical or uncertain manner. Many cultivators depended on the spontaneous appearance of the worms, called forth only by the natural warmth of the advancing season. Others had recourse to the heat of manure beds, but the method most frequently employed was to foster them into life by the heat of the human body. The mode of accomplishing this, was to place a small silk or cotton bag containing one or two ounces of eggs in the bosom next to the skin. The persons with whom these deposits were intrusted were forbidden to use any violent exercise, lest their charge might be crushed, or otherwise sustain injury through the consequent inequality of temperature. It would have been unsafe to continue- the bags in this position during the night, and it was therefore most usual to place them beneath the pillow, which was pre- viously heated to the temperature of the human body, using precautions also against injury, by placing some stiff sub- stance over the eggs. When this companionship had lasted three days, and it was judged that the worms were shortly about to appear, the eggs were very gently transferred to shallow boxes made of thin wood, similar to those used for CHAP. IV. SILKWORMS IN EUROPE. 115 containing wafers : these were placed between warmed pil- lows as before described; and if the hatching were still further delayed, fresh heated pillows were supplied through the ensuing day, and continued until the insects had burst their shells. Some persons used warm pillows from the com- mencement, and avoided the system of human incubation. Count Dandolo recommended and adopted the use of stoves for heating the apartment in which his eggs were hatched, and by such means rendered the operation in a great degree certain, removing, at the same time, much of the trouble by which it had previously been accompanied. Pre- viously to placing the eggs in this heated atmosphere, the count caused the cloths to which the eggs adhered to be agitated for five or six minutes in a vessel containing water, in order to lessen the adhesiveness of the matter which re- tained them on the cloths. Having then suffered the water to drain from them during two or three minutes, the cloths were stretched out on tables, and the eggs were gently scraped from them by an instrument whose edge was not sufficiently sharp to cut the eggs, nor yet so blunt as to crush them. The eggs, thus removed, were placed in water and washed, still further to free them from gum, and to promote their separation from each other. If any floated on the sur- face in this washing, . they were removed and destroyed as spoilt. The water again being drained from them, the eggs were next washed in some sound light wine, and gentle fric- tion was used to perfect their mutual separation. They were then strained and dried, by being placed on an absorbing sub- stance in a dry airy place, whose temperature was between forty-six and fifty-nine degrees of Fahrenheit's scale, there to await the proper moment for placing them in the stove-room. It has always been customary in Italy to employ wine as a solvent for the gum which causes the eggs to adhere together, and which is thought to make the task of disengaging itself from the shell more difficult to the insect. It has been suggested, that one hatching room, upon a sufficient scale, might be employed for the general accommo- dation, in bringing forth all the silkworms of the surrounding district ; and if proper confidence could be placed in the pro- prietor of such an establishment, there is no doubt of its great convenience to the cultivators. When eggs are first placed in the stove-room, its temper- ature should be sixty-four degrees; on the third day this should be raised to sixty-six degrees ; and on each following day. the heat should be increased one or two degrees, so that 116 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART II. on the tenth day it shall have reached eighty-two degrees, which point must not be exceeded. The degree of warmth required for hatching the eggs of silkworms depends very much, however, upon the temperature to which they have been exposed during the preceding winter. It is, therefore, important that this point should be considered, so as to avoid premature hatching on the one hand, and too great a retard- ing on the other, which would follow if the eggs had been exposed to any severity of cold. When the eggs assume a whitish color, it is a sign that they are about to be hatched ; and now, by the aid of a mag- nifying glass, the worms may be seen formed within the shells. Sheets of white paper, abundantly pierced with holes, or otherwise pieces of clear muslin, should now be placed over the eggs, covering them entirely ; when, as the worms come forth, they will climb through to the upper sur- face of the paper or muslin. To collect the worms for the purpose of conveying them to the rearing-house, small twigs of mulberry, with very few leaves, are placed on the paper. On these leaves the newly- hatched worms immediately fix, and fresh twigs being con- stantly supplied to meet the wants of the continually increas- ing number of worms, the whole may be readily collected. When their removal to any considerable distance is neces- sary, this is easily and safely performed by placing the sheets of paper and mulberry twigs in boxes or well-lined baskets, using every precaution to exclude the external air from the now delicate brood. The worms should be removed only in fine weather, and during the warmest part of the day, and they should be supplied with leaves for their consumption while on the road. The apartment wherein the newly-hatched worms are placed must be dry and warm, with its windows opening on opposite sides, that perfect ventilation may be obtained when desirable. The room should be furnished with a stove, and thermometers must be provided, that the temperature may be precisely regulated. Wicker shelves are usually placed around at convenient distances, and are lined with paper : on these the worms are placed. The greatest precautions must be taken to prevent the intrusion of rats and mice, as well as many of the insect tribe, as these are more or less destruc- tive to silkworms. Smoke, and bad smells, are likewise con- sidered prejudicial, and must be avoided. All writers on the treatment of these insects agree in re- commending, that worms which are not hatched at the same CHAP. IV. SILKWORMS IN EUROPE. 117 time should on no account be placed together. The neglect of this precaution would occasion constant trouble to the at- tendants ; the changes occurring at different periods, it would be impossible to attend to the quantity of their food with the degree of regularity that is desirable. This point is so much insisted upon by many cultivators, that to avoid the evil, all eggs which remain unhatched beyond the second day after the first appearance of the worms are destroyed. It is said also, that if those of a later birth are reared, they generally prove weak in constitution, and produce less than their proper quantity of silk. The reverend Mr. Swayne, who some years ago bestowed much attention upon the culture of silk in England, proposed the use of a simple apparatus for receiving and feeding the worms during their caterpillar state. His plan offers advan- tages, in the important point of cleanliness, greater than those possessed by the wicker shelves usually employed, and it is thought that a description of it may prove useful. The apparatus consists of a wooden frame, four feet two inches high, furnished with eight open drawers or slides, which can be readily thrust in or drawn out from the frame. Fig. 5. 118 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART II. The upper slide a is of paper, and designed to receive the newly-hatched worms. The two slides, b 6, are formed of catgut, the threads of which are about one tenth of an inch apart : these are for the insects in their second and third ages. The five slides c c are of wicker-work or netting, and are appropriated to the insects in their more forward stages. Be- neath each of the drawers, with the exception of that marked 0, other slides of paper are inserted to receive the litter of the worms, which, by this means, may be frequently removed without occasioning any disturbance to the insects. These must not be retained in the upper drawers b b after they have become so large that their litter will not fall through the catgut bottoms : at this time they must be transferred to the wicker or netting slides, which, the inventor imagined would, from their greater number, offer space enough for the accommodation of as many full-grown caterpillars as the up- per drawer would contain of those newly hatched. Under this arrangement the litter may be removed as often as the worms are fed. It has been computed, that three square feet of surface af- ford ample space for the worms proceeding from an ounce of eggs, until the period of their first sickness is passed ; and that this space should be multiplied thrice at each succeeding age. Count Dandolo considered that silkworms would be injuriously crowded in these dimensions, and recommended, that eight square feet should be allotted to the worms during their first age ; fifteen feet for the second age ; thirty-five feet for the third ; eighty-two and a half feet for the fourth ; and about two hundred feet for the fifth age. According to these proportions Mr. Swayne's- apparatus is very imperfect, but this defect may easily be remedied in practice. The mulberry leaves given to the newly-hatched brood should be young and tender, and chopped into minute por- tions. These should be strewed evenly over the whole space of the shelves, that there may not be any unnecessary crowd- ing of the insects in one spot. It is indeed advisable, when — as they sometimes will — the worms get heaped upon one another, that a leaf should be presented over them; to this some will quickly attach themselves, and may then be re- moved to a less crowded situation. The worms proceeding from one ounce of eggs will con- sume six pounds of chopped leaves before their first moulting. Their second age is of shorter duration, but the greater size of ihe worms requires a more abundant supply of food ; and eighteen pounds of leaves, chopped less finely than be* CHAP. IV. SILKWORMS IN EUROPE. 119 fore, must be given, during" its continuance, to the same num- ber. In the third age, sixty pounds of leaves, still a little chopped, must be given ; one hundred and eighty pounds will be consumed during their fourth age ; and in their fifth and longest age, one thousand and ninety-eight pounds of leaves are devoured by these insects, which, when hatched a few weeks before, weighed less than an ounce. These quantities are stated on the supposition that the worms are uniformly healthy. If many of them should die in the intermediate time, the weights mentioned will be in excess. On the other hand, if the season should be wet, the , leaves will not contain the usual nourishment, with reference to their weight, and more must be given ; whereas, if the •season should prove more dry than ordinary, the nutriment in the leaves will be greater, and the quantity given may be di- minished with advantage. The skill of the cultivator is shown by the weight of silk obtained in proportion to the leaves consumed ; and his judgment is tasked to apportion these according to their nutritive properties. There will be no real economy in keeping the consumption of food too low : this, however, is not a common fault, and evils occur much more frequently from over-feeding and waste of leaves. The worms should be fed with regularity four times a day ; and intermediate repasts may be occasionally given, where their appetites appear to be increased in voraciousness. The advantage of chopping the leaves for young worms con- sists in the economy it introduces. Many thousand insects may, by this means, feed simultaneously upon a few ounces of leaves ; whose fresh-cut edges seem better adapted to their powers when newly hatched. If the leaves were given to them whole, a much greater number must be supplied than would be consumed while their freshness lasted, and great waste would be the consequence. The worms will always quit stale leaves for those which are newly gathered. Avail- ing themselves of this fact, some persons provide wire-bot- tomed frames, which they cover with fresh leaves, and lower them within reach of the worms. These instantly make their way through the reticulations of the wire, and fixing upon the leaves above, the frame may be raised and the litter removed without touching the worms, which might be in- jured by even the gentlest handling. This plan, as it oc- casions more trouble, does not appear so eligible as that of Mr. Swayne. When the silkworms give indications that they are about to spin, little bushes must be provided for the purpose. These 120 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART II. may be of broom, heath, clean bean-stalks, or, in short, any bush or brushwood that is tender and flexible. These should be arranged upright in rows between the shelves, with inter- vals of fifteen inches between the rows. The bushes should be so high as to be bent by the shelf immediately above into the form of an arch. They should be so spread out, that a supply of air should freely reach every part, and ample space should be afforded for the worms to fix themselves and spin ; otherwise, there is great hazard of their forming double co- coons, in which two worms assist in the preparation of one dwelling for both : the silk in these is so much less adapted to the purposes of the reeler, that a double cocoon is worth only one half the price of a single one. Inattention to this point is very common, and occasions constant losses. When the twigs already erected appear to be adequately furnished Fig. 6. with worms, other similar hedges should be formed, parallel to the first. The spaces between the shelves will thus pre- sent the appearance of small avenues or arbors covered in at the top.* The worms at this time require much careful watching, and occasional assistance must be afforded to those which are sluggish, that they may find an eligible spot for forming their cocoons. Those worms which appear still inclined to feed must be supplied with leaves : so long as the slightest incli- nation for food remains, they will not attempt to form their cocoons. It will sometimes happen, that even after they have climbed among the branches for the purpose of spinning, they will again descend to satisfy their last desire for food. * Note X. CHAP. IV. SILKWORMS IN EUROPE. 121 " I have seen them," says a minute observer, " stop when de- scending, and remain with the head downwards, the wish to eat having ceased before they reached the bottom." In such a case, they should be turned with their heads upwards, as the contrary position is injurious to them. If, at this time, many appear weak and inert, remaining motionless on the leaves, neither eating nor giving any sign of rising to spin, some means must be taken to stimulate them to the exertion. It was the ancient practice and found to be efficacious for this purpose, to convey some pungent article, such as fried onions, into the apartment, the effluvia from which revived the worms, inciting some to take their last meal, and in- ducing others, whose desire for food had ceased, to climb the twigs and begin their labors. The same end is now generally and Unfailingly attained, by removing the sluggish worms into another apartment, the temperature of which is higher. All these minute directions may perhaps appear frivolous ; but it is only by an unceasing attention to these and the like minutiae, that any tolerable success can be secured. When all the previous cares and labors of an establishment have been satisfactorily accomplished, if the hedges be not well formed, are irregular, or too thick in any parts, so as either to impede the circulation of air, or too far to limit the space in proportion to the number of worms, ill success will be sure to follow. Instead of the proper number of fine single co- coons, many will be double, others imperfect or soiled, and even some of the silkworms will be suffocated before the completion of their labors. It is essential, in every age of the w T orms, to attend to the regulation of temperature in their apartments; and at no time is this more necessary than while they are forming their cocoons. If, at this time, they are exposed to much cold, they desist from their labors. Should the balls be suf- ficiently thin, the insects may be discerned, either quite in- active, or moving very slowly. On the temperature being raised, they will immediately resume their work with re- newed activity, and will once more desist, if the cold be again allowed to exert its influence. After they have re- mained inactive from this cause for a short time, they put off their caterpillar form, and assume that of the chrysalis, without having sufficient energy to complete their silken covering. The fifth volume of the transactions of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c. contains a letter upon this sub- L 122 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART ir. ject from a gentleman, who relates, that in the summer of 1786 he had successfully reared to their full growth more than thirty thousand silkworms, when at the beginning of July, and just as they appeared about to spin, a chilling north- east wind set in, and many of the worms became chrysalides, without attempting to spin. On the examination of these, it appeared that the glutinous matter in their silk reservoirs had become so congealed by the cold, as to resemble strong tendons, both in appearance and tenacity ; which sufficiently accounted for the inability of the insects to draw forth the silk in filaments. Thousands of the worms changed in this profitless manner daily, until at length, the survivors being removed into an apartment artificially warmed, they imme- diately applied themselves to the performance of their usual functions. It is desirable that while silkworms are in the act of spinning, the temperature of their apartment should be maintained as high as 70 degrees, and it is at the same time equally important that free ventilation should be secured. The opinion has been very generally entertained that vio- lent noise disturbs, and injuriously affects the worms, and that any sudden report, as of fire-arms or thunder, will cause them to fall from their arbors. The peasants in Italy who attend on silkworms are so strongly of this opinion, that if the caterpillars omit to rise and spin after thunder has been heard, they consider its noise as the sole reason of the failure : they are always desirous of removing every cause for noise from about the establishment. This opinion appears, however, to be badly founded, and has been satisfactorily re- futed by persons who have made experiments to ascertain the fact. Silkworms have been reared in all the bustle of a town, exposed to the barking of dogs, and to concerts of music, without in any way exhibiting signs of being affected by the noise. The following statement is conclusive. It is taken from the " Cours d'Agriculture," written by Monsieur Rozier, and recounts an experiment performed in the estab- lishment of Monsieur Thome, a considerable silk cultivator, and one of the earliest writers on the subject. These gen- tlemen, Messrs. Rozier and Thome, in the presence of many witnesses, fired several pistol-shots in the apartment where silkworms were either spinning, or rising preparatory to their labor ; and the only worm that dropped was evidently a sickly insect, that could not have formed its cocoon under any circumstances. It is seldom that any opinion upon a point of practice is entertained, without some ground for its existence. The CHAP. IV. SILKWORMS IN EUROPE. 123 Italian peasants, although certainly wrong in attributing any evil effects to the agency of noise, might have been correct had they ascribed the evil to that great accumulation of elec- tricity in the atmosphere which attends the discharge of the fluid, from one cloud which is overcharged upon another which is deficient; or which accompanies the fluid in its passage between the clouds and the earth, until an equilib- rium establishes itself in the mass. " Before this equilibrium is gained, however," says Monsieur Rozier, " we know that many persons exhibit symptoms of strong excitement, falling into convulsions, or even being affected by fever. Is it, then, surprising, that insects charged with a matter so highly electric as silk should become oppressed or overpowered by the superaddition of that which they receive from the atmo- sphere ]" The peasants in the silk provinces of France have long been accustomed to place pieces of iron in the neighbor- hood of the insects. If asked to assign their motive for this, their reply is, that their fathers and grandfathers did so be- fore them, and that therefore the practice must be desirable. May we not imagine that this custom had its rise from the remarks of some philosophic observer of the laws of nature, and who, under other and more favorable circumstances, might have been led, by generalizing, to anticipate the dis- coveries of Franklin 1 Monsieur Rozier, in the work already quoted, recommend- ed the use of metallic conductors ; and himself proved their efficacy. In connexion with some shelves containing silk- worms, he placed thin iron wires, and carried them through the wall into a cistern of water. The remaining shelves were, in every other respect, similarly circumstanced to these ; but he uniformly found that, when thus protected, the worms were decidedly more healthy and active than those unprovided with conductors. 124 SILK MANUFACTURE, PART TI. CHAR V. GATHERING AND SORTING COCOONS. Method of Gathering —Sorting.— Selecting for Seed.— Proportion set apart for Breeding.— Methods of destroying Vitality of Chrysalides.— By the Solar Rays.— In Ovens— By Steam Heat.— Preservation of Cocoons. — Separation of Damaged. — Good Cocoons. — Pointed Cocoons. — Cocaloii3. — Dupions. — Soufflons. — Perforated Cocoons. — Choquettes.— Calcined Co- coons. — Their Relative Value.— Proportion of Pure Silk in Cocoons. — Proportional Weight of Eggs and Cocoons; and of Mulberry Leaves. — Quantity of Reeled Silk from each Cocoon. — Weight and Size. — Labor required.— Deductions. In either three or four days from the commencement of its labors the silkworm completes its cocoon, and in seven or eight days thereafter the balls are gathered. Some persons do not wait longer than three or four days ere they reap their silken harvest. It is usual to begin by gathering from the lower tier of arbors. In this proceeding no violence should be used to disengage the twigs, which must be gently handled, and con- signed to those whose employment it is to separate the co- coons. These persons, as they pick off the balls, sort them; selecting those which are to be preserved for continuing the breed, and putting into distinct baskets all fine cocoons, those which are double, soiled, or anywise imperfect. The fine and well-formed balls are again subdivided into white and yellow, the latter color embracing every shade from the deepest yellow to those which are merely tinged. A very few will sometimes be found having a pale-green hue. The cocoons of a bright yellow yield a greater weight of reeled silk than the others, but as their deeper color results from the greater proportion of gum wherein the coloring matter prin- cipally resides, any advantage from this source accrues only to the grower, the gummy substance being all boiled out previous to the weaving of the silk. Raw silk which is of pale color is found to take certain dyes better, and is on that account very generally preferred. The selection of chrysalides for breeding is made from such cocoons as are perfectly sound, and whose threads ap- ear to be fine ; having their ends round and compact ; and eing a little depressed in the middle, as if tightened by a ring or ligature. The reason given for attention to these particulars, is the belief that worms producing such balls are of the strongest constitutions. Count Dandolo was of opin- CHAP. V. GATHERING AND SORTING COCOONS. 125 ion that too much stress is laid upon this point, and that all cocoons which are perfectly formed are alike desirable for breeding. For this purpose an equal number of males and females must be preserved. The former are distinguisha- ble by being sharper at the ends, and this, although not an unerring guide, proves sufficiently correct for all practical purposes. These cocoons are sometimes spread in thin layers on tables : but it seems a better practice, and one more generally adopted, to string them together on a thread, care being taken not to pass the needle too deep into the silk. These strings, three or four feet in length, are then hung in festoons out of the reach of vermin. The floss is, in this case, usually removed, as it is found to oppose ad- ditional difficulty to the moth in its extrication. In making the selection of cocoons for breeding, so as to insure the object of maintaining the numbers of his silk- worms, the cultivator considers it necessary to set apart one sixtieth of his whole produce. This shows how considerable must be the loss sustained in this branch of the pursuit. If all the eggs produced by this proportion were found produc- tive, the brood would by their means be trebled in the fol- lowing season. The next proceeding is that of destroying the vitality of the chrysalides in those cocoons which are to be reeled. Various methods are employed for this purpose, according to the nature of the climate ; the solar rays being in some instances found sufficient, no artificial means need be then resorted to. In this case, a calm and cloudless day is chosen, and the cocoons are left exposed to the scorching beams of the sun, during four or five hours in the middle of the day. They are next closely enwrapt in coarse cloths which have been exposed to the same heat, black cloths being chosen preferably on account of their absorbing a greater quantum of heat. These pro- cesses being repeated during several days, the destruction of the insect is usually attained. It is not safe, however, without examination, to confide in its efficacy ; for this trial a few chrysalides must be stripped and pricked with a needle. If upon this they give no sign of animation, it may be safely concluded that their suffocation has been perfected. In more temperate regions artificial means must necessa- rily be employed, and recourse is therefore had to the heat of steam, or of an oven ; and most frequently the latter meth- od is adopted, although there is no reason to doubt that the other, provided it could be efficaciously applied by means of convenient apparatus, would be more quick and certain 126 SILK MANUFACTURE. jPART II* in its operation, as well as productive of less injury to the texture of the silk. When the oven is used, the cocoons are placed in long shallow baskets, filled to within an inch of their tops, and covered, first with paper, and then with a cloth wrapper. The heat of the oven wherein the baskets are disposed has not been more precisely defined, than that it should be very nearly that of an oven from which loaves of bread have just been taken after being baked. The worms are exposed to this heat during an hour ; and on their being withdrawn, it is ascertained by the examination of chrysalides, taken from the centre of each basket, whether the vitality of the worms is destroyed. Those chosen for examination hav- ing been, from their position, the least exposed to the heat, it is fairly presumed that if these be dead the whole are equally destroyed. On their removal from the oven, the baskets are wrapped in woollen cloths or blankets, and piled on each other. If the baking has been properly conducted, the blank- ets will soon appear profusely covered with moisture, and if this should not be seen, the baking has been either excessive or insufficient. If too great, the worms and cocoons will have been previously so much dried as to leave no further moisture to transude; if too little, the heat has not sufficiently pene- trated to distil the liquor which the chrysalides contain, and the worms, in that case, will not be deprived of vitality. It is obvious that very great nicety is required to limit the degree of heat to the exact point that will kill the chrysalides, and it is of great importance that this point shall not be ex? ceeded, as the silken filaments would by such means be in* jured. For this reason steam would doubtless be much more frequently used, if any simple apparatus were intro* duced for the purpose. Where this agent is now employed, its efficiency is so limited that the operation is troublesome and the result uncertain. A large wooden vessel is provided, into which boiling 1 water is poured to the depth of two feet This vessel has within it a wicker hurdle, entirely covering the water, and supported about one inch distant from its surface. The bottom of this hurdle is provided with a coarse porous cloth, easily pene- trable by steam : on this the cocoons are placed, and are cov- ered well over to confine the heat. When the water has be- come so cool that it no longer emits a body of steam, it must be changed for other boiling water ; and it is considered ne- cessary to continue this steaming process for two hours, be- fore the destruction of the chrysalides can be considered cer- tain. If steam were differently applied, a few njinuteg CHAP. V, GATHERING AND SORTING COCOONS. 127 would suffice for perfecting this object. The cocoons, when removed from the steaming" vessel, are covered over with the same care as is employed after baking, and they are left to cool very gradually. After this they are spread out in the air and sun to dissipate the moisture they have imbibed.* It is always desirable, where time can be allotted to the purpose, that the process of reeling should be performed with- out the delay which renders this destruction of the worms ne- cessary. This, in large establishments, is evidently imprac- ticable as regards any very considerable proportion of the produce ; but it must be always performable to a certain ex- tent ; and it is proper to give the preference, in this respect, to such cocoons as appear the weakest: the others, which contain a greater proportion of gum, are thence better quali- fied to sustain heat without injury. When the process, however conducted, for destroying the worms has been perfected, the cocoons are placed on shelves, and must be continually turned and looked over, lest they should become mouldy. If any appear spotted or otherwise damaged, they must be separated to prevent the injury spreading to those balls with which they are in contact, and should be immediately reeled to stay the progress of their own destruction. Large establishments for producing silk comprise in them buildings exclusively appropriated to this purpose, and which are called coconieres. These are rooms fitted up with ranges of shelves from two to three feet above - facturers of that city has declared, that he should, at this day, blush for the work which even his best hands used formerly to furnish ; that now their patterns and productions are fully equal to those of their foreign rivals, and qualified to come in successful competition with the most beautiful ribands wrought by the Lyonnese weavers. Ribands are frequently ornamented by having what is call- ed a pearl-edge given to them. This is formed by causing portions of the shoot to project beyond the edges of the rib- and, and the extent of these projections is so governed as that they shall assume a symmetrical appearance, according to the particular form required, whether as Vandykes, or scal- lops, or any other figures. This pleasing effect is produced by employing supplementally to the v/arp-threads, and out- side each edge, a certain number of horse-hairs, which pass through mails in the harness in the same manner as the warp-threads, but which hairs will be drawn out of the rib- and by the act of its being wound on the roller. The horse- hairs are so connected with the machinery of the loom as to be raised in the succession proper for forming the pattern re- quired. The following diagram exhibits the mode of forming the simplest sort of pearl-edge. The lines a a represent the edges of the riband ; b b the shoot, and the figures 2, 4, 6, 8, signify the number of hairs Fig. 14. which have been included in the several threads of the shoot to which the numbers are attached, in order to form the pearl-edge. It will be seen that, by varying the order of succession used for raising the horse-hairs, the form of the edge will be determined in the particular manner that is de- sired. The commoner sorts of ribands are composed altogether, 192 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART III. both warp and shoot, of Bengal silk. Those of better quality are manufactured with a mixture of Italian and Bengal silk ; and the finest descriptions are made of Italian silk without any mixture. Riband is woven in pieces, each of which measures thirty-six yards. CHAP. IV. FIGURE WEAVING. Sumptuary Laws.— Antiquity of ornamental Weaving.— Stripes.— Checks. —Changes of Colors. — Twills. — Draw-loom. — Draw-boy. — Jacquard Ma- chine. — Principle and Mode of its Action. — Card-slips. — Advantages of the Machine.— Jennings's Improvement.— Obstacles to its original Intro- duction in Lyons. — Superiority of French Patterns. The processes hitherto described are competent only to the manufacture of plain goods; and although, speaking strictly, all that is absolutely necessary to the wants of civ- ilized man, in respect of the art of weaving, is accomplished when fabrics of this description are produced, yet fashion and the love of variety have always, except in the very rudest conditions of society, occasioned the more ornamental and fanciful productions to be viewed with admiration and adopted with eagerness. The cynic may sneer at the vanity which seeks to adorn the human frame in varieties of colors, combined into forms and patterns of still greater variety. But it would be diffi- cult to show that the powers of invention, and the ingenuity which this vanity has called into existence, have not been beneficially exerted in providing employment for thousands of industrious artisans, in rescuing tens of thousands from the miseries of hopeless indigence, and by exercising, in va- rious ways, the mental faculties of our species. The growing intelligence of mankind has long since led them to discard all sumptuary laws, as useless, if not hurtful, to communities, whether they are considered morally or po- litically. The desire of obtaining that which may entitle us, in the opinion of our associates, to an increased degree of worldly consideration, is a most powerful incentive to the vir- tues of industry and frugality ; qualities which tend most im- portantly to the general advancement of society, but which are altogether wanting during its ruder stages. It has been well said by a celebrated philosopher, whose profound investigations have been greatly instrumental in correcting many mistaken notions upon the science of gov- CHAP. IV. FIGURE WEAVING. 193 ernment, which had long been established and held as incon- trovertible axioms, that " the natural effort of every individ- ual to better his own condition, when suffered to exert itself with freedom and sincerity, is so powerful a principle, that it is alone, and without any assistance, not only capable of car- rying- on the society to wealth and prosperity, but of sur- mounting' a hundred impertinent obstructions with which the folly of human laws too often encumbers its operations ; though the effect of these obstructions is always, more or less, either to encroach upon its freedom, or to diminish its se- curity.''* It would prove a curious subject of inquiry, to follow out, to their ultimate consequences, and through all their ramifi- cations, the effects resulting to society from the introduction of new luxuries. To ascertain the degree wherein the indul- gence, by the wealthy, of wants called into existence by the very means afforded for their gratification, brings other enjoy- ments within the reach of a larger number, by reason of the new demand for industrious labor thus created ; and to learn how a still larger class are, through the spirit of emulation, rendered so desirous of acquiring an equal participation in comforts enjoyed by their former equals, as to give an effec- tual spur to their industry and ingenuity. Luxuries, when they have been long enjoyed, become, in a manner, necessary to our happiness; to be without them, while others are not so deprived, is to feel ourselves lowered in the scale of so- , ciety, a degradation to which but few individuals would will- ingly submit, while the means of avoiding it continue within their reach. To imagine that communities, after once acquiring a relish for luxuries, can ever fall back to the primitive usages of so- ciety, is to conceive what never has occurred, and that, while the human mind remains constituted as it ever has been, never will be experienced. The natural wishes of every man are placed upon the acquirement of something more and better than that which he at present enjoys ; and society is thus led, by the concurring efforts of each of its individual members, progressively and steadily onward. Legislative or governmental interference may, indeed, retard the march of improvement, but can no more stop its course when it is once in action than it can stay the motion of the planets. Figure-weaving is the art of producing various patterns in * Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith, vol. ii. p. 365. R 194 8ILK MANUFACTURE. PART III. the cloth, either by the introduction of threads of various colors, or by a different arrangement of the threads, or by using, in the same fabric, threads of different substances. This interesting art is of very ancient invention, and ap- pears to have been practised by the Egyptians at a very early period. Herodotus* speaks of a curious breast-plate or cuirass, covered with linen, which was sent by king Amasis to the Lacedemonians, and which was highly ornamented with nu- merous figures of animals woven into its texture. The his- torian adds, that each of its apparently slender threads was actually composed of three hundred filaments, which, under a careful examination, were all distinctly visible. The improvements recently introduced into this ornamental branch of the art have been many and important ; but pre- vious to giving any description of these improvements, it may be as well to explain, generally, the more simple, although more laborious and less perfect, means, whereby the weaver was formerly enabled to produce the requisite varieties of form and color from his loom. Stripes which occur throughout the length of the piece are the effect of using threads of different colors or substances in the warp alone, and do not entail any additional labor upon the weaver. Stripes which run across the piece, or in the direction of the shoot, are caused by using different shut- tles, furnished with threads of the requisite colors and sub- stances for the formation of the shoot. The only additional labor thus occasioned to the weaver is that of changing his shuttle at certain intervals. A combination of these two methods will, it must be evident, produce a checkered pat- tern, and thus a very great variety of rectilinear patterns may be obtained. To call forth figures, flowers, or patterns of any other kind, different means are necessary. By dividing the warp be- tween several leaves of heddles, which can be depressed at pleasure by separate treadles, threads of different colors may be either concealed or brought forward upon the face of the goods, at the pleasure of the weaver. These threads may be made to change places one with the other, so as to reyeal or conceal each in such a way as to make out the particular pattern intended. Where threads of different colors or substances are em- ployed in forming the shoot, the shuttles containing such dif- ferent threads must be substituted as often as is required by * Lib. iii. c. 47. CHAP. IV. FIGURE WEAVING. 195 the contemplated change of pattern. To effect this substitu- tion with but little trouble or loss of time to the weaver, a very simple but effectual contrivance is used. One of the troughs connected with the shuttle-race must be made in two parts, thus : — Fig. 15. The box, here shown, forming part of the trough in which the shuttle is placed between the warp and the pecker or driver, can be easily exchanged for another box, furnished with a different shuttle, having wound in it a thread of the kind wanted. In order to facilitate this exchange of the shuttles, the movable part of the trough is suspended from a centre of motion, as at b ; by swinging, therefore, the box a on its centre, any one of its divisions may be brought oppo- site to the driver, so as exactly to coincide with it, and to form part of the same trough in continuation of the shuttle- race. The upright bar of the shuttle-box a works, as is seen, upon a curved arm c, which is furnished with pegs or catches to confine the bar in the precise position which it should oc- cupy. If more than three different colored threads are wanted to form the shoot, there may then be two movable boxes for the shuttles; one being placed at each end of the shuttle-race. Tweeled or twilled cloth is a description of figure weaving depending upon peculiar arrangements of the threads that compose the warp and shoot. These arrangements may be almost infinitely varied and complicated, so that it would be difficult to convey a clear or adequate description of every variety ; nor, indeed, would it be useful in a work like this to do so. It is, however, easy to communicate an idea of the principle that enters into and governs this method of weav* 196 SILK MANUFACTURE* PART III* ing, which will be at once understood by consulting the two following diagrams. A represents in section, but greatly magnified for the pur- pose of clearness, a piece of cloth woven in the simplest manner. The circles are intended to represent the section of the warp, and the waved line which passes alternately above and below each following thread of the warp is the weft or shoot : this on its return is, by the altered position of the threads of the warp, made to pass beneath those threads which it had before passed over, and over those under which it had been previously directed. B represents, also in section, a piece of twilled cloth, where the waved line or shoot is seen to pass over four threads, and under one thread of the warp ; while it is mani- fest that by the alternation of the heddles the shoot, with the return stroke of the shuttle, will pass under four threads and over one thread of the warp. It must not be understood, that in weaving twilled fabrics the shoot invariably passes under or over four threads before interlacing with the warp, or that it then interlaces with only one thread ; the number of threads so passed over may be two, three, four, five, or more, in fact, any number greater than one, although seldom fewer than three ; and the interlacing may be with two or more threads, according to the pattern which it is desired to produce, and which of course will vary according as the number of threads passed over or interlaced is greater or less. All the intersecting points where the threads of the warp and shoot cross or interweave are more marked to the eye from the circumstance of both threads being seen to- gether. These points take the form of diagonal lines, ex- tending parallel to each other, across the face of the cloth, and the degree of obliquity will vary according to the num- ber of warp threads passed over without interlacing with the shoot. In twills of the coarsest fabric the shoot is interwoven with every third thread of the warp ; and in proportion as the materials wrought are finer, longer intervals are allowed, Fig. 16. A Fig. 17. *~OCO O OOOO^CO"0"cK-OOOCK^OOO(> — UOOO CHAP. IV. FIGritE WEAVING. 197 until, in some of the finest silks, the interlacing takes place only with each sixteenth thread. All the varieties of twilling depend upon the mounting or working of the different leaves of heddles, or the harness of the loom : these, by their multiplication and by their connex- ion with a greater number of treadles, w 7 hich can be made to work in different orders of succession, vary the arrangements for separating the threads of the warp in forming the shed, thus, according to the weaver's phrase, augmenting the num- ber of leases in the harness. In forming patterns where the variety is extensive, the number of treadles that would be nesessary to accomplish this mode of weaving would be so great, that one man could not possibly manage them with his tw T o feet. By placing one of these inadvertently upon a wrong treadle, the uni- formity of the work would be interrupted, and the pattern disfigured ; and it could not be expected that, while urging forward his w T ork with the celerity necessary for the ade- quate support of his family, any man could so bestow his at- tention upon every part of his operations as to insure the ab- sence of all errors of this description. The regularity and precision which are necessary in pro- ducing fanciful patterns of great variety require, therefore, a different description of loom. To meet this necessity, the apparatus called a draw-loom was invented : by means of this the most comprehensive patterns were produced ; and in using it the weaver was absolved from all extra attention, having only to apply his feet, as in the commonest kind of weaving, to two treadles alternately. The working of a draw-loom formerly required the constant attention of two persons, one of whom was employed to raise the heddles in their requisite order of succession, by pulling strings attached to the various leaves respectively, while the other carried forward the operation of actual weaving ; but during the year 1807 a most valuable invention was brought into use and substituted for the second person employed. The saving of labor resulting from the use of this apparatus comprised, perhaps, the least part of its advantages, since it removed, by the unerring certainty of its operation, all possible chance of mistake in pulling a wrong string, which, while the office was performed by human hands, could not but sometimes oc- cur. The apparatus, when once properly set up, itself pro- vided for all the operations and changes required. This machine, which, from its standing in the stead of a R2 198 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART III* person who was distinguished by that name, is called a draw- boy, will be now described. This machine was fixed to the side of the loom in the place where the assistant weaver formerly used to stand. It consists of a square axis made of wood, and so mounted as to turn backwards and forwards in the frame on centres of motion. A pulley is fixed at one end of the frame, having a line fastened to it at its highest point. The axis is put in motion by means of this line, each end of which is connected with one of the treadles of the loom. Two wooden rails or shelves are fixed across the frame parallel to the axis, to which two brass plates are screwed, and pierced with a great number of holes to receive as many cords. A central rail is placed beneath the reciprocating axis, and to this rail are fastened cords, which, passing through the perforations of the plates are turned over rounded rods, and kept extended by weights : the rods are suspended by cords at each end from the ceiling of the room. To each of the cords which pass from the central rail, through the brass plates, and just be- fore they are turned over the rods, anotiier cord is attached. The latter cords hang loosely, their upper ends being con- nected with lines extending horizontally across the ceiling of the room, to which they are fastened by one end, w 7 hile the other end of each passes over a pulley placed at the top of the loom ; and the leaves of heddles or harness are all suspended by lines thus conducted. It will now be seen, that when any one of the cords fasten- ed to the central rail is pulled down, it must draw one of the latter cords, and act upon that part of the harness which is connected with it : one of the weights keeps the cord at its proper degree of tension. It may be easily understood, that the harness being arranged in such succession as is required to raise and depress the leaves of heddles in a manner which will produce those various situations of the warp which are necessary to the production of the required pattern, it only remains to provide for the regular and successive drawing of the cords as they are mounted in the draw-boy. This is the business of the machine, and is accomplished in the following manner: — The axis has fixed to it a semicircle, grooved in its peri- phery like a pulley, and with both its ends divided so as to form a cleft hook or claw. Each of the strings made fast to the central rail has a large knot made in it, a little below the point where it passes through the brass plate ; and when the axis is made to vibrate to and fro by the action of the CHAP. IV. FIGURE WEAVING. 199 treadles, as before mentioned, one of the hooks of the semi- circle seizes upon one of these knots, and drawing down the cord, raises the heddles connected with it. It must be remembered, that by the connexions made be- tween the various leaves of heddles, the raising* of any one of the leaves must occasion the depression of all the others. The shuttle being then thrown, the other treadle is in its turn depressed : the axis, with the semicircle, in its return back, allows the cord to disengage itself from the cleft hook, and to take its original position ; the semicircle then inclining over to the other side, its other cleft hook lays hold of the knot made in the cord next in advance of the one opposite to that just released ; draws it down ; the shuttle is again thrown; and so on in regular succession, each claw in its turn seizing upon the cord next beyond the one directly op- posite to that just drawn. The means whereby it is provided •that the claws shall take in succession only the alternate cords passing through the brass plates, are by two racks, which are let into grooves in the axis, and have teeth like saws, but the teeth on one rack are inclined in a contrary •direction to those of the other. These racks are caused to move backward and forward in their grooves to the extent of one tooth at each vibratory movement of the axis, by the ac- tion of two circular inclined planes of iron fastened to the frame, against which the ends of the racks are thrown by means of spiral springs concealed beneath each rack. The semicircle is fixed on a box or carriage, which slides upon the axis, and has two clicks upon it; one of which falls into the iteeth of one rack, the other into the teeth of the second rack: sa roller is fixed over the box, and connected with the two ^clicks, by threads wound in opposite directions, so that one ;«lick is always raised up and disengaged while the other is In action. A piece of wire is fixed to the frame in such a manner as to intercept another small wire projecting from the roller when the axis is inclined, and to turn the roller a short distance : another wire, intended for the same purpose, is fixed to a movable cross bar which can be fastened as re- quired at either a greater or lesser distance from the end of the axis. If the roller be in such a position that one click is down while the other is drawn up, the direction given to the semicircle draws down one string ; during this motion, the end of the rack comes to the inclined part of the circular inclined plane, and is moved on by its spring the space of one tooth, which advance is maintained by the click in falling into the tooth. On its return the axis thrusts back 200 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART III. the rack, together with the sliding box and semicircle, caus- ing the claw to catch the next opposite string ; and in this manner the semicircle proceeds, advancing one string with each vibration, until it reaches the end of its course. The tail of the roller then strikes against a pin. fixed in the mova- ble cross bar, the roller is turned over, one click is raised, and the other click is brought into action upon the rack. By this means the semicircle is moved back one tooth for each vibration, until the wire projecting from the roller meets a wire projecting from the frame, by means of which it is upset ; the click again comes into play, and the semicircle is by these means kept constantly advancing and receding with the most perfect regularity. The machine which has just been described was not in all respects the same as the first mechanical draw-boy that was employed, upon which it formed a considerable improvement, by rendering it unnecessary for the weaver to quit his labor at the loom and reset it, whenever the semicircle had com- pleted its progression from one end of the frame to the other. This improvement was the contrivance of a Mr. Duff; it ex- hibits great ingenuity, and the apparatus proved eminently useful, although liable to one very serious objection. The weight of the harness and the friction of the machine being considerable, it was necessary to adjust accordingly the range of the treadles which gave it motion : and in order not to oppress the weaver with the weight, it was requisite that he should depress each treadle to the extent of ten inches. The exertion of raising his feet so high, and in such quick suc- cession as was needed, proved exceedingly fatiguing, and even affected injuriously the bodily health of the weaver. To remedy this evil, an engine maker, named Jones, fixed on the axis of the driving wheel or pulley two cranks, each being about two thirds of the length of the radius of the wheel. But it was found, as indeed might have been ex- pected, that this arrangement increased the load and friction so disproportionally to the advantage that was gained by shortening the tread, as to render it hardly available in prac- tice. It was, perhaps, a rather better contrivance when a weaver, named Hughes, substituted for the above mentioned cranks a small grooved wheel, which he fixed on the axis of the driving wheel, and connected it with the treadles by means of cords passing over pulleys ; but the evil, although diminished by this means, was not removed. In the years 1820 and 1821, another ingenious silk weaver, named Rich- ards, made a farther and effectual improvement, by attaching 1 chap. rv. FIGURE WEAVING. 201 to the prolonged axis of the machine an arm, carrying a leaden weight of such magnitude as would counterbalance the weight of the harness. The apparatus, thus improved, continued for a long time to prove of great usefulness in figure weaving. It detracts nothing from the merit of the inventor and improvers of a machine which removed so many of the disadvantages at- tendant upon the system of figure weaving, as then usually practised, that another and a better system has since been imported from a neighboring country, which has occasioned the laying aside of the draw-loom and its attendant draw-boy, for the production of figured silk goods. The contrivance whereby this new system has been accom- plished is the invention of M. Jacquard, who was a practical weaver of Lyons. Bearing his name, it will probably prove a lasting record of his mechanical talent, and will secure for his memory that fair harvest of fame, which, unhappily, he has not lived to reap, having fallen an early victim to the in- tensity of his mental application. In the course of the very few years which have elapsed since its first introduction into this country, the Jacquard loom has entirely taken the place of every other method of figured silk weaving, and has been, in no small degree, in- strumental in bringing that curious and beautiful art to its present state of advancement. The elaborate specimens of brocade which used to be brought forward as evidence of .skilfulness on the part of the Spitalfields weavers of former days were produced by only the most skilful among the craft, who bestowed upon their performances the most painful amount of labor. The most beautiful products of the loom in the present day are, however, accomplished by men possess- ing only the ordinary rate of skill, while the labor attendant upon the actual weaving is but little more than that demand- ed for making the plainest goods. The carefulness and skill now required in preparing the various arrangements of the harness in the loom, or, to use the technical phrase, in build- ing the monture, are out of all proportion less than were called for before the introduction of Monsieur Jacquard's in- vention, the principle and operation of which will appear from the following drawings and description.* The apparatus is fixed on the top of the loom, in a perpen- * The drawings inserted for the elucidation of the Jacquard machine are merely outlines ; a mode of delineation which is necessary, in order to render apparent its internal construction and action, which are concealed in the actual machine by tha framing wherein the apparatus is contained. 202 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART III. dicular line with its harness, which is attached to the lifting hooks a a. These hooks are passed perpendicularly through eyes in an equal number of horizontal needles b c, which lie in rows in the frame d d. Of these lifting hooks and needles, only eight are shown in the drawings, in order to simplify the description; whereas, in the actual machine, there are as many as 400 of each, or fifty in each one of the eight rows, forming as many leases or lashes in the warp. The horizon- tal needles b c protrude through the frame d d at c, and are kept in that position by helical or spiral springs e e, placed in Fig. 18. V t V I V . V cavities in the frame d, and there confined by vertical wires f, so that any degree of pressure being applied against the points of those needles at c will cause them to retire into the frame d d, and, on the removal of this pressure, the elasticity of the springs will again drive the needles forward. The range allowed for this horizontal movement of the needles is limited by vertical pins g, passing through loops made in the needles, and which stop them at a certain point. Close to these vertical pins, others are placed horizontally, upon which the loops of the needle slide, and by means of which they are retained in their proper position. One of the needles is shown separately, for clearer elucidation. Above the frame d d is another frame h, having bars CHAP. IV. FIGURE WEAVING* 203 ranged horizontally at right angles with the needles, and in number equal to the rows of lifting hooks. This frame h is alternately raised from or lowered upon the frame d d, by a lever attached to and acting with the treadle, and the length of the lifting hooks is so adjusted, that when the frame Fig. 19. /% . . (5L. r< — Hep) ■ % 0 Oi h is lowered the lifting bars would so insinuate themselves under the curved ends of the lifting hooks as to raise them when the frame h is again raised. For this purpose, the lift- ing bars, which in shape are something like blunted knife blades, have their broad parts a little inclined out of the per- pendicular, so that their lower edges shall not strike in their descent against the curved extremities of the lifting hooks-, while, by their continued depression, the flat parts of the bars will come in contact with those curves, and force the hooks somewhat back against the springs. These, at the moment they are freed from the pressure by the descent of the bars below the curves, force the hooks back into the vertical posi- tion, which insures their being suspended on the lifting bars • with the upward movement of the frame h. , It will be observed that half the number of lifting hoolis are attached to the lifting bars, while the other half remain disconnected with them ; this has been effected by the forcing back of the needles, through the eyes of which those lifting hooks are passed, and which, by that act, are thrown out of their perpendicular, and are thus carried out of the range of the lifting hooks. All, therefore, that is further wanting to govern the raising and depressing of the different portions of the warp is a system for managing the retirement of the proper needles within the frame d d, and, consequently, for influencing the taking up of the proper heddles by means of the horizontal lifting bars. This system of management is effected by the agency of a Fig. 20. 204 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART ni« square revolving bar, and a succession of perforated cards or slips, which are carried round with its revolutions. The revolving bar is perforated on each of its four sides, with holes, answering, in number and position, to the points of the needles at c ; and one or other of these sides is brought into contact with that same part of the frame d, at each de- pression of the treadle. In the absence of the cards or slips, the points of all the horizontal needles b c would enter into the perforations of the revolving bar, and every one of the lifting hooks would be taken up on the lifting bars ; whence the office of the cards becomes apparent. These are partially perforated, in such a manner as to make out the intended pattern by means of the partial influence they are made to exert in causing the re- tirement of the horizontal needles. It will be seen, by refer- ence to the cards or slips, that their perforations are not so numerous as those on the sides of the revolving bar, and that Fig. 21. jooo oo o cocccoeo oo , or, n iro »roo oo o 3c o ooo CO ccoo coco > o oc ccoo e» cc cceoo CO O OO OOO oooo coooo A oo o ooooooo oco oo ooJ ooo ° r oo oooo ooH" ,ooo oo c oco o ooooooo J. OO OO O OOOOOocO ccoo q or. oooo cooo&oo n o ooo oooo or oo ooo \ ono^c oooc>co ft ooceo^o* ^ oc o ooooo oooo* o o ooo oo ooo -4 1OOO0O ooo CO o OCO 1 c r c oc o o ooo oo oo4 these holes occur at irregular positions. If, then, one of these slips of card be made to cover the side of the revolving bar which is opposed to the points of the needles, such of the latter as do not coincide with the perforations made on the slip will be driven back against their helical springs. Their lifting hooks will, consequently, be carried beyond the range of the lifting bars ; while all those needles which find coin- ciding perforations in the card slip will pass through it into the perforations of the revolving bar ; their lifting hooks will, on the depression of the frame h, be engaged by the lifting bars ; and those portions of the harness which are connected with them will be drawn up. The perforations in the slips are so placed as to occasion that succession in the raising of the harness which will make out the intended pattern. For this purpose it is necessary to have as many cards or slips as there are required threads of shoot to make out or complete the pattern ; this number of cards, where the pattern is large, or of great variety, is very considerable. The whole of them are fastened together by threads at their extreme ends or corners, in the manner shown in the drawing ; and they thus form a kind of endless CHAP. IV. FIGURE WEAVING. 205 chain, one complete revolution of which makes out the pat- tern, which the continued working of the loom repeats to the end of the warp. The revolutions of the card slips with the revolving bar, and the precision with which they must take their position upon it, so as to cause the coincidence of their perforations, is provided for by conical studs i i upon the revolving bar, upon which studs the slips adjust themselves by means of the larger perforations j j made in them for that purpose. Fig. 22. 8 206 SiLK MANUFACTURE. PAET III. The punching of these card slips for the composition of different patterns is a distinct and separate business from that of the weaver, to whom the cards are given out, to- gether with the silk to be woven, by the master manufac- turer. A sort of property in the pattern is thus retained by the master, which, should it become a favorite with the pub- lic, proves to him an affair of some considerable advantage.* The regular and successive revolutions of the square re- volving bar are thus managed. The bar k must be hung by its end pivots I in a frame m, which is so jointed above as to swing from and to the side of the frame d with an unvarying motion. The bar, which has been shown separately, will be seen to have at one end four pillars nop and q, into which the hook r catches in succes- sion, so as to cause the bar to make one fourth of a revolution. The precision of this movement is also guarded by a bar, shaped like the letter T reversed, s s £, which is pressed on the two upper pillars of the revolving bar by the action of a spring. The frame m is swung from the frame d by the roller u, which, being attached to the frame h, rises with it, and works in the hook-shaped bar v attached to the frame m r causing the latter to swing on its uppper joint ; and by the same means the depression of the frame h must again draw the frame m to the position it had quitted against the frame dL The catching of the hook r in the pillar n permits the swinging of the frame m only through the turning of the re- volving bar, the outer vertical side of which is thus made tc* take a horizontal position in the upper part of the frame By its return against the frame d, another of the pillars, o, is brought within the hook r, and secured in readiness for the next swinging movement of m. The revolving bar is thus seen to have both a vibratory and a revolving motion ; the first occasioned by the swinging of the frame m, to which it is connected on its pivots, and the second by the restraining action of the hook r. The cord w x so connects the two opposite and similar hooks r and y, that the drawing of this cord upward will throw the hook r out of action, and cause the successive catching of the pillars nop and q by the hook y instead, when the motion of the revolving bar will necessarily be re- versed. This provision is made in order to enable the weaver to repair any accident that may occur, through the probable breaking of the warp threads, or the possible disar- rangement of the harness. The movement of the card slips * Note G CHAP. IV. FIGURE WEAVING. 207 being* of course reversed by this means, the weaver tries back his work sufficiently to accomplish his purpose ; and then, by pulling* down the cord w x, the lower hook is re- leased, and the upper one is ag-ain engaged, so that the re- volving bar and the card slips once more proceed in the for- ward direction, and the weaving" again advances. The lines numbered 1, 2, 3, &c. represent the card slips and their situations during the working of the loom. The junction of the slip numbered 175 to that numbered 1 shows how, by the repeated succession of all the cards, the endless repetitions of the pattern are produced in the manufacture. It will be observed, that the card slips are so perforated, that, in addition to the blank spaces necessary to make out the particular pattern required, they likewise oppose blanks, alternately, through their whole extent, to each intermediate row of needles in the frame d. If the card No. 1. entirely covers the first, third, fifth, and seventh rows of perforations in the revolving bar, the card No. 2. will, in like manner, cover the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth rows ; by which means the requisite succession of the harness is uniformly preserved. Availing himself of this necessity for covering the alter- nate rows of perforations, Mr. J. Hughes, of Bethnal Green, has ingeniously proposed to employ the same set of card slips in producing two distinct patterns, by using their intermediate blank spaces, and causing the requisite succession of the harness by means of other cards, perforated accordingly, and which are fixed, with that view, on the different faces of the revolving bar, so that the first and third faces have their first, third, fifth, and seventh perforations covered, while the sec- ond and fourth faces have their other four alternate rows concealed : these fixed cards thus become substitutes for the intermediate blank spaces on the revolving card slips, and some part of the expense and labor connected with the sec- ond pattern are saved. The Jacquard loom has proved so beneficial to the weaver, by simplifying the most difficult portion of his labor, and by so importantly economizing his time in the preliminary, and, to him, profitless preparation of his loom, that he complains not of the exertion for which it calls in depressing the treadle and lever, although this exertion must needs be very considerable, from the friction of its parts, the resistance of so many springs, and the raising of the numerous weights, by the reaction of which the harness of the loom is depressed. It is some time, however, ere the weaver who adopts the use of this really beautiful apparatus becomes sufficiently fa- 208 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART III. miliar with its arrangements to carry forward his labor with a satisfactory degree of celerity ; but when this is once ac- complished, the comfort which he derives from those ar- rangements affords ample amends for the cares of his no- viciate ; and there are not any by whom, under such circum- stances, it would willingly be abandoned. The Jacquard apparatus is provided by the master manu- facturer, and continues, of course, equally with the card slips, to be his property; an arrangement rendered necessary by the poverty of the weavers, scarcely one of whom could fur- nish the means for providing the machine. Each set of cards, when it is removed from the loom to make room for another set with a different pattern, is care- fully tied up, and, as a distinctive label, the bundle has at- tached to it a portion of the fabric which has been woven, so that the manufacturer may know, at a glance, what set of cards to employ for the production of any one of his particu- lar patterns. The general introduction of this apparatus was impeded for some time, owing to the great height which was required in the apartment destined for its erection. Within the last twelve months, an improvement has been effected, which renders the invention more extensively available, by admit- ting of its erection in apartments not beyond the ordinary height of chambers inhabited by silk weavers. This improve- ment was brought under the notice of the Society for the En- couragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, and was, on that occasion, deemed deserving of reward both pecuniary and honorary. This society has always been alive to the great importance of the silk manufacture to this country, and has done more for the encouragement of ingenious artisans in this branch of industry than has been, or than could be, ef- fected by the patent laws under the present system ; the great bulk of the inventors being in a situation of life which deprives them of all means for securing to themselves the privileges of a patent. To give an intelligible account of the alteration thus ef- fected, it is necessary to explain, that the cords whereby the leaden weights, which are called lingos, are attached to the harness, are each led through a hole in a board in front of and somewhat lower than the breast-roll of the loom : this is call- ed a comber-board ; and its numerous holes are so disposed in lines, that the rows which cross the loom comprise a greater number of holes than the rows which run in the di- rection of its length. On the other hand, the rows of lifting CHAP. IV. FIGURE WEAVING. 209 hooks contained in the apparatus above are in the greatest number in this last-mentioned direction. In attaching the harness to the lifting hooks, it had been usual to connect each cord with that individual hook which would have stood in the most natural relation to it, provided the comber-board and lifting hooks had stood in the same direction; but as they do not so stand, it is evident that this disposition of the cords must occasion a twisting of them among each other ; and hence arose the necessity for carrying them through a wider range of space, that the chances of entanglement or confusion might be diminished. This mode of connecting the harness with the lifting hooks is called " the London tie." The improvement consists in connecting each cord with the individual hook which stands in the most natural relation to it in the actual position of the different parts : this is called " the Norwich tie ;" and by reason of its diminishing the chances of entanglement among the numerous cords, makes it practicable to confine the harness within a narrower range of space. Besides the economy of space thus acquired, it was found practicable to diminish, in some degree, the height given to the framing of the apparatus ; and the combination of these two circumstances brought the whole machine, as has been before mentioned, within the height of chambers such as are commonly inhabited by journeymen weavers. Previously to this alteration, it had been by no means uncommon to cut away the ceiling of the apartment in the spot directly over the Jacquard apparatus ; but it is obvious that recourse could not always be had to even this bungling expedient. The Society for the Encouragement of Arts has very re- cently given encouragement to another alteration, which ef- fects a very desirable simplification of this ingenious inven- tion, dispensing altogether with the helical springs which serve to push forward the needles, and substituting cords and perforated boards for the lifting hooks and lifting bars of the original machine. This improvement is the contrivance of Mr. William Jen- nings, a practical weaver and machine-maker, of Bethnal Green. The means whereby it is attained will appear on consulting the following diagram : — The cords attached to the harness, of which, to avoid con- fusion, eight only are here given, are fastened to the top of the frame a a, bb, which is to be raised by the action of the treadle and lever. The under board b b of this frame, through which the cords pass in their descent, is perforated with tha S 2 210 *ILK MANUFACTURE. PART III. Pig. 23. 1 i | 1 1 \ .-A, i cl / a i / cl — /- / / l / / / j — * requisite number of holes ; and in connexion with each one of these holes is a small slit, the width of which is narrower than the diameter of the hole from which it proceeds. This perforated board b b answers the same purpose as the lifting bars ; for each of the harness cords having a knot made in it in the exact spot to which the lower board b b of the frame will descend with the return stroke of the lever, either these knots will, by the protruding of the needles as at c c, be de- tained upon the upper surface of b b from their inability to pass through the slits, or, by the passing back of the needles, as at d d, the knots will be made to coincide with the holes in b b, through which they are small enough to pass freely. The portion of the harness with which they are connected will, consequently, not be raised. Another perforated board, e e, is placed beneath the horizontal needles, and through this the cords descend to the comber-board f /, which is simi- lar to the one formerly described : the cords of the harness, passing through this, are kept extended by the plummets, or lingos, at their bottom ends, and these perform the office of springs in bringing forward the horizontal needles cc, dd, whenever they meet with coinciding perforations in the re- CHAP. IV. FIGURE WEAVING. 211 volving bar; the lifting cords then insinuate themselves be- tween the slits, and are raised by means of' their knots, as before described. For clearer elucidation, the board b b is here given, with its circular holes and slits for the passage or detention of the knots. It must be borne in mind, that instead of the small number here delineated, this board has 400, and sometimes even a greater number, of holes and slits, but the indication of which in so small a space as this diagram would have ren- dered it less clear and intelligible. In the course of the very few years during which the Jac- quard machine has been known in England, it has been thus materially simplified and improved ; while in Lyons, the city of its birth, it still remains unaltered, either in form or ar- rangement, from the original conception of its first ingenious inventor. It has been recorded by the baron Ch. Dupin, that Jacquard had to encounter the most bitter annoyances from his fellow-citizens, who have been so materially benefited by his ingenuity. Several years elapsed before his machinery was generally adopted, during which period a thousand ob- stacles were offered to its introduction; a fact which can well be credited by all persons who have had opportunities *for observing with what pertinacity old forms and practices are adhered to by the common-place bulk of every communi- ty ; and how great is the disinclination of the operative me- chanic to adopt improvements which, with a self-sufficiency engendered by the dexterity acquired in following old meth- ods, he is pleased to condemn as " new-fangled nonsense." The mode whereby the perforations in the card-slips are so made as to influence the raising of different portions of the warp threads in the order of succession necessary for making out the desired pattern, is exceedingly ingenious. The pattern — or as it is called, the design — is drawn of a size much larger than it is intended shall be given to it in the woven fabric, upon paper previously divided by lines into very small squares, in the manner described in the following Fig. 24. h 212 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART nr. figure, the cross lines of which represent the intersecting threads of the goods. This mode of proceeding has been long followed in building the monture of draw-looms ; that is, in preparing them for weaving intricate or extensive patterns. Fig. 25. Placing this paper before him, and provided with a frame containing a number of vertical threads answering to the warp of the goods, sufficient to comprise the width of the de- sign, the workman proceeds to read on the design, by taking up with a very long needle such of the threads as are inter- sected by the pattern, inserting by its means a cross thread under these, and carrying it over all the remaining threads in the same line ; repeating this process until he has insert- ed as great a number of shoots as there are of cross lines oc- cupied in making out the pattern, and which sometimes amount to as many as five hundred shoots. Thus, in fact, transferring the design by a succession of what may be call- ed darning stitches from the ruled paper to the threads in his frame. To facilitate the reading on of the design, every tenth line which divides the pattern paper into squares is described in a bolder manner than the other lines. When the design is extensive, the operation is generally performed by two per- sons, one of whom directs- what threads are to be raised, while the other makes the necessary insertions of the needle. In reading on the design here given {fig* 25.) the beginning would be made at the bottom, and as the spaces on the paper are always counted from right to left, the instruction would be, " pass thirty and take two." Part of the flower is de- CHAP. IV. FIGURE WEAVING. 213 scribed in the second row of squares, and the instruction for this would be " pass nineteen, take three ; pass eight, take two." The third shoot comprises other parts of the flower, and the workman would be told, " pass ten, take three ; pass five, take five ; pass seven, take two ; pass seven, take four ;" and proceeding thus with as many cross shoots as there are of transverse lines on the paper, which in this case comprises only thirty-five, the whole design would be included. When this is done, the next operation is to attach the threads thus interlaced to the card-punching machine. This piece of mechanism is in every way similar in its principle, and nearly identical in its arrangements, with the Jacquard machine; being, like it, provided witfi lifting-cords, and wires, and needles, all connected in the manner already de- scribed in this chapter, so that by pulling the lifcing-cords, the needles will be protruded. In front of these needles, and answering to the revolving bar, a perforated plate, about two inches thick, is fixed : each of the perforations in this is provided with a movable steel punch or cutter of a cylindri- cal form, so that the protrusion of any of the needles will drive forward their corresponding punches, and deposit them in another similarly perforated iron plate, about one inch in thickness, temporarily applied for that purpose against the face of the plate first described. One end of each warp thread in the pattern is then to be connected in succession with the individual lifting-cords of the machine ; and it is evident that if the different threads which form the shoot, and which for this purpose are made to hang out on each side beyond the selvage of the warp, are taken separately and in succession by each end and drawn upwards, all the warp threads wherewith each cross thread is engaged, will be separated from the rest, and may be col- lected together in the hand ; by then pulling them, the par- ticular lifting cords to which they are attached will be drawn, their corresponding needles will be protruded, and the cylin- drical cutters by that means driven out of the perforations in the fixed plate into the corresponding cavities of the movable plate. The blank card-slip, which is to be perforated, is next ap- plied to the face of the movable plate, and against the points of the punches; and both being then removed to- gether, and placed upon a third perforated plate in a press, the punches are driven through the card-slip in the requisite spots. The punches being replaced in the machine, a sec- ond shoot of the thread pattern drawn up, and its interlaced 214 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART III. warp thread pulled as before, the punches connected with the answering lifting-cords and needles are in like manner protruded into the movable plate, and forced through an- other blank card ; and, by proceeding in this manner, the whole series of card-slips will be unerringly prepared. Hav- ing been previously numbered, there is no difficulty in attach- ing them together in their proper order of succession, holes for this purpose being made by the same action of the press which stamps the perforations for the pattern, punches for this purpose being permanently inserted in proper cavities of the movable iron plate. A modification of the Jacquard machine has been intro- duced to use by Mr. Samuel Dean, of Bethnal Green, also an operative weaver. In this the card-slips are altogether dispensed with, by adopting the use of two revolving bars placed on opposite sides of the machine. Each of these bars has eight faces, and the loom is actuated by two treadles. The variations of pattern are provided for in the working of this machine, by temporarily stopping such holes in the re- volving bars as will influence the raising of those threads of the warp upon which the production of the pattern depends. It is quite obvious, however, that this modification can only be applied to the production of very simple patterns, it being capable of employing no more than sixteen casts of the shut- tle for their completion. This altered arrangement is, there- fore, of very limited utility, and bears no comparison with the truly valuable invention of Jacquard. In one branch, and that an essential one, of the interesting art of figure weaving, the manufacturers of Lyons enjoy a superior reputation to us ; their designs are more pleasing, more varied, and display a more correct taste than ours can boast. For this superiority there is a very sufficient reason furnished, by the establishment existing in that city of " the School of Arts," which offers valuable means for the study of drawing in all its various branches, and where pattern de- signers are ably instructed in all the best rules of the art which they cultivate. The English have been considered inferior to their conti- nental neighbors in the faculty of invention, at least in this particular branch of the fine arts. Without entering into the investigation of this question, which might, perhaps, in any case, be decided more under the influence of national partiality than according to the fact, it must be owned that the French have adopted systematic means for calling forth and improving the talent of tasteful invention ; while with CHAP. IV. FIGURE WEAVING. 215 us this is left entirely to individual and unassisted efforts. It is, besides, probable that the favor wherewith French patterns are received by the leaders of fashion in this country, tends still further to repress the efforts of English artists, as far as originality is concerned ; since it is found more profitable to imitate or to copy patterns, thus recommended to the general adoption, than to venture upon producing others, which would be without this adventitious value. CHAP. V. MECHANICAL, OR POWER-WEAVING. Great Advantages of Machinery in abridging Labor. — First Proposal for a Power-Loom. — Dr. Cartwright's Invention. — Causes of its little Success. — Parliamentary Reward. — Austin's Power-Loom. — Mode of its Action. — Reasons for preferring Hand-weaving for Silken Fabrics. — Hand-Power- Looms.— Mr. Sadler's Invention.— Double and Quadruple Looms. — Pro- portion wherein they are said to abridge Labor. The means of substituting mechanical power for the labor of the hands in weaving must be classed among the splendid offerings made by genius at the shrine of utility. The facility thus given to the production of goods has al- ways excited the apprehensions, and frequently has prompted the hostility, of persons previously employed in their manu- facture. Even among other and better informed classes there have not been wanting systematic opponents to the in- troduction of machinery, who, taking up the broad line of ar- gument maintained by Montesquieu, have asserted that the saving of labor is hurtful to the true interests of communi- ties. That the first introductions of mechanical facilities to la- bor have been, and must always be, accompanied by hardship to the artisans previously employed in any branch so invaded, is a position which, although frequently much exaggerated, is yet incontrovertibly true ; but however much the fact may be deplored, and however strenuously the benevolent man should set himself to devise and to practise means for allevi- ating the unavoidable evil, there still would be but little wis- dom, and, taking a more extended vie w, but little real philan- thropy, in setting bounds to the progress of improvements which are calculated to bring the enjoyments and conveni- ences of life within the reach of a larger number of indi- viduals. The injury to the deprived artisan is probably but temporary, while the benefit to society is lasting and pro- gressive. The very individuals who suffer from this kind of 216 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART III* interference with their own particular line of pursuit, are in- terested in fostering improvements in regard to every other article of human production. The class of consumers must always be more numerous than that of producers ; and it would be difficult in the present day to maintain the proposition, that the lasting interests of the many are to be sacrificed for the temporary advantage of a number comparatively insignificant. It can scarcely be considered as properly belonging to a treatise on the silk manufacture, to enter historically and at length into the question of the first invention of power-looms ; or, to speak more correctly, into a description of the means proposed for their achievement, since the practicability of such an adaptation was imagined, and projects for its accom- plishment were published, many years before these were sub- mitted to the test of practice. As early as the close of the seventeenth century, the drawing and description of a loom for mechanical weaving was presented to the Royal Society of London. Although there is every reason for believing that this circumstance was wholly unknown to the ingenious author of the actual loom first employed in this very interesting object, there does not appear to exist any material difference between this ma- chine and the earlier description. The conception and ac- complishment of this important invention, by a gentleman totally unconnected with the pursuit of manufactures, unac- quainted even at the time with the commonest processes used in weaving, whose pursuits in life were of a nature wholly foreign to the mechanical arts, and whose attention was drawn to the subject by circumstances purely accidental, is a fact so curious and interesting, that the insertion of the fol- lowing letter, which the inventor, the Rev. Edmund Cart- wright, D.D., afterwards wrote upon the subject to the re- spectable secretary to the Chamber of Commerce in Glasgow, needs no apology : — "Happening to be at Matlock in the summer of 1784, I fell in company with some gentlemen of Manchester, when the conversation turned on Arkwright's spinning machinery. One of the company observed, that as soon as Arkwright's patent expired, so many mills would be erected, and so much cotton spun, that hands never could be found to weave it. To this observation I replied, that Arkwright must then set his wits to work to invent a weaving mill. This brought on a conversation on the subject, in which the Manchester gentle- men unanimously agreed that the thing was impracticable ; and, in defence of their opinion, they adduced argument* CHAP. V. POWER-WEAVING. 217 which I certainly was incompetent to answer or even to com- prehend, being totally ignorant of the subject, having never at that time seen a person weave. I controverted, however, the impracticability of the thing, by remarking that there had lately been exhibited in London an automaton figure which played at chess. 'Now you will not assert, gentle- men,' said I, ' that it is more difficult to construct a machine that shall weave, than one which shall make all the variety of moves which are required in that complicated game.' " Some little time afterwards a particular circumstance re- calling this conversation to my mind, it struck me that, as in plain weaving, according to the conception I then had of the business, there could be only three movements which were to follow each other in succession, there would be little difficulty in producing and repeating them. Full of these ideas, I im- mediately employed a carpenter and smith to carry them into effect. As soon as the machine was finished, I got a weaver to put in the warp, which was of such materials as sail-cloth is usually made of: to my great delight a piece of cloth, such as it was, was the produce. As I had never before turned my thoughts to any thing mechanical, either in theory or practice, nor had ever seen a loom at work, or knew any thing of its construction, you will readily suppose that my first loom must have been a most rude piece of machinery. The warp was placed perpendicularly ; the reed fell with a force of at least half a hundred weight; and the springs w r hich threw the shuttle were strong enough to have thrown a Congreve rocket ; in short, it required the strength of two powerful men to work the machine at a slow rate, and only for a short time. Conceiving, in my great simplicity, that I had accomplished all that was required, I then secured what I thought a most valuable property by a patent, 4th of April, 1785. This being done, I then condescended to see how other people wove; and you will guess my astonishment when I compared their easy modes of operation with mine. Availing myself, however, of what I then saw, I made a loom, in its general principles nearly as they are now made : but it was not till the year 1787 that I. completed my inven- tion, when I took out my last weaving patent, August 1, of that year." The history of this invention is farther curious, as illus- trating some of the many difficulties which so frequently at- tend upon the introduction of new plans, and which call for the exercise of patience the most unwearied, and of energies the most unquenchable, to preserve inventions of even the 218 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART III. very highest value from falling into neglect and oblivion. How many such inventions have been so lost to the world, at least for a time, it were vain to inquire ; that they have been many will be readily acknowledged, when it is considered how seldom are seen combined in the same person, the faculty of invention, with the more active, and, perhaps, more diffi- cult quality of perseverance under repeated difficulties and disappointments. The man of common-place endowments will combat steadily and successfully against the tyranny of circumstances, while the aspiring efforts of genius are chain- ed down by the hands of ignorance and prejudice. It were, perhaps, wrong to cast this censure upon society, unqualified by the further remark, that inventors are frequently found too far in advance of the age in which they live. The in- vention of Dr. Cartwright itself affords evidence of this fact. Power-looms could not have been extensively employed at the period of their inception, when the supply of cotton wool did not amount to one tenth part of the quantity which now passes annually through the hands of our manufacturers. Even had the supply of the raw material been increased pro- portionally with the means for its conversion, the quantity of fabrics which power-weaving has been found adequate to produce would have far outstripped the then existing wants of mankind. At the end of three years from its first conception, Dr. Cartwright, having, as we have seen, secured to himself the benefit of his invention by patent, erected a weaving mill at Doncaster, and furnished it with looms wherewith to prose- cute the business of v/eaving. These machines were evi- dently found to be incomplete and insufficient for the purpose, as the reverend doctor procured grants of three other patents successively for improvements upon his first invention ; the last of these patents being dated the 13th of November, 1788, as appears from the report of a committee of the house of commons, to whom the doctor's various patents were pro- duced ; and not on the 1st of August in the preceding year, as erroneously stated in the foregoing letter ; this last being the date of the third patent granted to Dr. Cartwright for this object. In the many alterations rendered necessary by these im- provements, and in the disbursements indispensably attendant upon the establishment of so important a concern, Dr. Cart- wright expended a sum of money equal to between 30,000/. and 40,000?. ! and was compelled to abandon his manufactory. Subsequent to this, in the year 1791, Messrs. Robert Grim- CHAP. V. POWER- WEAVING. 219 shaw and Sons, of Manchester, erected a weaving factory calculated to contain 400 power-looms, and entered into an agreement with Dr. Cartwright for a license to use his patent. But this establishment was from the first viewed with ex- treme jealousy on the part of the operative weavers, who feared lest the employment of machinery for effecting the object of their labors should deprive them of the means of subsistence. Threats were held out by anonymous letters, with a view of deterring the parties from proceeding with their factory; and no sooner had Messrs. Grimshaws erected and set to work twelve looms under their agreement, than the building and machinery were wilfully destroyed by fire ; and such menaces continued to be used by the weavers as at that time effectually restrained these gentlemen and all other manufacturers from further prosecuting the invention. Dr. Cartwright's plans accordingly slept until the expira- tion of his patents destroyed all hope of his deriving any advantage under them. In the year 1808, backed by a re- commendatory memorial signed by almost all the principal manufacturers of Manchester and its neighborhood, he pre- sented a petition to the house of commons, to consider which a committee was appointed ; and upon the evidence reported by this committee, the house proceeded to vote to Dr. Cart- wright the sum of 10,000/. as some compensation for his out- lay and disappointment. In the year 1798, Mr. Monteith, of Pollockshaws, near Glasgow, erected the first power-loom that was applied to the weaving of cotton fabrics. For a long time after this, it was held and believed that the texture of silk, from its extreme delicacy, called for such incessant watchfulness on the part of the weaver, that his eye and hand w T ere constantly re- quired to detect and to remedy defects, which, though trifling and not likely to be observed in the combination of coarser goods, would greatly impair the beauty and lessen the value of silken fabrics. This opinion, although doubtless true to a material extent, has, however, been proved to be not wholly so, since pow T er-looms to a considerable number have been constructed and successfully employed for the production of both broad silks and ribands. It is, therefore, necessary to give some description of the mechanical arrangements where- by, in this as in so many other branches of human industry, the ingenuity of man has subdued even the elements to his power, and has rendered the viewless wind, the impetuous stream, and the raging fire, vassals of his will. The power-loom erected for Mr. Monteith was constructed 220 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART III. by Mr. Austin, of Glasgow, who has placed a model of his machine in the repository of the Society for the Encourage- ment of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce in London. A square iron axis, which extends through the entire length of the bed of the machine, is actuated by a cog-wheel, which is connected by means of a pinion with a fly-wheel, which gives motion to the various parts of the loom ; the power being ap- plied to the shaft of the fly-wheel by some one of the well- known methods of communication. The axis is provided with several camms, or wheels of eccentric form, which are fixed securely upon it : these, as they revolve, serve, 1. To depress the treadles, and consequently to separate the warp into different portions, as in the ordinary loom is ef- fected by the weaver's foot 2. To throw the shuttle to and fro through the shed thus created. 3. To strike the lay or batten against the shoot, and to return it to its proper position : and, 4. To wind the woven cloth upon the cloth-roll as fast as it is formed. The warp is fixed in this loom precisely in the same man- ner as has been already detailed in the description of the hand-loom. The same may be said of the mounting of the heddles or harness, and of the provision for insuring that al- ternating motion whereby the depression of the one causes the raising of the other heddle. The camms on the axis, which take the office of the weaver's feet in working the treadles, are both exactly similar in form to each other, but their relative position on the axis is so arranged that they are brought into operation at opposite periods of its revolution. But the exact situation and the mode of working both will be at once apparent, if we imagine the revolution of the axis to carry with it one camra ; this, from its irregular shape, strikes, at the exact period of the revolution that is proper, upon the treadle, and keeps it depressed until a change in the position of the warp is required, when the other camra answering to it is, by the continued rotation of the axis, brought into action, and the treadle first depressed is, at the same moment, freed from the pressure of the first mentioned camm, and thus the reciprocating action of the treadles is kept up con- tinually, so long as the axis continues to revolve. Each en- tire revolution of the axis will, therefore, occasion two sepa- rations of the warp by the alternate action of the two treadles. The second motion, that of throwing the shuttle, is per- CHAP. V. POWER- WEAVING 221 formed by two other camms, which are likewise reversed to each other in their position on the axis, so as to bring" eacli one into operation at the moment the other is set free. As the shuttle requires to be thrown across the warp with some velocity, and with a sudden or jerking motion, these camms are so shaped as to cause each to strike abruptly upon a lever, and to hold it depressed during a certain portion of the revolution of the axis; quitting it again as suddenly when the corresponding camm is brought to act upon a correspond- ing lever for the return stroke of the shuttle. When, by the revolution of one camm, the lever beneath it is depressed, this lever is made to strike with increased velocity upon a shorter lever, which in its descent carries with it a strap; and this, again, acts upon the segment of a wheel connected with it. This wheel has fastened to it a long stem of whalebone, which is made to snatch the string of the driver, and to impel the latter with the requisite velocity against the shuttle ; so that it will be driven out of the trough across the shuttle- race, into the opposite trough, pushing back the driver therein to a position proper for the performance of the return stroke. By this time, the rotation of the main axis has caused the necessary change in the position of the warp threads, the second camm is brought into action, depresses its lever, which again strikes upon the shorter lever ; and this, by acting in a reverse direction upon the segment of the wheel, and conse- quently upon the whalebone stem, causes this latter to snatch the string of the driver, and by its means drives the shuttle back across the shuttle-race into the trough. The third motion, that of striking the lay against the shoot, and returning it to a position proper for again passing the shuttle, is thus performed: — The shuttle-race, reed, whalebone stem, and its segment of a wheel, all form part of the batten frame, which is made to vibrate to and fro on hinges placed at its lower extremities. This frame is drawn backwards by straps, which are rolled upon pulleys, fixed upon a small axis. Upon this same axis are fixed two other smaller pulleys, upon which other straps are rolled to connect With two long levers, which are moved during the revolutions of the main axis by two camms arranged for this purpose. These long levers are centred between the short posts of the frame under the shuttle-race. To bring forward the batten and reed, so as to beat up the shoot, two large weights like one of which is placed at each side of the loom, are suspend- ed by straps from pulleys on a horizontal axis which carries two wheels, one at each side of the loom, On these wheels T2 222 SILK MANUFACTURE^ PART III. dther straps are wound, which communicate with the frame of the batten, to draw it forward. These weights would not, of themselves, act with sufficient promptness in drawing for- ward the reed when the loom was working very quickly, and the time required to overcome the momentum which they re- ceive by the backward motion of the batten would derange the regularity of the machine. To overcome, therefore, this momentum, spiral springs are connected between the bottom part of the weights and long levers, which are pressed down at the proper intervals by the camms; these levers being brought into action before the return of the long levers per- mits the drawing forward of the batten. The springs are distended ; the momentum of the weights is overcome ; and they are ready to act instantaneously, by their own gravity, assisted by the energy of the spiral springs. Thus the de- pression of the long levers by the camms will draw back the batten from the shoot twice during the entire revolution of the main axis ; and the gravitation of the weights, assisted by the springs, must bring it forward during every interval. The third motion is then completed. The fourth motion is that of winding the woven cloth, as it is finished, upon the cloth-roll, which action is thus effected : — At the extreme end of the main axis is fixed a crank, or, an eccentric wheel performing the office of a crank ; by the rotations of this, a small rod moves up and down, and turns round a small ratchet wheel to the extent of one tooth during each revolution. The return of this ratchet is prevented by the falling of a click into the teeth. On the axis of the ratchet wheel is an endless screw, which, engaging the teeth of a cog-wheel fixed upon the extremity of the cloth-roll, gives to the latter a slow motion, whereby the cloth is wound upon it with due regularity. The remaining parts of this very ingenious piece of mechanism are so similar both in their form and office to like parts in the hand-loom which have been explained, that par- ticularly to notice them here would be unnecessarily to load a description which will already, perhaps, be thought suffi- ciently complex. There have been various modifications of the power-loom, and several contrivances have, at various times, been proposed with the view of rendering it more simple or efficacious. Some of these inventions have been the objects of patents ; but, so far at least as principle is concerned, there appears to be no very important variation among them, and it would be cnAP. POWER- WE A V I XG . 223 of little advantage to enter upon the examination of every trifling difference of construction. Power-looms which are to be worked by hand, have, on more than one occasion during the last few years, been offer- ed for the adoption of the silk-weaver. In all these machines, the various movements of the treadles, shuttle, and batten, are effected in their regular progressions by the combination of levers and springs in connexion with cranks or wheels. It is clear that the loom just described, and of which a drawing has been given, is capable of being actuated by manual labor; and it must be equally evident that steam might be employed as the motive force, if it were desired to employ any considerable number of hand-power-looms in the same building. The argument is, therefore, fallacious, whereby it is sought to recommend these latter inventions to the prejudices of operative weavers, by representing the looms as being more in accordance with the interests of the work- men. There is, in fact, no difference in the principle upon which both descriptions are constructed and put to action. Perhaps the most ingenious of these machines which has yet been invented, is one which has lately been made the subject of a patent by Mr. Saddler, of Paddington. It would be improper to describe the mechanical arrangements of this production with minuteness, as all the formalities connected with the specification of the patents are not yet completed. The inventor proposes to construct double or quadruple looms, which, while the working parts of each are complete in themselves, are yet so connected together by a strong cast- iron framing, and working shafts, that the moving parts of each of the two or four looms will be simultaneously and similarly set in motion by the oscillations of a pendulum, which is to be swung to and fro by the hand. In this man- ner, it is said, on the authority of a weaver who has made the attempt, that without any extra exertion, one yard of silk fabric of a medium quality may be woven in each loom in an hour ; so that a workman, during the ordinary duration of his daily labor, may, with one of the double looms, weave twenty-four yards of silk ; a result which, if it can be practi- cally realized, would at once relieve the manufacturer from all apprehensions connected with the introduction of French manufactured goods, as it would render the comparative cost of production nearly as much in favor of the English manu- facturers as it is now against them. If more than two looms are thus worked in connexion together, the weaver would require an assistant in accomplishing his labors. 224 STLK MANUFACTURE. PART III. It is by no means certain that this greater facility of pro- duction would prove to the present advantage of the laboring weavers ;• on the contrary, in proportion as the labor can be simplified, a lower or less instructed class of persons will be employed, for it cannot require the previous preparation of a lengthened apprenticeship to qualify a man for the task of swinging a pendulum. Then, too, the increased quantity of manufactured goods that would be produced by each laborer, would, for a time at least, occasion the employment of a fewer number of weavers ; and although the lessened cost of pro- duction would, doubtless, induce the consumption of a larger quantity of goods, and thus augment the demand for labor, a considerable time would be required for the proper adjust- ment of this matter, and in the meanwhile the alteration would bear hardly upon the present race of weavers. Mr. Saddler's loom is a substantial machine, constructed almost wholly of cast-iron, and by no means inelegant in its form : it occupies, besides, but a small space. However much it might be calculated to abridge the labor or add to the earnings of the weavers, still it is to be feared that there are but few among them who could compass its purchase, and thus avail themselves of its benefit. One cause which weighs materially against the use of power-looms in silk weaving is, that they do not, as is the case in the manufacture of goods from coarser materials, save any great proportion of labor. In weaving linen or cot- ton fabrics, one man may be competent to afford the needful de- gree of attention to several power-looms at the same moment ; but this is not the case with silk, which, from its delicacy of texture, is continually giving way and requiring repair in some part or other. Then, too, an important amount of time and labor must be expended in removing all roughnesses and inequalities in the warp threads, or, as the weavers call it, in picking the porry, during which the actual weaving must be suspended. The trifling saving in the amount of labor which can thus be realized from the use of any mechanical appa- ratus, ceases to be an object of much importance, where the value of the raw material forms the principal item of cost in the manufactured articles ; and it thence becomes very doubtful whether the use of power-looms, however they may be modified, is susceptible of much extension in any save the commonest branches of the silk manufacture. CHAP. VI. VELVET WEAVING. 225 CHAP. VI. VELVET WEAVING. Its first introduction into England. — Chinese Velvets. — Structure of Vel- vet. — Process of weaving it. — Improvement therein. — Figured Velvet. — German Velvet. Velvet must be classed among the richest of silken fabrics. Although, compared with the date when the more simple silken structures were first known, this elegant manufacture must be considered as of modern invention, it has, neverthe- less, been made and used in Europe for several centuries. Its production was, for a long time, confined to Italy, where, par- ticularly in Florence, Milan, Venice, Lucca, and Genoa, it was carrried on to a great extent, and with a considerable degree of perfection. When, however, the French manufac- turers took up this branch of silk weaving, they speedily ex- celled their instructors ; and it was from the refugees of that nation, when forced to abjure their country by the revocation of the edict of Nantes in the year 1685, that the art of weav- ing velvet became known, and was domesticated in Spital- fields, where it has since continued, and has been followed with success. The same cause having driven another portion of the French Protestants to Holland, occasioned equally in that country the knowledge and prosecution of this process. At Haerlem, especially, a very considerable establishment was made with this object ; but its productions were never brought successfully to rival the beauty of French velvets, which con- tinued for a long time to command a greater price in foreign markets than those of any other country. The Chinese likewise manufacture velvets ; but, if we are to judge from the specimens which have been imported into Europe, their success in this branch has been but very mod- erate, the quality of Chinese velvet being far inferior to even the most indifferent of European production. This very beautiful fabric may be said to have a compound texture. In addition to the warp and shoot, of which the substance of plain goods is formed, velvet has a soft shag or pile, occasioned by the insertion of short pieces of silk thread doubled under the shoot, and which stand upright on its upper surface, in such a multitude, and so crowded together, as entirely to conceal the interlacings of the warp and shoot. It is this pile which. gives to velvet its characteristic a^y>« 226 SILK MANUFACTURE. PAHT III. ance, as well as that remarkable softness to the touch, which distinguish it from all other manufactured substances, and which, while it would be difficult to explain them in any intelligible terms, have themselves served for describing other bodies which present appearances or qualities some- what similar to the sight and feeling. The beauty of velvet results, in a great degree, from the uniform evenness of its pile ; and this, of course, depends upon the perfect equality in length of the threads whereof it is composed. All inequalities of this kind are rendered at once apparent to the eye, detracting materially from the ele- gance and value of the goods ; and this circumstance calls for more than the ordinary degree of carefulness on the part of the weaver. The pile, or, as it is technically but corruptly called by the weaver, the pole, is, of course, inserted during the ope- ration of weaving the warp and shoot ; and its insertion is thus effected : — The loom being prepared, or mounted, as for the weaving of plain silk, another set of threads is provided, to run in the same direction with the threads of the warp. The two sets of threads are kept effectually disengaged from each other, by causing those which are to form the pile to rise diagonally from the breast-roll, through the whole extent of the porry, that is, through the space between the breast-roll and the yarn-roll of the loom. Over the last of these is placed another roll ; and with this the threads of the pile are connected, in the same manner as are the threads of the warp with the yarn-roll, and the delivery of the pile threads from this roller is governed similarly to the delivery of the warp threads, by means of a regulating weight. There is an absolute neces- sity for keeping the warp and pile distinct and independent of each other, which will be very evident, if it is con- sidered that the lineal quantity of the latter which goes to the production of a given measure of velvet must be very greatly more than that of the warp threads. In point of fact, with every yard of velvet that is produced, six yards of the pile are required to be used. Fig. 26. The above diagram exhibits the structure of velvet, and the mode of combining the threads of the shoot with the pile. CHAP. VI. VELVET WEAVING. 227 The texture is shown as if loosened, for the purpose of dis- playing the various parts with greater distinctness, a a are the warp threads, and the dots or small circles which occur in the loops representing the woven part, are sections of the threads that form the shoot; b shows the pile threads, which meet the threads of the warp in the angle c. Into this angle the w 7 eaver inserts a brass wire, so that it occupies a position through the whole breadth of the goods, below the pile threads and above all the threads of the warp; w r hen the treadles being put into action, and the alternate threads of the warp raised, the shuttle is thrown, passing over the pile threads and the depressed half of the warp; the batten is then struck up against the shoot, thus accomplishing the re- quisite interlacing of the warp and shoot, and forming a loop of the pile thread over the wire. This wire is peculiarly formed, having one of its sides flattened, and a groove cut through its entire length, the form and situation of which are shown by the following section. j^. 9 „ The shuttle is thrown three times between each *f h insertion of the wire : the first shoot is of coarser thread than that which is used for the other two / - — ■ shoots, and, when struck up by the batten, causes the wire to take its proper position w T ith the flattened side down, and its sharper edge towards the cloth-roll, d d show the loops thus formed. By running a sharp instrument called a trevat along the groove of the wire, these loops are then divided in the manner described at e e, and the whole opera- tion of velvet weaving has been effected. It is necessary to use two wires, so that one may always remain in the cloth when the hinder one is cut out, otherwise the pile threads in the porry would be set at liberty, and the w 7 hole operation deranged ; but by keeping one wire always inserted and se- cured in its place by three threads of shoot, the pile is suffi- ciently connected with the texture to prevent such an acci- dent. The liberated wire is now again inserted ; and when in its turn this has been secured by three casts of the shoot, the other wire is cut out, and so on alternately. The richest velvets were formerly woven with thirty-eight loops, caused by as many insertions of the wires, in every inch ; but this branch of silk manufacture, encouraged by the greatly in- creased demand, and participating in the general improve- ment now experienced, as many as fifty-five insertions of the wires are made in the small space just mentioned. The circumstance above mentioned, of the employment of threads of different degrees of fineness to compose the shoot. 228 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART III. renders it, of course, necessary to use two shuttles, which must be exchanged for each other at constantly recurring but unequal intervals. It has indeed been shown, that the weaver of velvet requires to exercise an unintermitting care- fulness in the succession of operations which he has to con- duct. The use of the trevat in cutting the pile calls for a certain amount of skilful ness or sleight of hand, only to be fully acquired through care and after long practice, while the minutest deviation from the proper line in performing this part of the process would infallibly injure, if even it did not destroy, the goods ; and the movements to be made through- out the entire operation are, as has been shown, so numerous, and require such constant changing of the hand from one ac- tion to another, that the weaver is greatly and unavoidably retarded in his progress. It is considered to amount to a very good day's work, when as much as one yard of plain velvet has been woven. For this the workman is usually paid five times the price charged for weaving gros-de-naples. The warp and pile of velvet are both composed of organ- zine silk, and it is evident that its richness depends upon the relative number of its pile threads ; the manufacturers are accordingly accustomed to designate velvets of different degrees of richness, as velvet of two, four, or six threads, according to the number of pile threads which are inserted between each of the dents of the reed. An inferior description of velvet has of late years been composed of cotton. One of the principal uses to which this is applied, is that of ornamenting articles of household furniture, such as window hangings, which are not exposed to close inspection, or subjected to much wear, the difference of quality between it and silk velvet being immediately dis- cernible. Velvet is sometimes woven with stripes which run in the direction of the shoot, and which are produced, at regular intervals, by leaving uncut such a number of loops of the pile as are sufficient to make up the breadth of the intended stripe. The wire employed for forming these uncut loops is unlike that described, being of a simple cylindrical form : the appearance of velvet thus woven is rich and pleasing. It has been already said that velvets should be manufac- tured throughout, warp, shoot, and pile, of soft organzined silk. This condition is not, however, always adhered to by foreign weavers of velvet ; and, in particular, some goods have been brought to this country from Germany, the pile of which is composed of what is called souplc, which is silk CHAP. VII. GAUZE WEAVING. 229 dyed in the gum. By the employment of this article, which contains an admixture of foreign matter, a less quantity of silk is made to suffice in forming the pile ; but it is evident that the apparent richness will soon disappear, and the real inferiority of quality attendant upon this procedure will mani- fest itself to the wearer after only a very short acquaintance with his purchase. CHAP. VII. GAUZE WEAVING. Its Origin. — Structure. — Peculiarity of Arrangements in Weaving it. — Mode of putting these in Action. — Difficulty of the Process. — Superiority of the French in Gauze Weaving. — Accounted for. Gauze is a very light and transparent fabric. The ety- mology of its name has caused it to be conjectured that we are indebted for its invention to Gaza, a city of Palestine, on the frontiers of Egypt, which, although now of only small extent, was formerly a place of considerable magnitude and celebrity. The manufacture of silk gauzes was, some years ago, very extensively prosecuted in the district of Spitalfields, but has of late been almost wholly discontinued in that quar- ter, and is principally transplanted to Paisley, near Glasgow, and the neighboring villages in the counties of Lanark and Renfrew. The particular arrangements used in the production of this tasteful fabric are known among the craft under the title of cross- weaving. In all the species of interlacings hitherto described, whatever the order of succession wherein the warp threads may be alternately raised and depressed, they always remain parallel to each other, and without twisting or cross- ing ; whereas it is the essential character of gauze, that be- tween each cast of the shuttle such a crossing of the warp threads shall ensue, as while it admits of each shoot being in its turn struck up by the batten with the degree of force ne- cessarily required to impart to it stability and regularity, yet prevents its being carried thereby into absolute contact with the shoot immediately preceding ; the intervals thus left be- tween the interlacings causing that degree of transparency, which, without these crossings, could only result from a looseness of texture altogether incompatible with beauty and utility. In the following diagram, the unshaded cross lines must 230 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART III. be taken to represent the shoot, while the twisted lines, whereby they are intersected and embraced, are descriptive of the warp threads. It is evident that the twisting thus given must effectually prevent the too close approximating of the successive shoots, without being in any respect incom- patible with the needful regularity of their positions, or with a due degree of stability. The diagram is necessarily drawn upon an exaggerated scale, in order to render the peculiarity of the fabric at once apparent upon inspection. Fig. 28. To produce the appearance here given, it is not necessary that the adjoining warp threads should be actually crossed at each casting of the shuttle, as the return of the threads from the crossed to the parallel state will have the same effect as giving a reversed crossing. The twistings are made al- ternately to the right and the left hand ; and each twist, as it is produced, is kept by the striking up of the shoot with the batten. It would not be possible, within the necessary limits, and without having recourse to numerous drawings, to commu- nicate with sufficient clearness all the minutiae of arrange- ment upon which gauze weaving is made to depend. It will, perhaps, suffice to impart a general idea of the principle upon which it is conducted. The mounting of a gauze-loom consists of four heddles, or leaves of heddles, and of two half leaves. In order to produce the twist in forming the shed, the warp threads do not rise and sink alternately, or at regular intervals, as in plain weav- ing or in twilling, one thread being always raised, and the other thread as constantly depressed. The raised thread is drawn through the third leaf of heddles, and as it always rises, is not taken through the loop of the heddle or the mail, but above it, through what the weavers usually call the upper doup. The other thread is drawn through the fourth leaf of heddles, and because it always sinks, is drawn through its under doup. One of the two half leaves is hung from above, , CHAP. VIII. BROCADE, DAMASK, ETC. 231 and the other is attached below. That from above passes through the lower doup of one standard ; and the other half leaf, which is attached below, passes through the upper doup of the second standard. The raised warp thread is drawn through the under half leaf connected with its standard, and the other thread passes through the upper half leaf connect- ed with its standard. The alternate crossings of the warp threads are occasioned by the action of the half leaves. The heddles and standards are moved by two treadles, the depression of which in this mode of weaving calls for more than the ordinary amount of exertion ; especially when the weather is damp, the labor is so much increased that the weaver can make only slow progress with his work. Another evil attending this kind of weaving is, that the increased friction to which the silk threads are subjected occasions them very frequently to break — much more frequently than in any other kind of weaving — and the arrangements render their repair a much more troublesome operation. To remedy this, it was usual formerly to pass the warp threads through the eyes of glass beads; but this was a troublesome and tedious process, and, joined to the difficulty of properly con- fining the beads, has induced the weavers to discontinue their employment. Gauze is one of the very few articles of silk manufacture in which it is held that the French weavers still bear away the palm from ours ; a fact which is, doubtless, referrible to the lower rate of wages paid on the other side of the Chan- nel. The weight of silk contained in a yard of gauze is very trifling; and the value of the material bears a much smaller proportion to that of the labor consumed in its con- version, than is borne by weightier fabrics. CHAP. VIII. BROCADE, DAMASK, ETC. Gold and Silver Brocade.— Metallic Threads.— Gilt and Silvered Paper. — Damasquitte. — Machinery employed in its Production. — Method of re- storing Tarnished Brocade.— Silk Brocade. — Damask. — Its Manufacture brought to England. — Mode of Manufacture.— Cafard Damask. — Persian. — Sarsnet. — Gros-de -Naples. — Du Cape. — Satin. — Crape. — Levantine.— Gros-des-Indes. — Watering. — Embossing, Mixed Goods. — Bombazins. — Poplins.— Lustres.— Shawls. The highly ornamented and rich brocades in which our great-grandmothers used to find such delight have now en- 232 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART III. tirely disappeared from use, and, indeed, scarcely exist for us, except in the verses of our poets or the essays of satirists of those days. It would be useless, therefore, to attempt giving a description of the mode of manufacturing articles so appa- rently consigned to oblivion, if it were not for the probability that, in some of the ceaseless mutations of fashion, these sumptuous fabrics may yet once again lay claim to admiration in our drawing-rooms, to the exclusion of the less substantial and less gaudy finery with which the fickle leaders of public taste are now satisfied. In ancient times, those cloths only were called brocades which were woven, both in the warp and shoot, with gold or silver threads, or with a mixture or combination of both these materials. In preparing the threads for manufacturing gold brocade, a flattened silver-gilt wire or riband was spun on silk that had been dyed, to resemble as nearly as possible the color of the metal ; and the principal excellence in the art of preparing gold threads consisted in so regulating the con- volutions of the metallic covering of the silk, as that its edges should exactly touch, and form, as it were, one con- tinued casing, without either interval or overlapping. At the time when the weaving of these golden tissues was encouraged by public taste, the manufacture of the threads, whence they were produced, had arrived at a high degree of excellence. At Milan there was a considerable manufactory, in which, by a secret process, flatted wire was made, having only one side covered with gilding. Threads of an inferior description were also made, chiefly at Nuremberg, by spin- ning gilt copper wire upon threads of either flax or hemp ; and the Chinese, still more economical, used slips of gilt paper, which they twisted upon silk, and sometimes even in- troduced into their stuffs, without thus giving to the paper any fibrous support. But these productions could have boast- ed, at best, only an evanescent beauty ; and, accordingly, we learn from Du Halde, the historian of China, that golden tissues were rarely used in that country, except for tapestries, or other ornamental substances, which were but little ex- posed to view, and could be effectually protected from mois- ture. In process of time, silken threads, uncovered with metallic wires, were used to form the plain ground of brocades, upon which gold or silver flowers, or other ornaments, were raised ; and at a still later period, Sauries composed entirely of uncovered silk, provided they v?ere adorned and worked CHAP. VTII. BROCADE, DAMASK, ETC. 233 with flowers, or other ornamental figures, equally took the name of brocades. There was a very considerable and flourishing manufacture of brocades carried on during the thirteenth century in Luc- ca ; but, in the year 1310, by the insensate tyranny of Cas- truccio Castracani, as related by his biographer, the cele- brated Machiavel, the artisans thus engaged were driven from that city ; and 300 of these retired to Venice, where, encour- aged by the offer of many privileges, they recommenced their manufacture. For a considerable time after this the Venetian manufacture was carried on with the raw material brought from Sicily and the Levant; the cultivation of the mulberry tree, and the breeding of silkworms, not having been adopted to any extent in that quarter earlier than the sixteenth century. In the course of the last century, the Venetians invented a modification of brocade, and in this new manufacture, which they called "damasquitte," they at one time carried on a very extensive trade. Although these stuffs actually contained not more than half the quantity of gold or silver employed in making brocade according to the usual method, they yet looked far more beautiful. The flatted wires were not wound so close together on the silk threads, nor were there so many of these threads used in the weaving ; but by passing the stuffs, when manufactured, between rollers, to which a great amount of pressure was given, the wire threads were partially crushed, so as to cause the ornamental pattern to assume the appearance of one unbroken and brilliant plate of gold or silver. The process whereby this degree of pressure was commu- nicated was for a long time kept carefully enveloped in mys- tery by the Venetian manufacturers. The advantage derived by the state of Venice from this manufacture at length drew the attention and excited a spirit of rivalry on the part of the French government, who engaged the celebrated Monsieur Vaucanson in the endeavor to contrive machinery for pro- ducing similar fabrics. In this attempt he proved successful ; and we are indebted to the published memoirs of the French Academy for the year 1757 for an account of his success, and of the machinery employed by him in the manufacture at Lyons. The cloth was passed between rollers, the lower one of which was made of wood, thirty-two inches in length, and fourteen inches in diameter. The upper roller was of copper, thirty-six inches long, and eight in diameter ; the last was U 2 234 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART III. made hollow, and it was open at one end, for the introduction of iron heaters. Both the rollers were made, as nearly as possible, in the form of perfect cylinders. In his first at- tempts to work with these rollers, Monsieur Vaucanson found that the exerted force of ten men was barely sufficient, and that for only a short time, to turn them with force enough properly to extend the plating of the wire threads ; and, by the excessive pressure used, the collars in w 7 hich the axes of the rollers turned were worn so fast, and to such a degree, that the pressure was constantly and progressively diminish- ing, so that a piece of stuff of twelve yards had the gilding visibly less extended on the last than on the first yard, and the machine was constantly subject to disarrangement. It was attempted to lessen this evil by screwing up the rollers towards each other during the progress of the pressing ; but this was objectionable, because, for every turn that was given to the tightening screws, a mark or bar invariably appeared across the cloth. To lessen the wearing away of the bearing collars, anti-friction wheels or rollers were provided, between which the axes of the rollers were made to turn ; but this remedy produced an evil of another kind : the wooden roller, which, from the nature of its material, was susceptible of compression, had its cylindrical form so altered, that the ef- fect upon the cloth varied in every part of the revolution. It was in vain that the ingenious inventor made trial of different kinds of wood for constructing the roller : if this was hard, it invariably split, and if soft, it warped ; so that of twenty rollers formed from different kinds of wood which were tried, not one continued cylindrical during twenty-four hours' work. These failures induced M. Vaucanson to contrive a method of forcing the rollers together, so that the pressure should always accommodate itself to any inequalities that might occur in the work, or in the bearings of the machine. The axis of the copper roller was made to turn, as already men- tioned, between anti-friction rollers, while the wooden roller was pressed upwards by levers placed one at each end. Each of these levers had the end of its short arm supported on tho frame of the machine, and the long arm drawn upwards by an iron rod which communicated with the short arm of an* other lever placed horizontally, while to the long arm of this last-mentioned lever a weight was hung, and these levers were so proportioned, as that when the weight thus employed was only of thirty pounds, the rollers were pressed together with a force equal to the weight of between 17,000 and 18,000 pounds, which was found to be the force required and CHAP. VIII. BROCADE, DAMASK, ETC 235 best adapted to the due extension of the plating. By this ar- rangement, the strength of four men was found to be more effectual in turning the rollers than that of ten men had proved under the first attempted method ; and as, the same weight acted uniformly during the entire revolutions, the pressure was always equal, even although the wooden roller should have varied in its shape, and notwithstanding any in- equality that might occur in the thickness of the goods. Four iron bars brought to a red heat were introduced within-side of the copper roller, which became in half an hour nearly as hot as the utensil commonly employed by laundresses in ironing linen. After two, or at the most three pieces of cloth had been passed through the rollers, it became necessary to change the wooden one for a fresh roller of the same material, as the heat, if long continued, occa- sioned a great tendency to splitting. The degree of heat necessary for properly extending the gilding, although it im- proved the brilliancy of white and yellow silks, was highly injurious to fabrics of certain other colors, and particularly to such as were crimson or green. The only remedy for this, and indeed it did not amount to a remedy, but was only a palliative, was to pass the stuff through from between the rollers with the greatest possible celerity. M. Vaucanson recommends, that on the removal of the heated wooden rollers, they should immediately be wrapped in cloths, and placed in an atmosphere from which they may acquire mois- ture. Brocades, into the composition of which metals were ad- mitted, were very liable to become tarnished : when this had taken place, they could be restored to all their original lustre by washing them with a soft brush dipped in warm spirit of wine. This appears to be the only material suitable for the purpose: alkalis, and even soap, would be improper; the former as they would injure the texture of the silk, and both as they would hurtfully affect certain of its colors. Some descriptions of powders have been recommended for restoring the faded beauty of brocades, but however fine these may be ground, and however carefully they may be used, they must jstill, from the very mode of their operation, scratch the metal ; and this, especially with goods prepared according to the last described process, is of an extreme thinness, so as to be easily worn away, when of course the whole beauty of the fabric would be destroyed. Brocades of silk were, at the commencement of the last century, exceedingly admired and much used among the lux- 236 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART III. urious votaries of fashion of botli sexes in England. We may learn in what degree this finery was then estimated, by con- sulting the pages of Pope and Addison : the former in the second canto of his elegant and lively satire, " The Rape of the Lock ;" and the latter in the fifteenth number of the Spectator, where it is stated that, among the fashionable ladies of that period, "a furbelow of precious stones, a hat buttoned with a diamond, a brocade waistcoat or petticoat, are standing topics of conversation ; that lace and ribands, silver and gold galoons, with the like glittering gewgaws, are so many lures to women of weak minds, and when arti- ficially displayed, are able to fetch down the most airy co- quette from the wildest of her flights and rambles." Fear- ing, perhaps, lest in thus censuring his fair country-women for a foible which had usually been considered as character- istic of the sex, and not confined to any particular age or country, he might be chargeable with an unfair severity, the moralist goes on to relate how Camilla, the queen of the Volsci, after exhibiting her absence of all feminine softness by placing herself at the head of an army, that she might assist king Turnus in his war against JEneas ; and after hav- ing, with her own hand, slain numbers of the enemy, still al- lowed all the woman to reveal itself in this particular:— " She unfortunately cast her eye upon a Trojan w T ho wore an embroidered tunic, a beautiful coat of mail, with a mantle of the finest purple. 4 A golden bow hung upon his shoulder, his garment was buckled with a golden clasp, and his head covered with a helmet of *the same shining metal.' The Amazon immediately singled out this well-dressed warrior, being seized with a woman's longing for the pretty trappings he was adorned with : — totumque incauta per agmen, Fcemineo prsedee et spoliorum ardebat amore."* For some time after the use of brocades for garments had been discontinued, these substantial fabrics continued to be employed for ornamental articles of furniture ; and as late as the year 1788 some very elegant pieces were woven in Spit- alfields, to be used as chair-bottoms in Carlton House. These specimens of the art are still in existence, and prove that the discontinuance of the use of brocades must not be ascribed to any deficiency of ability on the part of our artisans, who, on that occasion, exhibited a degree of skilfulness in their * JEn. lib. xi. 781. CHAP. VUI. BROCADE, DAMASK, ETC. 237 labors fully equal to any shown by earlier and similar pro- ductions. Silk damask was formerly extensively used both for gar- ments and ornamental furniture. Applied to the latter use, this manufacture is still frequently met with in the dwellings of the opulent ; and it is probable that some of the deposi- tories of our carefal dowagers might yet be made to reveal habiliments which have been displayed at levees and draw- ing-rooms, exciting the envy and admiration of our progeni- tors. While we cannot but wonder at the taste which influenced the worshippers of fashion in the olden days to incase and conceal their figures beneath the formal folds of such unyield- ing fabrics, we do not reflect upon the probability that our most elegant costumes may, in their turn, become the objects of surprise and derision to our great-grandchildren, and that even the graceful draperies of Lawrence may in their eyes appear as formal and grotesque as are the once-admired ves- tures of Sir Peter Lely to our own. It has been supposed, and the etymology of its name would seem to favor the supposition, that this branch of the weaving art was originally brought to the westward from Damascus. It has been very long followed both in France and Italy, while its introduction to the looms of England appears to have taken place at a very early period of the annals of our silk manufacture ; and is said to have been occasioned by the flig-ht to these hospitable shores of certain Dutch and Flemish weavers from the persecutions of the duke of Alva, when, in the year 1567, he was deputed by Philip It of Spain to ex- tinguish the kindling spark of liberty in the Low Countries ; affording thus another historical evidence of the beneficial influence upon society, of circumstances which, at the time of their occurrence, appeared to be fraught with unmixed and unmitigated evil. The expensive nature of this manufacture caused it to be principally confined to the use of the high-born and wealthy of the land ; but on occasions of great ceremony people in the more middling walk of life could still display silk damask garments, which during the interval of these occasions were carefully preserved, so that they were frequently handed down from one generation to another as heir-looms of the family. Silk damask never, in fact, became of common use ; and when, a full century after the first introduction of its manufacture to this country, our celebrated Locke published 238 SILK MANUFACTURE. part in. his " Considerations on lowering the Interest and raising the Value of Money," we find that he noticed this as an article of almost unwarrantable luxury. When wrought with a great variety of colors, damask furniture had certainly a very elegant effect ; but it has not for a long time been usual to employ more than one color in damask hangings, and their elegance now consists wholly in the richness of the material, and the taste displayed in the pattern. Damask is a twilled fabric ; the appearance of its texture is familiar to all, from its identity with that of the beautiful linen table services, the manufacture of which has long been carried on to a great extent in Scotland, and more recently on a smaller scale in Ireland. The weaving of these calls into exercise all the skilfulness of the weaver in mounting his loom, to the great labor attending which is, in a great measure, owing the expensiveness of the manufacture. The designs, which are frequently very extensive, compris- ing upwards of 1200 changes for their completion, are laid off upon paper lined into very small squares, in a manner al- ready described, and this serves as a guide in mounting the loom. To present such a description as would be intelligible and satisfactory, of this art of designing and mounting in the draw-loom the elaborate patterns which are so generally met with in damask table-cloths, would require more space than can well be allotted here to an object which, as regards the particular subject of this work, is of very minor considera- tion, and which applies more importantly to the manufacture of linen than of silken fabrics. The French had long since a manufacture in imitation of the old-fashioned silk damask, which they called Cafard (counterfeit) damask : this, while it had its warp composed of silk, had the shoot of either thread, wool, or cotton, and sometimes even of hair. These stuffs were not without a considerable degree of beauty ; and a similar mixture of ma- terials is generally employed in the damask hangings which are manufactured in the present day. There are several descriptions of silk goods, or, to speak more correctly, several modifications of the same class, which are each known popularly by distinctive names, but which yet require no particular description. Thus the plainest mode of silk-weaving takes the name of Persian, sarsnet, gros-de-naples, ducapes, &c, varying only in the thickness of the fabric, or the quality of the material of which it is CHAP. VIII. BROCADE, DAMASK, ETC. 239 composed, and not at all differing in the arrangements of its interlacings. The quality first mentioned is exceedingly flimsy in its texture, and has of late nearly gone out of use, its place be- ing taken by the description next in quality, sarsnet. This, which used to form the substance of garments, is now most usually employed for lining them, giving place in its turn, as regards its former more dignified uses, to gros-de-naples. This last is made of stouter and harder thrown organzine silk, and is put together with more care and labor, containing a greater number of threads, both warp and shoot, in a given surface. Ducapes are likewise plain- wove stout silks, but of softer texture than the last. Satin is a twill of a peculiar description : the soft and lus- trous face which it exhibits is given by keeping always a very large proportion, frequently even as much as seven out of every eight threads of the warp, visible, or as it is called, floating above the shoot. Satin is always woven with the face downwards, the labor of the weaver being thereby abridged, because it is easier to raise the harness connected with one eighth, than it would be to raise seven eighths of the warp with every cast of the shuttle. It can hardly be necessary, after the particular description already given of the mode of producing twilled silks in gene- ral, to repeat any part of it here, by entering into the minutise of satin-weaving. It is plain that every peculiarity attend- ant upon this falls within the compass of the Jacquard ma- chine, by means of which figured satins of the most beauti- ful textures and patterns may be manufactured. When satins are first taken out of the loom, they exhibit a certain degree of roughness or flossiness, owing to the com- parative infrequency of the interlacings of the shoot with the warp. To remedy this, they are dressed by being rolled on heated cylinders ; which operation smooths down the face of the goods, and imparts, at the same time, that beautiful lustre which is so attractive. Satins from China are much esteemed for the quality they possess of being easily cleaned and bleached, when they re- sume all their original lustre ; but in other respects they are found to be inferior to those manufactured in Europe. Satins of the higher qualities have long been manufactured in Spit- alfields, for the supply of our eastern dependencies. 240 SILK MANUFACTURE* I>ART Ills Crape is a light and transparent article of* plain weaving 5 it is made with hard silk of the natural color, and the peculiar appearance which it is made to put on is given to it in the operations of dying and dressing after it quits the loom ; & further quantity of gum being then added to the silk, the threads are impelled, by the stiffness thus acquired, to un- wreathe the twist which had been given to them in the mill, and hence the apparent irregularity of texture assumed by crape. This may be easily proved by washing it in water hot enough to discharge the gum ; the fabric will then assume an appearance very similar to that of gauze. The warp of crape is usually composed of singles ; the shoot is frequently formed of the same material ; and sometimes, when it is wished to make it of closer texture, of two-thread tram, the two threads, by partially untwisting, then give a more crink- led and intricate appearance to the cloth. Crape, from its sombre appearance, has always been con- sidered as adapted to mourning vestments. Different manu- facturers affect a degree of mystery with regard to their peculiar modes of dressing crape, possessing or imagining thence some superiority over their rivals in the manufacture* Many of the numerous titles by which silken fabrics are known denote such minute distinctions that it would be both tedious and useless to offer any particular descriptions con- cerning tbem. Every variation in the order of succession in the harness used in weaving, or, as it is termed in the weavers' language, every different tie, produces a different pattern, which is thought deserving of a distinctive name. Most of the fabrics more generally used have already been described ; and when it has further been explained that lev- antine is a stout, close-made, and twilled silk, and that gros- des-indes is formed by using different shuttles with threads of various substances for the shoot, whereby a stripe is formed transversely to the length of the goods, there then appears 1 to be nothing more required under that head of information^ The process which is called watering silk, and which gives to its surface a peculiar and unequal wavy appearance, is ef- fected by placing together, lengthwise, one on the other, two> pieces of silk, and passing them, thus circumstanced, be- tween two cylindrical metal rollers, one of which is made hollow for the purpose of containing a heated iron in its cav~ ity. Smooth and even as the surface and texture of the woven fabric appear to our imperfect vision, it has in reality many thicknesses and as many inequalities as there are cross- CIIAI*. VIII. BROCADE, DAMASK, ETC. 241 ings of the warp and shoot. These inequalities are not brought to coincide in the two pieces of silk when they are placed together, so that such portion of the face of each as is thereby subject to severer pressure will receive a greater gloss or polish than other portions, and the wavy appearance results entirely from this unequal degree of pressure. The appearance here described is sometimes produced when it is not wished to do so, and is the result of an unequal pressure used in winding the woven silk upon the breast roll of the loom. The only means of preventing this accident is by using a proper degree of carefulness in rolling the silk. The surfaces of plain silk goods, and particularly of ribands, are sometimes embossed, so that very elegant pat- terns are produced upon them. This operation is likewise performed by passing the silk between rollers, the surfaces of which contain the pattern which it is intended to produce. In one of the cylinders the pattern is sunk, and in the other raised, so that the eminences of one coincide exactly with the cavities of the other cylinder. This process has of late been very extensively employed for ornamenting waistcoat patterns, producing a very rich and tasteful appearance ; but it can be more appropriately applied to ribands or other fab- rics which are not much exposed to friction ; the inequalities of surface are otherwise found to be unfavorable to the dura- bility of the material. In addition to the fabrics woven of silk alone, there are other goods into the composition of which this beautiful ma- terial is made partially to enter, and which, in legal phrase- ology, are denominated mixed goods. The most common of these is bombasin, which is a twilled manufacture, having its warp of silk and its shoot of worsted. The use of this article was at one time restricted to the making of mourning garments; but at a later period, no longer condemned, like the gondolas of Venice, to wear alone the sable hue of night, bombasins appeared in colors as gay and as various as the Protean wand of fashion could call forth. Their manufacture, which once employed a vast number of looms in Spitalfields, has for some time been al- most wholly confined to the city of Norwich. Bombasins are all woven gray, that is, with silk of the natural color, and they are dyed in the piece after being taken from the loom. Poplins and lustres are likewise composed partly of silk and partly of worsted, with a somewhat larger proportion of 242 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART III. the former material than enters into the composition of bom- basin : they are plain woven goods. Poplins were manufac- tured of exceedingly fine qualities in Dublin, which city had formerly a very favorable trade in them, but both these arti- cles have now nearly gone out of use. Norwich has long been celebrated for its manufacture of shawls, wherein silk forms a part in combination with either cotton or worsted: it is only of late years, however, that these manufactures have attained to the high degree of ex- cellence which now characterizes them, or that they have been brought in respect to price so completely within the reach of the more humble ranks. It is to these coinciding merits of beauty and cheapness that the shawls of Norwich owe their general introduction into foreign countries. It may indeed be said, with reference to these mixed goods gene- rally, that our country stands in every way without a rival. PART IV. PROPERTIES OF SILK. 243 PART IV. CHEMICAL, MEDICAL, AND ELECTRIC PROPERTIES OF SILK. Coloring Matter of the Cocoon — Manner of Bleaching Silk proposed by Baume— English Method of Bleaching. — 11 The Bitter Principle." — Va- rious Chemical Experiments. — Guttae Anglicans. — Silk a Protection against Malaria. — Formerly used as a Medicine. — Its Electric Properties. — How first discovered. — Various Experiments detailed. The coloring matter, which more or less tinges silk with a golden hue, resides in the gum which the silkworm pro- duces in such abundance with the filament, and which exer- cises so important an agency in facilitating all the prelimi- nary processes of its manufacture. If the cocoons be immersed in hot water, a portion of this gummy or resinous substance will be dissolved, and will im- part to the water a light amber color. If alcohol be employed as the solvent, a much larger portion of this matter will be extracted from the silk, and a tincture formed, which will retain its color even after it has been exposed to the rays of the sun for a much longer time than would suffice to bleach the silk itself. The knowledge of the fact that this coloring matter has a greater affinity for alcohol than for water led Mons. Baume to adopt the following process for bleaching silk : — A stone- ware vessel, of a nearly conical form, and capable of holding about twelve gallons, was provided, having a large opening at the top, and a smaller one, about an inch in diam- eter, at the bottom. Vessels made of common pottery-ware could not be used for the purpose, as they would speedily have been rendered unserviceable by the acid employed in the bleaching. From the same cause, the stone-ware even proved to be not very durable. All roughnesses on the inside surface of the vessel, which could have broken the threads of silk, were carefully rubbed down with pumice-stone. The small aperture at bottom was closed by a cork, through the centre of which a glass tube, of a quarter of an inch diameter, was passed, and, except at the time when it was required to draw off the liquid contents of the vessel, this tube also was kept closed by a cork. Six pounds of yellow raw silk were then disposed in the stone-ware vessel, and upon this was poured a mixture pre- viously made of forty-eight pounds of alcohol (specific gravity 0*867,) with twelve ounces of very pure muriatic acid (spe- 244 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART IV. cific gravity 1*114.) The vessel was then completely closed, and the whole was left in digestion until the liquor, which at first assumed a green color, passed to that of a dusky brown : this usually happened in the course of twenty- four hours. The acidulated spirit was then drawn off by means of the glass tube, and clean spirit of wine was poured continually over the silk, until the liquid passed off perfectly colorless. The silk was then left to drain without being otherwise disturbed. A mixture of the same quantity of spirit with muriatic acid was then again poured upon the silk, which, after being exposed to its action for a period some- what longer than the first digestion, proved to be perfectly and brilliantly white. The time required for this second ap- plication of acidulated spirit was of less or greater duration, according to the temperature, and the original quality of the silk. Baume found that the bleaching was much more readily accomplished when the cocoons had not been pre- viously baked, for the destruction of the chrysalides. The second dose of liquid was but slightly tinged when drawn off ; and if another portion of acid, equal to half the quantity originally used, were added to it, the mixture could properly be used for the first digestion of a second quantity of the raw material. A further washing of the silk then ensued, by pouring upon it forty-eight pounds of pure unacidulated spirit of wine, which was drawn oft' in the course of the following day. To recover the quantity of spirit absorbed by the silk, and which was equal to its own weight, small quantities of water were sprinkled over it from time to time, and this process was continued until the liquid, which drained off through the glass tube, had no perceptible strength. Notwithstanding these repeated washings, the silk still retained a portion of muriatic acid, which made it harsh to the touch, and if left in it, would, after a time, have injured its fibre : it was there- fore placed in a coarse woollen bag ; and this, being inclosed in a basket, was left for several hours in a stream of running water, which effectually washed out the acid. Pieces of manufactured silk, and even made-up garments, have been successfully bleached by. this process. The spirit may be recovered by saturating the mingled acid with potass, or lime, and then distilling the spirit in a copper alembic. Mons. Baume says that silk may be thus made to rival or even to surpass in whiteness and lustre the finest specimens from Nankin.* * Ure's Dictionary of Chemistry, art. Bleaching. Annates tie Chimie, tome xvii, PART IV. PROPERTIES OF SILK. 245 The revenue regulations, and the clearness of spirit, make the above process impracticable in England, where the usual method of bleaching raw silk is to immerse it in a boiling so- lution of good soap in water. After boiling for two or three hours the silk is taken out, beaten, and then rinsed in cold water ; when this has been sufficiently performed, it is slightly wrung, then put into cold soap and water, tinged with a minute portion of indigo, and again boiled. On re- moving the silk from this second water, it is wrung as dry as possible with the assistance of wooden pegs, and is then well shaken to separate the threads : after this it is suspended in a kind of stove constructed for the purpose, which contains sulphur in a state of combustion ; the fumes arising from this give the last degree of whiteness to the silk, and the process is completed. Silk is powerfully acted upon by nitric acid. If two drachms of this acid are mixed with a pint of alcohol, and silk, either raw or bleached, be immersed in it, and kept in digestion exposed to a moderate heat for twenty-four hours, the silk becomes of a dull yellowish brown, which, after it has been washed with soap, rinsed, and dried, turns to a fine golden yellow color, which is very permanent. Concen- trated nitric acid being distilled off silk, and the remaining liquor partially evaporated, oxalic acid is obtained : if the evaporation be pursued still farther, the residue will yield, together with a small portion more of oxalic acid, a quantity of yellow crystals, not in the slightest degree acid, but in- tensely bitter, and which stain the skin of a deep yellow co- lor, not easily removed. This curious substance was discov- ered by Welter, and was called by him "the bitter principle." He supposed that its production always results from the ac- tion of nitric acid on animal matter. These crystals, when examined through a magnifying glass, appear to be composed of truncated octohedrons. If the remaining liquor be previously saturated with pot- ass and evaporated, another yellow silky salt separates, which detonates on burning coals like nitre, and appears to be a triple combination of the before-mentioned bitter sub- stance with nitrate of potass. The water v/herein the cocoons are placed to prepare them for reeling, quickly acquires from them so much of the resinous matter as to be more viscid than the strongest soap lather. Chappe found that he could inflate this water into bubbles or small balloons, which were far more permanent than any formed of soap and water, and which equally ex- V2 246 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART IV. hibited the prismatic colors. The texture of these bladders was so tenacious, as to render them impervious to the most subtle gas: Chappe filled several of them, whose diameter did not exceed three inches, with hydrogen gas, and the little air balloons remained unbroken and floating in his apartment for considerably more than twenty-four hours. All cocoons are not sufficiently glutinous for this purpose; with those which are of a very deep yellow, the experiment will not succeed ; such are supposed to be produced by the worm in a peculiar state of disease, which state is yet by no means un- common. According to Westrum, silk, when acted upon by chlorine, either in the gaseous form or diluted in water, instead of being bleached, as cotton or linen would be, always becomes of a yellow color, and loses part of its solidity. The caustic alkalis corrode and dissolve silk, which gives by distillation the results usual with animal substances. Neuman found that but two materials afforded an equal quantity of volatile alkali. Tournefort observes that it con- tains more than hartshorn, as he obtained from fifteen ounces of silk two drachms of volatile salt : this, which was called the spirit of raw silk, when rectified with some essential oil, was the medicine formerly celebrated under the name of " Guttae Anglicanae," or English drops. The volatile alkali obtained from silk was then supposed to be of a diiferent na- ture from that contained in any other substance, and it con- sequently was held to possess different virtues peculiar to itself. So salt of tartar, and sub-carbonate of potass, were for a long time considered to be, and were used as two separate substances. The chemical philosopher had not then learned to generalize, and could not understand that the same sub- stance, differing in no one particular as to its nature and properties, could be obtained from many apparently wholly dissimilar bodies. Before the discoveries of chemistry had arrested the fanci- ful flights and annihilated the quaint distinctions of the drug- gist, his catalogue presented a curious nomenclature, w T hich is now acknowledged to have been founded on ignorance and prejudice. The light of science has since pierced the veil, and has revealed many of the laws of nature in all the beau- tiful simplicity of their elements; dispelling much of the complicated mystery and vague obscurity which then envel- oped the ill-understood practice of pharmacy. A silk covering of the texture of a common handkerchief is said to possess the peculiar property of resisting the nox- PART IV. PROPERTIES OF SILK. 247 ious influence and of neutralizing the effects of malaria. If, as is supposed, the poisonous matter is received into the sys- tem through the lungs, it may not be difficult to account for the action of this very simple preventive : it is well known that such is the nature of malaria poison, that it is easily de- composed by even feeble chemical agents. Now, it is proba- ble that the heated air proceeding from the lungs may form an atmosphere within the veil of silk, of power sufficient to decompose the miasma in its passage to the mouth ; although it may be equally true that the texture of the silk covering may act mechanically as a non-conductor, and prove an im- pediment to the transmission of the deleterious substance.* We learn from Pomet's history of drugs, that silk was in his time used as a medicine, by reducing the pure part of the cocoon into a powder. His volume contains many copious directions for preparing this powder, and for duly and carefully separating the chrysalis from the part which he con- sidered medicinal. Silk thus prepared has, as he affirmed, " the virtues of cleansing the blood, making the spirits brisk, and the heart pleasant." Lemery, the editor and commenta- tor of Pomet, adds, that the silkworm itself likewise possesses medicinal properties. According to his information, silk- worms that had been dried into a powder and applied upon the head, which should be previously shaved for the reception of this plaster, were esteemed extremely efficacious in curing vertigo. The imperishable nature of silk, even under circumstances peculiarly unfavorable to the preservation of animal sub- stances, forms another of its qualities which is deserving of remark. Some years ago, the sexton of the parish of Fal- kirk, in Stirlingshire, upon opening a grave in the churchyard, found a riband wrapped about the bone of an arm, and which, being washed, was found to be entire, and to have suffered no injury, although it had lain for more than eight years in the earth, and had been in contact with a body which had passed through every stage of putrefaction, until it was re- duced to its kindred dust. * The discovery that silk is an electric, or a non-conductor of electricity, originated in one of those fortunate accidents to which science has been indebted for many of her most valuable discoveries. This fact it was which first led to the * Annual Register for 1829, vol. Ixxi. 248 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART IV* beautiful disclosure of the distinction between electrics and non-electrics.* In 1729, while the knowledge of electrical phenomena was yet in its first infancy, Mr. Grey, after performing many interesting experiments, succeeded in conducting the electric fluid, excited by friction in a glass tube, through a perpendic- ular distance of many feet, by causing one end of a piece of iron wire or packthread to communicate with the glass tube, and the other end with an ivory ball. Pleased with his suc- cess, he became desirous of conducting the fluid horizontally; but this experiment failed at the time, through the mode of his attempting it, which was by carrying his line over a packthread cord, suspended for the purpose across the room. Through this material the electric stream escaped, and the ivory ball was, in consequence, no longer found to be excited. Mr. Grey having communicated to a friend the ill success which had attended this attempt, was advised to suspend the conducting line by silk instead of packthread ; there being no other reason for this advice than the greater fineness of the former. Acting upon this suggestion, their first experi- ment was made in a large matted gallery; a line, the middle part of which was of silk and the two extremities of pack- thread, was fastened across the gallery ; the conducting line with the ivory ball at the end was passed over the silken por- tion, and hung nine feet below this horizontal line of sus- pension. The conducting line was eighty feet and a half in length, one end being fastened by a loop to the electric tube ; upon rubbing this, the experimenters had the gratification of finding that the ivory ball attracted and repelled light sub- stances in the same manner as the tube itself would have done. They next contrived to return the line, so that the whole length amounted to 147 feet, and in this case likewise the experiment answered tolerably well ; but suspecting that the attraction of the electric fluid would be stronger if the, line were not doubled, they carried one straight forward through a distance of 124 feet. In this anticipation they were not deceived, the atraction under these circumstances being stronger than when the line was doubled. Proceeding thence to add more and still more to their conducting line, until at length the slender silk thread broke from the weight imposed, they sought to subtitute for this fragile cord a small wire, first of iron and then of brass. The unsuccessful re- sult, however, soon brought them to the conviction, that the * Note H IL PART IV. PROPERTIES OF SILK. 249 refusal of the silk to conduct the electric fluid was not owing to its fineness, but proceeded from some inherent property possessed by the material. The metallic wires were smaller even than their silken thread had been, and yet they effectu- ally carried off the electricity : thicker silken cords were therefore adopted, and, as before, the electric fluid was con- veyed to a great horizontal distance, without suffering any diminution of its virtue. This knowledge of the non-conducting power of silk was quickly followed by the discovery of the same quality in many other substances, and thus accidentally was laid the foundation of many of the subsequent improvements in the science of electricity. No particular attention was paid to the electric qualities of silk, nor were any experiments made on it as an electric, until the year 1759. Mr. Symmer's notice was then attract- ed to the subject by the following whimsical circumstance, which led him to the performance of many curious experi- ments. The results of these he communicated to the Royal Society, by whom his paper was inserted in the fifty-first volume of their " Transactions." Mr. Symmer was in the habit of wearing at the same time two pairs of silk stockings ; the under pair white and the upper pair black. If these were pulled off together, no sign of electricity appeared ; but if the black stockings were pulled off from the wiiite, a snapping or crackling noise was heard ; and when this happened in the dark, sparks were plainly perceived between them. Thus incited, their philo- sophic wearer proceeded to make some further observations on the subject. He found, that by merely drawing his hand several times backwards and forwards over his leg while the stockings were upon it, he produced, in great perfection, the following appearances. On the stockings being taken off separately and held within a certain distance of each other, both appeared to be highly excited, the white stocking vitreously, the black one resinously.* While kept at a small distance from each other, they were so inflated that they exhibited the entire shape of his leg ; and if brought somewhat nearer, would immediately rush together. The inflation gradually subsided as they thus approached, and their attraction of extraneous objects dimin- ished as their mutual attraction increased, so that when they * Vitreous and resinous electricity used to be termed positive and negative. 250 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART IV. actually met, they became flat and adhered together like so many folds of silk. On being again separated, their electric powers did not seem to be at all impaired, and they continued for a considerable time to afford a repetition of these appear- ances. If the two white stockings were held in one hand, and the black ones in the other, they were thrown into a strange agitation, owing to the attraction exercised between those of different colors, and the repulsion between those of the same color. This conflicting of attractions and repul- sions caused the stockings to rush to each other from greater distances than they would otherwise have done, and " afford- ed a very curious spectacle." If the stockings were allowed to meet, they adhered to- gether with considerable force. They required at one time a weight of twelve ounces for their separation ; and on an- other occasion, when they were more highly electrified, they sustained, in a direction parallel to their surface, as much as seventeen ounces, which was twenty times the weight of the stockings. If one were placed within the other, it required a weight equal to twenty ounces to separate them, although half this sufficed for the purpose if the stockings were ap- plied to each other externally. The black stockings being newly dyed, and the white ones first washed and then bleached by exposure to the vapor of sulphur, their mutual attraction was seen to be much in- creased. Under these circumstances, if one was placed within the other with their rough sides together, it required a force of three pounds three ounces to separate them. With stockings of more substantial make, the cohesion was found to be still stronger. A white stocking of this de- scription was placed within a black one of similar quality ; first with the right side of one contiguous to the wrong side of the other, and afterwards with the two rough surfaces touching each other : in the first case they raised nearly nine pounds, and in the second, the still more surprising weight of fifteen pounds, without separating their surfaces. The tufts and ends of silk which are generally found on the in- side of stockings considerably assisted towards the result of these experiments, which were not nearly so striking after these tufts were removed. In the course of his experiments, Mr. Symmer also discov- ered that black and white silk, when highly electrified, not only cohere to each other, but will also adhere to any broad and to any polished surfaces, even although these bodies should not be themselves electrified. Having undesignedly PART IV. PROPERTIES OF SILK. 251 thrown a stocking out of his hand, it struck against the side of the apartment, and adhered to the paper-hangings. He repeated the experiment, and found that the stocking would continue its adhesion for nearly an hour. Placing a black and a white stocking against the wall in this manner, he ap- plied the two others to them, which had previously been highly electrified ; and putting the white to the black and the black to the white, he carried them off from the wall, each of them hanging to that which had drawn it from its situation. When the stockings were applied to the smooth surface of a looking-glass, they adhered even more tena- ciously. Similar experiments, combining a greater variety of cir- cumstances, were afterwards made with white and black ribands by Mr. Cigna of Turin, an account of which was published in the memoirs of the Academy of that city for the year 1765. Having dried before the fire two white silk ribands, and extended them upon a smooth plane, he then several times drew over them the sharp edge of an ivory rule, and found that both ribands had by this friction acquired sufficient elec- tricity to adhere to the plane, although they gave no indica- tions of being in this state of excitement during their con- tinuance upon it. It was not at all material to the success of the experiment, whether this plane was itself an electric or non-electric substance. When taken up separately, the ribands both appeared to be resinously electrified, and repell- ed each other : on dividing them, electric sparks were per- ceived between them, but on being again forced together or placed on the plane, no sparks were given off until they had been again excited by friction. When by means of the ivory rule they had thus acquired the resinous electricity, if, in- stead of being replaced on the smooth body whereon they had been rubbed, the ribands were applied to a rough con- ducting surface, they would on their subsequent separation show contrary states of electricity, which would again disap- pear on their being brought together. If after having been made by friction to repel each other, they were forced to- gether upon such a rough surface, they would in a few minutes be mutually attracted, the under one being vitreously and the upper riband resinously electrified. If the two ribands were subjected to friction upon a rough surface, they uniformly acquired contrary states of electri- city, the upper being resinously and the lower one vitreously affected, in whatever manner they might be taken off. The 252 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART IV, same change was instantaneously produced by the use of any pointed conductor. If, for instance, the two ribands having been made to repel each other, the point of a needle were drawn along the whole length of one, it would cause both instantly to rush together. The same means employed to effect a change of electricity in a riband already electrified, would communicate electricity to the other, which had not yet received the excitement. An unelectrified riband would become electrified if placed upon a rough surface and an electrified riband were put upon it, or if the one were held parallel to the other and a pointed conductor were presented. Upon a smooth surface, Mr. Cigna placed a riband that was not quite dry, and applied over it another that had been well dried before the fire, when, after applying to them the usual friction with the ivory rule, he found that, in whatever man- ner they were removed from the surface, the upper one was always resinously and the lower one vitreously electrified. Exactly the same results were produced if the ribands em- ployed were black instead of white. If any kind of skin, or if a piece of smooth glass, were used in place of the ivory rule, the effect was exactly the same ; but if a roll of sul- phur were substituted, the ribands then uniformly acquired the vitreously electric state : when rubbed with paper, either gilt or not gilt, the effects were uncertain. If the ribands were placed between folds of paper on a plane surface, and friction were then applied to them, both ribands acquired the resinous electricity. When one riband was black, and the other white, the black generally acquired the resinous and the white the vitreous state, whatever might have been their relative position, or the manner of applying friction. Mr. Cigna likewise observed, that when the texture of the upper piece of silk was loose, yielding, or retiform, like that of a stocking, so that its elasticity caused it to move up and down with the corresponding movements of the rubber against the surface of the lower riband ; and if the rubber employed were of such a nature as to communicate but little electricity to glass, the excitement did not depend upon the action of the rubber, but upon the body whereon it was placed. In such a case, the black silk was always resinously and the white vitreously affected. But if the riband was of a close unyielding texture, anu 1 the nature of the rubber such as would communicate a high degree of electricity to glass, then the excitement of the upper piece depended altogether upon the rubber. Thus, if a white silk stocking were rub- bed with gilt paper upon glass, it became resinously and the PART IV. PROPERTIES OF SILK. 253 glass vitreously electrified ; but if the piece of silk thus placed upon the plate of glass were of a firmer texture, it was always electrified vitreously and the glass resinously, when sulphur was employed as the rubber; and most gen- erally the same effect followed the use of gilt paper. If an electrified riband were brought near to an insulated plate of lead, it would be very feebly attracted. If then a finger were brought nigh to the lead, a spark might be ob- served to pass, and the riband was powerfully attracted, but showed no further sign of electric excitement after coming in contact with the metal. On their separation, however, both substances appeared again electrified, and a spark passed between the plate and the finger. If several ribands of the same color were placed on each other upon a smooth conducting surface, and rubbed with a ruler, each, on being taken singly up, gave out sparks at its point of separation from the others ; and on the removal of the last riband, a spark would equally pass between it and the couductor. If all were drawn from the plate together, they cohered in one mass, which was resinously electrified on both sides. If after this they were laid together on a rough conductor, and then separated singly, beginning with that which had been at bottom and next to the smooth conductor, sparks appeared as before, and all the ribands, with the ex- ception of that at the top, were electrified vitreously. If friction were applied to them upon the rough conductor, and all were taken up without separation, the intermediate ribands acquired the electric state of either the highest or lowest, according as the separation was begun with either the one or the other. When two ribands were removed together from the rest, they clung to each other, and exhibited none of those indications of excitement which one, if taken alone, would have shown. When these two were separated, that which had been the outer one was found to have acquired electricity of an opposite nature to that of the remaining un- divided ribands, but in a much weaker degree. Several ribands were placed upon a metallic plate, which was charged with electricity by means of a glass globe and a pointed conductor held to the side opposite to the ribands. The effect of this was, that all of these became electrified ; but whether the state of their excitement was like to or dif- fering from that of the plate, depended altogether on the manner of their removal, except that the riband which was most remote always exhibited the opposite state of electricity to that of the metallic plate. 254 SILK MANUFACTURE. PART IV. Numerous other experiments, equally simple and easy of accomplishment, may be made on the electric properties of silk, which are, no doubt, familiar to such persons as have at all attended to the science of electricity. Silk, more re- markably than any other substance, exhibits a strong and per- manent attractive and repulsive electric power. Its property of exciting electricity by friction is of extensive application, causing it to hold an important place among the substances employed to exhibit the wonders of this science : silk always forms part of the apparatus of electrifying machines. No attempt has been here made to bring forward any thing new, or that has not been long well known upon the subject ; but as many persons are prone to consider that experiments on scientific subjects must necessarily be invested with com- plexity, which places them beyond accomplishment by the uninitiated, the above trifling detail will serve to prove the fallacy of this opinion. The inartificial nature of the opera- tions places them within the reach of all who are disposed to repeat them; and some natural phenomena may thus be brought within the observation of every one ; adding one more instance to the crowd of examples wherewith we are surrounded, that the most simple substances of daily use, whose qualities of beauty or convenience are alone under- stood by the multitude, may be made to afford to the mind of the inquirer matter for philosophical amusement and instruc- tion. NOTES. Note A. page 14. It has been well observed, " That throughout this extensive empire, embracing so great a variety of climate, the physical and moral qual- ities of the people remain as fixed and unchangeable as the laws and customs from which, in fact, they receive their color. Such is the force of ancient usage and the dread of innovation, that a Chinese never stops to inquire what he ought to do on any pressing emergency, but what Yao and Chun did in a similar case four thousand years ago. Time, in fact, may be said to stand still in China. Here not only the system of morals, of social intercourse, of jurisprudence, of govern- ment, is the same now as it was three thousand years ago ; but the cut of their robes, their houses, and furniture, are precisely the same : so that if custom has exercised its dominion over this singular people, they have at least been freed from the tyranny of fashion. ^ * * * * * The maxims of the sovereigns and sages of antiquity, — the rites and ceremonies and duties required by the civil and religious institutions of the empire, the laws and customs — are the points of knowledge which lead to wealth, power, and distinction in the state." Sup. Ency. Brit. art. China. These people, therefore, have no motive for joining in the race of improvement ; while it has always been the policy of their govern- ment to check and entirely to repress all desire of change. Note B. page 16. Macpherson, in his Annals of Commerce, to which valuable work the author is indebted for many of the dates and facts recorded in this volume, remarks, with great appearance of probability, that perhaps the Seres were themselves the authors of this fable ; thus making it appear to foreigners that the advantage was a blessing showered down peculiarly on their own favored country, and one in which others could not participate. Note C. page 17. There have been many speculations formed for unravelling a sub- ject which is involved in so much mystery. One of the most ingenious among these is found in the following note to Marsden's translation of the Travels of Marco Polo : — " I have long entertained the idea that the golden fleece which Jason carried off from Colchis was a cargo, or perhaps only a skein, of rich golden-colored raw silk in the hank, which might figuratively be termed a fleece, because it was to be twisted into thread and interwoven into cloth. This, at least, is as plausible as the commonly received solution, admitted by a cele- brated historian not prone to credulity." 256 NOTES. Note D. page 18. Nearchus, Aristobulus, Theophmstus, Virgil, Dionysius, Periegetes, Seneca, Arrian, Solinus, Ammianus Marcellinus, Claudian, Jerome, &e. Note E. page 19. Publius Syrus, Varro, Tibullus, Propertius, Horace, Seneca, Pliny, and Juvenal. Pliny, 1. xi. c. 23. Tacit. Ann. 1. ii. c. 32. Note F. page 19. " Reflexions sur les Liaisons des Romains avec les Tartares. et le3 Chinois," by M. de Guignes, in Memoires de Litterature , vol. xxxii. p. 355. It is said, indeed, by Florus, lib. iv. c. 12., that ambassadors came from the Seres to court the favor of Augustus; but this is not very probable, as in the whole course of the history of this people it ap- pears that they were never desirous of any alliance or intercourse with other nations. Note G. page 19. By the Rhodian naval laws, preserved in the eleventh book of the Digests, unmixed silk goods when shipwrecked, if they were preserved free from wet, paid a salvage of 10 per cent., as being equal to gold in value. Note H. page 26. Otho Frising. de Gest. Frederici. 1. i. c. 33. ; apud Muratori, Script, vol. vi. col. 668. Falcandi Hist. Sicul. praef. ; ap. Muratori, Script, vol. vii. col. 256. Note I. page 27. The ancient Chinese are said to have extended their voyages as far from home as the coast of Africa, — a degree of maritime adventure w r hich does not receive much confirmation from our knowledge of the channels through which, in those remote times, commercial inter- course was carried forward in the East. According to Cosmas, the Indians who traded with the Chinese were accustomed to resort to Ceylon, where alone they received silks, spices, and other valuable productions, which were thence distributed among the different marts of India. Gibbon, in the fifth volume of the " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," thus describes the mode of prosecuting this com- merce : — "The Chinese and Indian navigators were conducted by the flight of birds and periodical winds, and the ocean might be securely traversed in square-built ships, which, instead of iron, were sewed to- gether with the strong thread of the cocoa-nut. Ceylon, Serendip, or Taprobana, was divided between two hostile princes ; one of whom possessed the mountains, the elephants, and the luminous carbuncle ; and the other enjoyed the more sordid riches of domestic industry, foreign trade, and the capacious harbor of Trinquemale, which re- ceived and dismissed the fleets of the East and West. In this hos- pitable isle, at an equal distance (as it was computed) from their re- spective countries, the silk merchants of China, who had collected in their voyages, aloes, cloves, nutmegs, and sandal wood, maintained a free and beneficial commerce with the inhabitants of the Persian Gulf." NOTES. 257 Note K. page 40. The project of rearing silkworms in the United States of America, has very recently been renewed, and a small package of silk, the re- sult of this attempt, was, early in the present year (1831), imported into Liverpool. The president of the American Philosophical Society established in Philadelphia, M. Du ponceau, has for some time been desirous of en- couraging this branch of rural economy, and lately established a fila- ture, under the direction of a gentleman, who, having conducted a similar undertaking at Nismes in France, is possessed of the requisite knowledge and experience. The quality of the silk hitherto produced in Pennsylvania is said fully to equal that of Bengal : it promises to stand well the various processes of dyeing, throwing, and weaving ; but, as might be expect- ed in the commencement of such an undertaking, the operation of reeling has not been conducted with the requisite degree of skill. The attempt has hitherto been made on too small a scale for the pro- jector to form any satisfactory opinion upon the issue as regards its profitableness ,• and it yet remains to be seen whether the Philadel- phians are in possession of facilities for this pursuit, which will coun- terbalance the high rate of wages prevalent throughout the state, and which would otherwise give a decided advantage in point of price to the raw silks of Italy and India, even in the markets of the United States. The subject has appeared to be of so much importance to the Amer- ican legislature, that a committee of congress has recommended the project to the attention and protection of the government. Note L. page 52. It is the policy of many of the states of Italy rigidly to exclude British manufactured goods from their territories. Yet as we annually take from them merchandise, principally raw silk, to the value of two millions sterling, and as no exportation of the precious metals is made in payment for the same, it became a question in what shape and by what channels the Italian merchants obtained returns for their pro- duce. Upon investigation, it appeared that the foreign traders took their remuneration in bills of exchange drawn upon the London mer- chants, by far the largest portion of which were remitted to Man- chester and Glasgow from Austria and the German states, in return for those products of British industry against which the Italian govern- ments so strictly closed their ports. It is indeed hopeless for any na- tion, so long as it has productions of its own for sale, thus to attempt the exclusion of the produce of another country; and perhaps the only consequence of such short-sighted policy will be the enhancement to themselves of the prices of foreign productions. Note M. page 77. . There is a very strong analogy between the course pursued, up to a recent period, by the English government, with reference to the trade in thrown and manufactured silk, and that followed by the govern- ment of France in respect of the introduction of materials for their cotton manufactures. The spinners of fine cotton yarns in the latter country having asked for protection against the importation of yarns W2 253 NOTES. of that quality, a very large prohibitory duty was accordingly imposed. The consequence of this measure w as, that the manufacturers of the better qualities of muslin not being able to dispense with the use of the fine yarns which they had been accustomed to import, and the French spinners being unable to furnish them with any substitute, the smuggler was immediately put into active occupation, and, notwith- standing the vigilance wherewith revenue restrictions w 7 ere enforced by the aid of military cordons, passed through them all, and furnished to the manufacturer the fine yarns of England at an advance in price of from 60 to 70 per cent., so that the French spinner gained nothing by the prohibition. The peculiar circumstances which accompanied the state of war, enabled the French manufacturer at that time to prosper even under this disadvantage ; but when, at the return of peace, the illicit trader proceeded to introduce English muslins ready manufactured, at an ad- vance upon English prices of only from 17 to 25 per cent., both the spinners and weavers were completely ruined. Note N. page 78. At the time when the last alteration was made in the rate of duties charged upon foreign manufactured silk goods (April, 1829,) it was stated in the house of commons by the then vice-president of the Board of Trade, the right honorable Vesey Fitzgerald, on the authority of French merchants, that the total cost of smuggling and insuring gros-de-naples was from 28 to 29 per cent, upon their value ; that the same charges upon satin ribands amounted to from 24 to 25 per cent. ; upon sarcenet ribands, 25 to 26 per cent. ; figured gauze, 28 to 29 per cent.; blonde, 12 to 13 per cent. The smaller rate, in the latter case, being occasioned by the greater value of the article in proportion to its bulk, which rendered the object of the smuggler easier of accom- plishment. It was further stated that crepe-lisse, crape, and plain gauzes, had not been smuggled at any time since their importation had been legalized by the imposition of a duty. Note O. page 80. The evil effects of prohibitory laws upon the moral feelings of the community were thus eloquently enforced by Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald, on the occasion to which reference has been made in the preceding Note. " Under prohibition the trade was a scene of offensive and ar- bitrary laws, restrictive of the fair exercise of the inclinations of the people, and regardless of their wants. They were laws which no one felt to impose any moral obligation, and thus an habitual indifference to the breach of law was engendered in the public mind. But I have said they were inefficacious ; and will the house encourage those who avow that the object of their inquiry is to establish a return to them ? I will remove from the statute-book, if I can, legal crimes which the people do not view as moral crimes ! I would not arm the common in- former with a power to enter the houses of individuals; I would not permit even the king's officer, for the sake of a fiscal regulation, to violate the sanctity of every Englishman's abode. I cannot afford to protect the manufacture bysuch odious laws; and least of all, when I find that such a power never did put down smuggling; but that, with all these vile appliances and bad means to boot, it was absolutely in- efficacious." NOTES. 259 Note P. page 80. Simond, who visited Lyons in 1817, has described the poverty of the silk-weavers resident in and near that city, as being more abject than any thing within the experience of our own artisans. There, as with us, the manufacture is in a great degree domestic, most of the weavers executing their labor in their own dwellings. The abodes of the French weavers are, however, wretched in the extreme; one room, twenty feet square, not unfrequently serving every purpose, both as a dwelling and workshop, for three entire families.* INote Q. page 82. Experience has almost uniformly proved, that low-priced labor is, in the end, dear labor to the employer. In contrasting the rate of wages paid in different countries for work of the same description, we should not only look to the amount of money which goes to recompense the daily toil of the artisan, but must also take into the account the num- ber of hours during which he works, the constancy wherewith he ap- plies himself to his labor, and tiie skill which he brings to its accom- plishment. If the question of wages, as affecting the cost of manu- factures in England, be examined by these tests, it will in most cases be found that the dearness of labor with us is more nominal than real. This position, although more obviously true in branches where labor •is remunerated according to the time expended, cannot yet be made to appear incorrect in any case unfettered by legislative interference ; and there is no good reason for doubting, that the constantly increasing f kill of our silk-weavers would, if the trade were rendered perfectly free, soon give to the productions of their looms a value more than equivalent to any difference that may exist between the money rate of wages at Lyons and in Spitalfields. Note R. page 8G. The bark of this tree not only furnishes fibres for ropes, but it can even be formed into a species of cloth. M. la Rouverie affirms, that he procured a beautiful vegetable silk from the young branches of this species of mulberry ; cutting the bark while the tree was in sap, and then beating it with mallets and steeping it in water, he obtained a thread from the fibres, almost equal to silk in quality, and this was woven into a cloth whose texture appeared as if formed of that ma- terial. The women of Louisiana obtain a similar production from the off-shoots of the mulberry ; these are gathered when they are about four or five feet high. The bark is stripped and dried in the sun : it is then beaten, to get rid of the external part, which falls off, leaving the inner bark entire. This is again beaten, to make it still finer, after which it is bleached in dew. It is then spun, and various fabrics are made from it, such as nets and fringes ; and sometimes it is woven into cloth. The finest sort of cloth among the inhabitants of Otaheite, and other of the South Sea Islands, is made of the bark of this tree. Note S. page 86. The wood of the mulberry tree is used for many purposes. Its be- ing compact, pliant, and hard, capable of receiving a good polish, causes it to be sought by upholsterers, turners, and carvers. Its strength * Tour and Residence in Switzerland, vol. i. p. 317. 260 NOTES. makes it useful to the joiner, and its power of resisting the action of water almost as well as oak, makes it good timber for building boats. It is also a very good wood for fuel, and it is well adapted for making charcoal. — Mayet sur le Culture du Murier. Note T. page 87. In the European silk countries a great many varieties of mulberry trees are distinguished, arising from difference of climate, soil, method of culture, and other accidental causes. Among the wild mulberries there are some bearing roundish leaves resembling those of a rose — hence they have obtained the name of the Rose-leaved mulberry. The mulberry called the Roman Leaf is distinguished from every other species by its very large leaves, some of which are frequently found equal in size to those of a gourd. The Spanish greatly resembles the wild rose mulberry,, except that its leaves are larger and more pointed. It is by no means delicate, and can resist the strongest frosts of the severest winters in cold cli- mates. The leaves of the mulberry called the Small Queen are oblong, moderately large, and exceedingly smooth; this species is of an excel- lent quality, and much esteemed. Note U. page 87. Arthur Young observed "many noble black mulberry trees in Provence and Piedmont, which were never stripped, but kept for the fruit merely — the silk being considered inferior that is produced from # them." Bertezen affirms, that in Italy and France the leaves of the black mulberry are regarded as poison to the worms. Note V. page 99. If at this time any of the threads intended for the support of the co- coon should be broken, the worm will find, in the progress of its work, that, the ball, not being properly poised, becomes unsteady, so that the insect is unable properly to go forward with its labors. Un- der these circumstances the worm pierces and altogether quits the un- finished cocoon, and throws out its remaining threads at random wher- ever it passes ; by which means the silk is wholly lost, and the wwm, finding no place wherein to prepare for its last change, dies without having effected it. It may sometimes happen, but such a thing is of infrequent occurrence, that the preparatory threads before mentioned are broken by another worm working in the neighborhood, when the same unsatisfactory result will be experienced. — Obs. on the Culture of Silk, by A. Stephenson. Note W. page 109. Mons. Marteloy of Montpelier, who made many experiments upon the rearing of silkworms, presented a memorial upon the subject to the French minister, in compliance with whose recommendation the states of Languedoc caused an experiment to be conducted publicly in the open air, in the garden belonging to the Jesuits' college at Montpelier. The whole was placed under the direction of Mons. Marteloy, who had 1200 livres assigned to him to defray the necessary expenses. The experiment succeeded perfectly. This was in 1764. ^OTES. 261 On the following year a second trial was made, and 1800 livres were set apart for the expenses. Owing, however, to the unfavorable nature of the season, this experiment failed entirely, the heavy and incessant rains making it impossible to keep the food of the worms in a sufficiently dry state. The rearing of silkworms in the open air was not again attempted in that quarter ; but the partial success led to the adoption among cultivators of a better system of ventilation, and the production of silk was about this time very much extended throughout Languedoc. — Obs. on the Culture of Silk, by A. Stephenson. Note X. page 120. It is the practice at Montauban, in Quercy, to employ shallow cir- cular willow baskets, which are furnished with brush-wood for the spinning of the worms. The wood is ranged round two thirds of the basket, the remaining space being left for putting in the worms and for clearing away the litter. The ends of the wood are pulled together at the top, and kept in that position by tying them with packthread ; after which a paper cap is placed loosely over the top, the cover being thought agreeable to the worms : the brush- wood rises three or four feet above the rim of the basket. This is thought to be an excellent contrivance, as it keeps the worms more cool and airy than when they are placed in arbors on a stage ; but it is expensive, and occupies more space than can usually be al- lotted for the purpose. — Obs. on the Culture of Silk, by A. Stephenson. Note Y. page 127. Monsieur Baume, finding that the method usually pursued for de- stroying the chrysalides previous to reeling the silk, rendered it hard, and that the cocoons were then reeled with more difficulty than in cases w T here no artificial heat had been employed, proposed to modify this by using for the purpose the steam of spirit of wine, which vapor- izes at a temperature much below that of boiling water. According to the testimony of this able chemist, silk thus treated proves suscep- tible of assuming a greater lustre than that which has been baked. The process used by M. Baume, as described in the Annates de Chimie, was to dispose the cocoons within a wooden box, in a stratum six inches deep; upon each superficial square foot of these, half a pint of spirit of wine was sprinkled from a watering-pot, so as to distribute the liquid equally over the cocoons." Another stratum was then form- ed over these, and a further quantity of spirit applied, and so on until the box was filled. This being then covered closely up, and left during twenty-four hours, the whole became spontaneously heated to a degree sufficient to vaporize the spirit, w r hich in that form penetrated the cocoons, and acted with energy sufficient to destroy the vitality of the chrysalides. The cocoons having after this been spread out to dry, w r ere then ready for being reeled. Baume states, that silk thus treated, not only will exhibit a greater lustre, but that the proportion reeled will be one ninth part greater than when the heat of an oven has been employed. Note Z. page 130. The Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c, after having for a series of years proffered rewards to stimulate the culture of silk in England, appears to be convinced of the improbability that this can 262 NOTES. ever be made a profitable branch of industry with us. From time to time attempts were made by persons whose means and intelligence fully qualified them for the undertaking, and some few rewards were adjudged by the society upon the production of the specified quantities of silk. In no case, however, did any practical good follow upon these attempts, and the society now limits its patronage in this branch of the useful arts to the furtherance of silk production in the British colonies, and to improvements in the quality of such as is raised in British India. Note A A. page 134. Tobacco is found to be a deadly poison to silkworms. If a few grains of snuff are suffered to fall upon one of them, immediate signs of agitation and distress will be produced, and in the course of one minute the sufferer will be thrown into convulsions which speedily end in death. Just before expiring, the insect casts from its mouth a watery substance ; and if any other worm should happen to be touch- ed by this fluid, the like fatal effects will ensue. — Obs. on the Culture of Silk, by A. Stephenson, Esq,. Note B B. page 135. " There is in the order of nature a certain and very surprising fact ; when the leaves of vegetables are struck by the sun's rays, they exhale an immense quantity of vital air necessary to the life of animals, and which they consume by respiration. " These same leaves in the shade and in darkness exhale an im- mense quantity of mephitic or fixed air, which cannot be breathed, and in which animals would perish. " This influence of the sun does not cease even when the leaf has been recently gathered ; on the contrary, in darkness, gathered leaves will exhale a still greater quantity of mephitic air. " Place one ounce of fresh mulberry leaves in a wide-necked bottle of the size of a Paris pint, containing two pounds of liquid ; expose this bottle to the sun ; about an hour afterwards, according to the in- tensity of the sun, reverse the bottle and introduce a lighted taper in it, the light will become brighter, whiter, and larger, which proves that the vital air contained in the bottle has increased by that which has disengaged itself from the leayes: to demonstrate this phenomenon more clearly, a taper may be put in a similar bottle, that on]y contains the air. that has entered into it by its being uncorked. Shortly after the first experiment, water will be found in the bottle which contained the mulberry leaves; this water, evaporating from the leaves by means of the heat, hangs on the sides, and runs to the bottom when cooling ; the leaves appear more or less withered and dry, according to the liquid they have lost. In another similar bottle place an ounce of leaves, and cork it exactly like the former ; place it in obscurity, either in a box, or wrap it in cloths, in short, so as totally to exclude light; about two hours after open the bottle, and put either a lighted taper or a small bird into it ; the candle will go out, and the bird will perish, as if they had been plunged into water, which demonstrates that in darkness the leaves have exhaled mephitic air, while in the sun they exhaled vital air." — Count Dandolo, NOTES. 263 Note C C. page 143. Naturalists, as well as antiquarians, were formerly prone to investi- gations which, to the unenlightened and uninitiated, might, perhaps, appear bordering on the ridiculous. It would seem that, in their cu- rious computations, they rather sought to surpass the wonders related by some rival microscopic observer, than to adhere to the rigidness of mathematical calculation, or keep within the limits of rational prob- ability. They, indeed, became lost and bewildered in the very mi- nuteness of their subject. M. Leuwenhoek has computed, that a hun- dred of the single threads of a full-grown spider are not equal to the diameter of one single hair of his beard, and consequently if the threads and hair be both round, ten thousand threads are not bigger than such a hair ! He calculates farther, that when a young spider be- gins to spin, four hundred of these are not larger than one which is of full growth, allowing which, four millions of the single filaments of a young spider's web were not so big as a single hair of his beard ! A strange calculation — very probably wrong in its data, and most certainly so in the conclusions deduced. Note D D. page 152. According to Aristotle, byssus was formed from the beard of the pinna ; but the name appears to have been used indiscriminately by other writers for any material that was spun, and the quality of which was finer and more valuable than woollen threads. Note E E. page 153. The fourth volume of Nicholson's Journal of Natural Philosophy contains a memoir on the insect fly-carrier, or cassada-worm, commu- nicated to the American Philosophical Society, as the result of his own observations made in the island of St. Domingo, by M. Baudry des Lozieres. The insect here mentioned is not itself endowed with the faculty of producing fibres, and yet is so curiously made the depositary of a substance of this nature by other animate creatures, that an abridged account of the phenomenon may be found inter- esting. The insect fly-carrier is, like the silkworm, produced from eggs de- posited by a butterfly of a whitish or light pearl color. It is hatched about the latter end of July, and its development is so rapid, that in September the worm is changed into a butterfly. It first comes forth decked in a robe of the most brilliant and variegated colors, differing in this respect from the silkworm, which it otherwise resembles in ex- ternal shape. It feeds upon the leaves of the indigo and cassada plants ; and as its devouring is carried forward day and night with scarcely any intermission, the ravages which it commits are considered as a serious evil by the planters, whose attention has, for this reason, been more bestowed upon endeavors to destroy it, than upon consid- ering in what manner to derive any advantage from its existence. In the month of August the worm undergoes one of its changes, and putting off the beauteous covering wherein it first exhibited itself, ap- pears of only one color — a sea-green — reflecting all the shades of that color, " according to the different undulations of the animal, and the different accidents of light." This metamorphosis is the signal of at- 264 Ts'OTES. tack from a species of the ichneumon fly, — a very small insect, which has obtained this name through the benefit it renders to man in the destruction of various hurtful insects, and in which respect it is per- haps equally serviceable with the quadruped whose name it has thus been made to bear, and which demolishes the young of more formi- dable though less numerous reptiles. These flies assail the cassada- worm in such swarms, that it is affirmed there is not one spot on its back and sides left visibly uncovered by tb^m. Proceeding immedi- ately to drive the stings wherewith they are armed through the skin of the worm, the flies deposit their eggs in the bottoms of the wounds they inflict. During this painful operation, the cassada-worm exhibits, all the signs of intense suffering, struggling and writhing, and using every effort to shake off its cruel tormentors. So 'soon as the flies have accomplished their object in safely de positing their eggs, they disappear ; the worm seems exhausted with its previous efforts, and remains for about an hour in a state of leth- argy, from which, however, it then awakes, to feed with renewed avidity. In about, fourteen days after having thus been made the unwilling depositary of these eggs, and during which time the worm increases daily in size, it is seen to be completely covered with a living robe of animalculse, having a deep brown color, so that no more than the top of its head can be perceived. If the operations of these newly- hatched worms are then carefully examined, it will be seen that each, raising itself upon its hinder extremity, sw ings its head and body to and fro in every direction, and forms for itself an almost imperceptibly small egg-shaped cocoon, remaining, like the silkworm, in the interior of the ball ; making thus, as it were, its own winding-sheet, and seem- ing born but to die. These millions upon millions of cocoons, as they are described by M. des Lozieres, the formation of which has not occupied a greater space of time than two hours, are placed so closely together that they form a white robe, in which the insect fly-carrier appears elegantly clothed. During this process of decoration the worm remains in a state of torpidity; but no sooner is the robe fully completed, than the wearer seeks to disencumber itself of its guests, and, after efforts of some duration, and which appear greatly to exhaust its frame, suc- ceeds in the endeavor. Its appetite is now gone ; it speedily passes to the slate of a chrysalis; then becomes a butterfly; and, after giving birth to many hundred eggs, appears thus to have* fulfilled the end of its being, and dies. When about eight days have elapsed from the first formation of the minute cocoons by the larvae, ichneumon flies issue from these, leaving the fibrous substance pure, beautifully fine, and of a dazzling white- ness. This, without any previous preparation, may be immediately carded and spun. According to the opinion expressed by M. des Lozieres, it is greatly superior in every respect to vegetable cotton, while in some particulars it is even preferable to the produce of the silkworm; requiring less of time and trouble for its production, and being greatly more abundant in its produce. It is now, however, nearly forty years since the observations of M. des Lozieres were given to* the world, and no attempts have been made to realize the advantages which he promised from the pursuit. NOTES. 265 Note F F. page 180. The superior fineness of some Tndinn muslins, and their quality of retaining, longer than European fabrics, an appearance of excellence, has occasioned a belief that the cotton wool of which they are woven is superior to any known elsewhere: this, however, is so far from be- ing the fact, that no cotton is to be found in India which at all equals in quality the better kinds produced in the United States of America. The excellence of India muslins must be wholly ascribed to the skil- fulness and patience of the workmen, as shown in the different pro- cesses of spinning and weaving. Their yarn is spun upon the distaff, and it is owing to the dexterous use of the finger and thumb in form- ing the thread* and to the moisture which it thus imbibes, that its fibres are more perfectly incorporated than they can be through the employment of any mechanical substitutes. The weaving art is pur- sued to such an extent throughout the peninsula, that, according to Mr. Orme (Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire), "it is difficult, when not near the high road, or a principal town, to find a village in which every man, woman, and child, is not employed in making a piece of cloth." Among the multitudes thus trained from childhood to the pursuit of a simple occupation, it would be surprising if some individuals did not attain the capability of producing superior fabrics. The very fine muslins, w hich thus attest the proficiency of some of the Indians, and which have been poetically described as " webs of woven wind," are, however, viewed as curiosities even in the country of their production, and are made only in small quantities; so that their use is limited, almost exclusively, to the princes of the land. Note G G. page 206. It sometimes happens that various branches of occupation in the silk manufacture are carried on under the same roof, by different mem- bers of the same family. It once occurred to the author of this treatise, in the course of his visits among the operative weavers in the district of Spitalfields, to visit a family consisting of a man, his wife, and ten children, all of whom, with the exception of the two youngest girls, were engaged in useful employments connected with the silk manufacture. The father, assisted by one of his sons, was occupied w ith a machine, such as is mentioned in page 213, punching card slips from figures which another son, a fine intelligent lad about thirteen years of age, was " reading on." Two other lads, somewhat older, were in another apartment, casting, drawing, punching, and attaching to cords the leaden plummets or lingos, which form part of the harness for a Jae- tjuard loom. The mother was engaged in warping silk, with a ma- chine similar to that described hy jig. 7. page 155. One of the daugh- ters was similarly employed at another machine, and three other girls were in three separate looms, weaving figured silks, one by the aid of the mechanical draw T -boy, described at page 190, the others with Jacquard machines. An air of order and cheerfulness prevailed, throughout this busy establishment that was truly gratifying ; and, with the exception of the plummet-drawers, all were clean and neatly clad. The particular occupation wherein each was engaged, was explained most readily, X 266 NOTES. and with a degree of genuine politeness, which proved, that amid the harassing cares attendant upon daily toils of no ordinary degree, these parents had not been unmindful of their duty, as regarded the culti- vation of their children's minds and hearts. Note H H. page 248. Material substances have generally been divided into two classes, electrics and non-electrics ; which distinction, if taken strictly, is not correct : there is no positive line of demarcation between the two. There is not any electric or non-conducting substance that is a perfect insulator; neither is there any non-electric or conducting substance that cannot, by friction, be made capable of exhibiting electrical phe- nomena. INDEX. A. Addison, 236. Alexander the Great, brought wrought silks from Persia, 17. Allen, Mrs., of Wandsworth, 141. Amasis, king, 194. Anderson, Dr. James, introduces mulberry trees at Madras ; pro- cures silkworms' eggs from Ben- gal; his success, 41. His account of the evolutions of the silk- worm, 101. Anglicanae guttae, 145. Antonius, Marcus, the emperor, sends ambassadors to China, 19. Antwerp, great trade existing in silk at; city of, 31. Taken by the duke of Parma, governor of the Spanish Netherlands, 32. Appleton, John, Esq., a patent granted to, for producing raw silk of the growth of England, 37. Arbors formed of twigs, for spin- ning, 120. Ardeche, white silk produced in ; purchased by the manufacturers of Normandy, 164. Aristotle, preceptor of Alexander the Great, his account of the silkworm, 17. His description of the pinna, 151. Asia, the number of broods of silk- worms annually reared in, 91. Aston, Walter, a grant made to him of the custody of the gar- den, mulberry trees, and silk- worms, near St. James's, in Mid- dlesex, 37. Augustus, silk little known in Eu- rope previous to the reign of, 18. Aurelian, emperor, 19. B. Bacon, lord, 56. Baichu, a rebel, makes himself master of most part of the Chi- nese empire; massacres all the ; inhabitants of the port of Canfu, the resort of foreign merchants, 24. Banks, Sir Joseph, 41. Barham, Mr. Henry, publishes an essay on the silkworm, 38. Basle, the manufacture of ribands becomes very considerable in, 54. Baume, M., his manner of bleach- ing silk, 243. Bellardi, Dr. Lodovico, of Turin, experiment of, 137. Bengal, a quantity of raw silk im- ported into England from ; qual- ity of, considered very inferior to that produced in Italy and Tur- key, 67. Improvement in the quality of, 68. Country wound and filature, ib. Berne, silk for umbrellas manufac- tured in, 54. Bertezen, Mr. Salvator, a gold medal adjudged to him by the Society of Arts, 129. Blanchard, Mons., experiment of, 134. Bologna, the only city of Italy that possessed proper throwing mills, 28. Bombazine, manufacture of, con- fined to the city of Norwich, 241. Bombykia, stuff produced from the silkworm, 16. Bombyx, the silkworm, 16. Bon, Mons., collects a quantity of spiders' bags, from which a kind of silk is made, said to be not inferior to that made from the bombyx, 143. Great compara- tive advantages adduced by him of his spider establishment, 144. Bonoeil, Mr. John, a work by, on the management of the silk- worm, 37. 268 INDEX. Bouillon, Godfrey de, 29. Bourgeois, Mons., observations of, on engrafting, 90. Briance, silk of, 1G4. British dominions, another attempt made to produce silk in the ; a company incorporated under the title of " British, Irish, and Co- lonial Silk Company," 44. Brocade, gold and silver, metallic threads used in the making of, 232. Gilt copper wire used in the spinning at Nuremberg, ib. Gilt and silver slips of paper used by the Chinese, ib. Burlemach, Mr., a London mer- chant, brought from the conti- nent of Europe silk throwsters, dyers, and broad weavers, 56. C. Canfu, port of, becomes the resort of foreign merchants, 24. Carolina, South, silkworms reared in, 38. Card-slips perforated, different pat- terns made by; advantages aris- ing to the owner, 206. The same set made to answer two distinct patterns, 207. Cart wright, Rev. Edmund, D. D., invention of the power-loom by : . obtains a weaving patent ; erects a weaving-mill at Doncaster; obtains three other patents ; compelled to abandon his man- ufactory, 218. A sum of money voted by parliament as a compen- sation for his loss and disappoint- ment, 219. Castracani, Castruccio, 233. Caterpillar, the first state of the silkworm, 95. Catherine, empress of Russia, 41. Chazal, Mons., distributes silk- worms to many of the colonists in the Isle of France; claims the premium which was promised by the Society of Arts lor the growth of silk in the British colonies; obtains a large gold medal, 43. Number of genera- tions of worms annually obtain- ed by, in the Isle of France, 92. Charlemagne, emperor, sends two silken vests to Offa king of Mer* cia, 24. Charles I. of England, issues a pro- clamation as to the manner and ingredients to be used for dyeing siik, 56. Chartron, MM., pere et fils, silk establishment of, 176. Che-kiang, 27. China, enjoyed the use of silk an- terior to its introduction else- where; the labors of the silk- worm known in, 15. Enormous quantity of silk in ; climate of, congenial to the silkworm ; prov- inces of, fertile with mulberry trees ; called by the ancients the Kingdom of Silk, 26. Possesses all the necessaries and comforts, and even the luxuries, of life, 27. Silk of, remarkable for its brilliant whiteness, 68. Number of crops of silk obtained in the year in, 91. Chlorine gas, fumigation with, 135. Chloride of lime, 135. Chappe, 245. Chosroes king of Persia, his recep- tion of the Turkish ambassador, 23. Choquettes, 128. Christians, the expulsion of, from Syria, 29. Chrysalides, destruction of, in Chi- na, 111. Method of destroying the vitality of, by the solar rays ; in ovens ; by steam heat, 125.' Chrysalis, second state of the silk- worm, 101. Time of its appearing as a moth, 103. Cocoons, 15. Silkworm pods, 28. System lately adopted in India for giving the necessary degree | of heat to, while being wound, by means of steam, 69. The manner of reeling the silk off, 100. Double, formed by the worm not having sufficient space ; method of gathering, 124. Selecting for breed, ib. Quan- tity selected for breed; method of preserving; necessity of se- parating damaged from others with which they are in contact, 127. Good; pointed; calcined ; 269 cAirfit- 1 ^.; "Kdc4ive valve of; proportion" dfjfrare' silk in"; per- forated, 129. Proportional weight of eggs, mid of mulberry.leayes, 130. Quantity of reeled silk that can be obtained from>eLa?b>, ib. Regulation' of temperature necessary for producing the moths from ; weight and size of, 131. Necessity of classing the different kinds of, 155. Coloring matter of, 243. Coconieres, 127. Cocolons require the greatest care in reeling, 154. Colbert, Mons., minister of Louis XIV. of France, gives mulberry trees from the royal nurseries; causes them to be removed and planted at the expense of gov- ernment, 35. Constantinople, silkworms un- known in, until the middle of the sixth century, 17. Silkworms introduced into, 21. Cordova, 30. Cotton-plant, cultivation of, in Georgia, 39. Coventry, riband-weavers of, peti- tion the legislature, 69. The principal seat of the riband man- ufacture of England, 190. Coge, Mademoiselle, of Epinal, used with success the leaves of the scorzonera for the nourish- ment of the silkworm, 140. Crape, the manner in which it is made, 240. Crevelt, in Prussia, manufactories of ribands and broad velvets es- tablished in, 54. Damask silk, the early introduction of it into England ; principally confined to the use of the high- born ; used for garments and or- namental furniture, 237. Origin- ally brought from Damascus, ib. The mode 1n which it is manu- factured, 238. Damasquitte, a modification of brocade, invented by the Vene- tians, 233. Dandolieres, establishments formed X ! is \V)rii'bar<]y. according to the : ' "recommendation of count Dan- dolo, 133. JVii'dokk Count his opinion as to ; o^taiuing m^i e thin one crop of s?Jk ji* th$ y ear, 92^ His account of the various changes of the silkworm, 101. Recommends the use of stoves for heating the apartments in which eggs are hatched, 115. His mode of treating the silkworm set forth in his writings, 133. Diggs, Mr. Edward, 37. Draw-boy, a description of, 198. Manner of working it, ib. Va- rious improvements of, 200. Draw-loom, 197. Ducapes, a kind of silk, 239. Duff; Mr., 200. Du Halde, his account of the Chi- nese manner of pruning and placing their mulberry trees, 90. Dupin, Baron Charles, his re- searches into all subjects con- nected with commercial ques- tions, 82. E. Eggs of the silkworm, brought by two Persian missionaries from China ; hatched by the warmth of manure, 21. A description of ; the number of, produced by the female moth, 105. Chinese mode of delaying the hatching of, 109. The proper choice of, the first care of the cultivator, 114. How to choose them, ib. Egypt, the government of, imposes heavy duties on the transit of merchandise, 29. Elasbaan, king of Axuma, 20. Elizabeth, queen of England, pre- sented by Mrs. Montague, her silkwoman, w T ith a pair of knit silk stockings, 32. England, imports a vast quantity of raw and wrought silk from China, 47. Silks manufactured in, not inferior in quality to those of France, 83. Recent attempt to rear silkworms in, 140, Eperic, Abbe, the, of Carpentras, experiment of, 134. 270 Esircipr-sers, governor! ofmeile-m- ' erftes^ in 'Arabia Felix, 20. F. ...... Farquhar, Sir Kobe^t,, appointed governor of'the Mauritius.; pro- cures silkworms' egg's from Ben- gal, 42. Ferdinand V., conquers Grenada ; finds numerous establishments for the production of silk, 30. Filature, a description of the build- ing designed for, 154. Florence, silk manufacture exten- sively followed at, 28. France, first introduction of the silk manufacture there, 26. De- rives considerable wealth from prosecuting the silk trade with England, 30. The growth of silk confined exclusively to the southern provinces, 47. Pro- hibits the exportation of raw silk, 51. Commercial treaty with England, 60. Comparative statement of cost of manufacture there and in England, 81. Low wages paid to silk throwsters for labor, 176. Francis I. of France, the manufac- ture of silk took root in France during his reign, 26. Franklin, Dr., 123. Frederick William, grand elector of Brandenberg, 42. Friuli, a large species of silkworm to be found in ; produce yielded by them, 108. G. Gauze, supposed first to have been made in Gaza, a city of Pales- tine, from which it derives its name, 229. Principally carried on at Paisley ; mode of weaving described, ib. Difficulty attend- ing it; superiority of French gauze, 231. Genoa, 31. Georgia, silkworms reared in, 38. The production of silk discon- tinued in, 39. Greece, the emperors of, no longer obliged to have recourse to Per- sia for silk, 23. GrekhenX, S»r Tl^ma?,, presents E'd warcf VI? w'it'h a pair'of Ibng Spanish silk stockings, 32. Grjmshaw, Pobert, and sons, of Manchester, erect i a weaving factory ; enter into an agreement with Dr. (Jartwright to use his patent, 219. Their factory de- stroyed by fire, ib. Gros-de-naples, a kind of silk, 239. Gros-des-indes, peculiarity of struc- ture, 240. Guicciardini, his account of the trade of Antwerp, 31. EL Hasselquist, Dr., observes the habits of the pinna, 151. Hatching, 95. Method of, in China, described, 109. Method pursued in Italy, 114. Heintz, Baron, Prussian minister of state, cultivates the mulberry tree, and produces silk upon his estate, 42. Heliogabalus habits himself wholly in silk ; this is recorded as an act of wanton prodigality, 19. Henry V. of England, his invasion of France, 29. Henry VIII. of England, occasion- ally obtained silk stockings from Spain, 32. Henry IV. of France, encourages the silk manufacture, and incites the Parisians to establish silk manufactories ; grants letters patent, conferring on success and perseverance the titles of no- bility, 34. Establishes nurseries of mulberry trees, 35. Herodotus speaks of figure-weav- ing, 194. Hoang-tee, 15. Howell, his history of the world, 31. Hughes, a silk-weaver, improves the draw-boy, 200. His improve- ment in card-slips for the Jac* quard machine, 207. I. India, East, Company, establish- ments for producing raw and wrought silk in the territories INDEX. 271 of, 40. Different qualities pro- duced in different districts, 68. ] The kind of building employed in India for rearing silkworms, 111. Ireland, an endeavor made to rear siik worms in, 44. This attempt abandoned, and why, 45. Isidorus, bishop of Hispalis, in Spain, his ignorance of the silk- '. worm, and misrepresentations concerning the manufacture of silk, 18. Isnard on the culture of silk ; his ', authority long considered un- '. questionable, 113. J. Jacquard, M., a practical weaver '. of Lyons, the inventor of the Jacquard loom, 201. Jacquard loom, the, a description [ of, 202. Alteration and improve- ment of, noticed and rewarded by the Society of Arts, 208. An- other alteration and improve- ment of, 209. Obstacles to its original introduction into Lyons, 211. James I. of England, repeals the statute forbidding the English citizens to wear silk, 31. En- deavors to introduce the rearing of silkworms in England, 35. And into his American colonies, 36. Jennings, Mr., his improvements of the Jacquard machine, 209. Jones, an engine maker, improves the draw-boy, 200. Justinian, Emperor, 15. Sends em- bassies to Elasbaan, king of Axuma and Esimiphaeus ; injures the silk trade by heavy duties, 20. Takes the manufacture of silk into his own hands, 22. K. Keyslar, his account of the estima- tion in which English silk stock- ings were held at Naples, in 1730, 33 Kos, the island of, silk manufac- tured in, at an early period, 16. Xj. Lea, Rev. William, of St. John's college, Cambridge, inventor of the stocking frame, 33. Goes to France by the invitation of Henry IV., accompanied by sev- eral journeymen ; establishes his looms at Rouen; abandons his establishments ; dies in Paris, ib. Lemery, his commentary on Pomet's work, 114. Asserts that silkworms have a medicinal vir- - tue, 247. Levantine, a kind of silk, 240. Linn sus enumerates seven distinct species of the mulberry tree, 86. Locke notices the use of damask as an unwarrantable luxury, 238. Lombe, Mr., of Derby, erects a stupendous throwing mill on the river Derwent, at Derby, 61. London, the nursery of the infant branches of the silk manufac- ture, 73. A silk manufacturer of, a comparative statement of the cost of gros-de-naples at Ly- ons and in London, drawn up by, 81. Loom, the simple, used in weaving plain silks, described, 180. Mode of its action, 181. Mounting the loom described, 184. Loom engine, Dutch, a description of, 189. Chiefly used in Cov- entry, 190. Louis XI. said to have first intro- duced silk into France, 30. Lucca, brocades manufactured in, 233. Lustres, 241. Lyons, the greatest silk manufac- turing city of France, 47. Low rate of wages paid for labor in, 176. M. Machiavel, his Memoirs of Cas- truccio Castracani, 233. Malpighius, his " Anatomy of the Silkworm," 101. , Malta, the island of, an establish- ment for the produce of silk in ; attended with success, 44. Maniak, a Sogdian prince, sent as 272 INDEX. ambassador to the king of Persia, 23. Marcellinus Ammianus, his de- scription of the Seres, 16. Margaret, daughter of Henry III. of England, marriage of, with Alexander III. of Scotland ; English knights appeared at the nuptials in cointises of silk, 26. Mary, queen of England, makes a law prohibiting the middle clas- ses of English citizens from wearing silk, 31. Mayet, his work on the culture of silk in the Prussian dominions, 42. His remarks on the mulberry tree, 88. Mephitic air, prejudicial to silk- worms, 133. Mezeray relates attempts made to breed silkworms in and near Paris, 34. Milan, trade of, with Antwerp, 31. Mills, throwing, constructed and worked in several cities of Italy, 28. Introduced in England, 61. Description of machinery, 166. Improved construction of those recently erected in the neighbor- hood of London, 175. Great improvements of, in England, not adopted in other countries, 176. Modena, silkworms reared in, yield a revenue to the state; its silk once esteemed the best in Lom- bardy, 28. Monteith, Mr., of Pollockshaw, near Glasgow, erects the first power-loom that was applied to the weaving of cotton fabrics, 219. Montpelier drops, prepared from spider silk, 145. Moth, a description of the coming forth of the ; manner of its ex- trication, 104. The time it is- sues from its concealment, 131. Moulting of silkworms described, 97. Mulberry trees, destruction of, in China, 24. Cultivation of, in France, first confined to Pro- vence, 35. Cultivation of, in Dauphine, Languedoc, Vivarais, Lyonnois, Gascony, and Saint- onge, ib. A considerable num- ber of white mulberry trees planted in America, 40. Growth of, in Malta, greater than in Italy ; growth of in St. Helena, 45. On the culture of ; different species of, described, 86. White mulberry planted in Europe ; came originally from China ; tinctoria mulberry not used for the nourishment of the silkworm, ib. Soil and situation most fa- vorable for, 88. Manner of raising it from layers, from seed, from cuttings, 89. Chinese man- ner of pruning and placing, 90.. Ingrafting the surest method of obtaining nutritious leaves from, ib. Nutritive qualities of, 92. The manner of preserving the leaves ; the quantity which may be taken from one tree in each year, 93. This tree sacred to the silkworm, 94. Muscle, the, called the caterpillar of the sea, 147. The power it possesses of continually pro- ducing new threads, 148. Silk produced from, 149. Murcia, silk manufacturers there, 30. N. Nan-kin, in China, its inexhaustible abundance of silk, 27. Nantes, the edict of the revocation of, 58. Some of the consequences of that measure, ib. Naples, its trade with Antwerp, 31. Neumann, his chemical examina- tion of silk, 246. Nollet, Mons., his account of the culture of silk in Tuscany, 91. Norwich, celebrated for its manu- facture of shawls, 242. O. Oppianus, the Greek poet, descrip- tion of the pinna by, 151. Organzine, its principal use, 166. Organzining, expense of, in France ; in London ; waste in the process of making it, 177. Ortolengi, an Italian gentleman, sent to Georgia to instruct the INDEX. 273 colonists in the Italian mode of producing silk, 38. P. Pamphila converts the silks of the Seres into transparent gauze, 16. Paris, mulberry trees planted near, 34. Park, Chelsea, planted with mul- berry trees, 37. Parliament, an act of, passed in 1765, prohibiting the importation of various descriptions of foreign silk goods into England, 64. Peter the Great, of Russia, causes mulberry trees to be planted and cultivated in his dominions, 41. Persia, for centuries the channel of communication between Rome and China ; its monopoly of the silk trade with India and China, 19. Furnishes silks to the in- habitants of Constantinople, 20. Two monks sent to China from ; they discover the labors of the silkworm, 21. Unite with the Chinese against the Turks, 23. °ersian, a very slight description of silk, 239. Piedmont, regulations and restric- tions in, for procuring regularity in size, and uniformity in the working of machines employed for reeling silk, 163. Govern- ment of, the oppressiveness and impolicv of, 164. Pinna, a adscript ion of, called the silkworm of the sea, 147. Spin- ning organ of, 148. Manner of forming its threads different from land insects, 149. "Its cancer friend," made the subject of poetry, 150. The nature of their alliance ; these fish found on the coast of Provence and Italy, and in the Indian Ocean, ib. Manner of taking it; the threads of, known to the ancients, 152. Pinnotores, a small species of crab, 151. Pliny asserts the silkworm to be a native of Kos, 16. His account of the silkworm, 18. His de- scription of the pinna, 151. Polo, Marco, his account of Cam- balu, the royal city of Persia, 26. Pomier, Mons., a treatise written by him on engrafting, 91. Pope, mention made by him of brocade, 236. Poplins, the best quality of, manu- factured in Dublin, 242. Pomet, chief druggist to Louis le Grand, 113. Power-loom, 216. Constructed by Mr. Austin of Glasgow, a model of which is placed in the repos- itory of the Society of Arts ; a description of, 220. Mode of its action, ib. Hand power-looms, 223. Mr. Sadler's invention, ib. Reasons against the use of power- looms in silk weaving, 224. Pullein, his directions for saving and preparing the seed of the mulberry tree, 88. An experi- ment by him, 94. R. Reaumur, M., the celebrated natu- ralist, 142. Appointed by the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, to inquire into the merits of silk produced by spiders ; the result of his investigation, 145. His observations on muscles, 148. Reel, a description of the, 155. Reeling described, 154. Establish- ments in France for the purpose, inferior to those of Italy, 163. Rhodes, Miss, of Yorkshire, 131. Her experiment of feeding silk- worms on lettuce leaves, 139. Ribands, plain, manner of weaving, 189. Great improvement in, 191. Equal to the finest description of foreign make, ib. Richards, an ingenious silk weaver, improves the draw-boy, 200. Roger I. king of Sicily, leads into captivity a considerable number of Greek silk weavers, whom he settled in Palermo, 25. Romans, supply most other parts of Europe with silk; possess the breed of silkworms, which had been transferred 600 years be> 274 INDEX. fore from the remotest part of the East, 25. Rome, the high price of silk in, 19. Rozier, Mons., experiments of, 122. Recommends the use of metallic conductors in silkworms' apart- ments, 123. Russia, establishments in, for man- ufacturing silk of native produc- tion, 42. S. Sanuto, Marino, a Venetian, pub- lishes a work entitled " Secrets of the Faithful," 29. Sardinia, king of, prohibits the ex- portation of raw silk, 62. Sarsnet, description of, 239. Satin, the manner in which it is made, 239. Sauvagues, Bossier de, his experi- ments as to the degree of heat which the silkworm can bear, 102. ScharThausen, silk manufactured in, 54. Scuttleflsh a deadly foe of the pinna, 150. Se, the name for silk in the Chi- nese language, 15. See-ling-shee, consort of Hoang- tee, her observations on the silk produced by the worm, 15. Seres, the designation given by the Greeks and Romans to the in- habitants of Sereinda, 15. Serica identical with Sereinda, 15. Sereinda, part of India lying be- yond the Ganges, 15. Sericum, or silk, various accounts given by several writers as to how it is produced, 18. Appro- priated in Rome wholly to wo- men of rank, ib. Shuttle, a description of, 185. Shuttle-box described, 195. Sicily, island of, quantity of silk ex- ported annually from, 52. Singles, the most simple process in silk throwing, 166. Smuggling, impossible to be pre- vented, 77. Moral evils attend- ing it, 78. Sogdians wish to supply Persia with silk, 23. Solomon's temple, no mention made of silk in the embellish- ment of, 17. Souflons, imperfect cocoons, 128. Spain, its progress in the manufac- ture of silk, 30. Spitalfields, a number of French emigrants settle in, 58. Spinning of silkworms, prepara- tions for, 111. Spiders, manner of producing their webs; the power they possess of producing threads of different degrees of tenuity, 142. Bags, 143. Small produce of silk from, 146. Staunton, Sir George, his account of the silk manufacture in China, 46. St. George, the military order of, the first riband that was attached to the decoration of, manufac- tured from the produce of the Achtouba colony in Russia, 42. St. Helena, island of, silkworms' eggs sent to, 45. Stockholm Journal gives an ac- count of the growth of silk in Sweden, 43. Stove-rooms, use of, 115. Temper- ature of, ib. St. Pierre, Louis de, brings to per- fection the art of making wine, and the production of silk at New Bordeaux in Carolina ; no- ticed by the Society of Arts ; presented by them with their gold medal, and a premium of 501, 39. Silk, time of its earliest use un- known ; first adopted in the East, 14. Extensive manufacture of, in Persia, Tyre, and Berytus, 16. Wrought silk brought from Per- sia by Alexander the Great, 17. Little known in Europe before the reign of Augustus; highly prized by the Romans, 18. Heavy duties laid on by the emperor Justinian ; rises in price in Con- stantinople, 20. Trade in, de- stroyed by Baichu, 24. Adopted in England shortly after the con- quest; successful establishment of, in Sicily, 26. First introduced into France by Louis XI. ; nu» INDEX 275 merous establishments for the production of, in Granada, 30. Improvement of, in England, 31. Becomes of national importance, 32. A very general manufacture in France, 34. An act passed for encouraging the growth of colonial, 38. An attempt to pro- duce silk in England, 44. Growth of, in Sweden, 43. The greatest quantity of, produced in Nan- kin, 46. Growth of, confined to the southern provinces of France; amount of, imported into Eng- land from China, 47. Prohibi- tion of the exportation of, from France, 51. Raw silk imported through France from Italy into England, ib. Lustrings and alamodes brought to great per- fection in England ; various kinds of, introduced by the French emigrants into England, 58. High duty on, abandoned, 71. Consequent great improve- ments in the manufacture of, 72. Duties chargeable upon the im- portation oft 84. Number of broods obtained in the year in China, 91. Attempts to produce silk from different animals, 141. Made from spiders' bags, man- ner of preparing, 143. Italian thrown, high protecting duty on the importation of; reduction of duty on, 174. English thrown, improved quality, 175. Manner of watering ; of embossing, 240, 241. Process for bleaching, 243. Chemical properties of, 246. A protection against malaria; for- merly used as a medicine, 247. The electric properties of, how first discovered, 248. Silkworm, the labors of, wholly confined to the Chinese, until the reign of the emperor Justinian, 15. Pliny's account of; Aristo- tle's account of, 18. Introduced into Constantinople by two Per- sian monks, 21. Fed with the leaves of the wild mulberry tree, ib. Successfully reared, in different parts of Greece, 23. Valuable breed of, alone pos- sessed by the Romans, in 1146, 25. An attempt made to breed at the Tuileries, Fontainebleau, and the castle of Madrid, 34. Attempts made in England to breed ; became a subject of in- terest in Virginia, 36. In Geor- gia and South Carolina, 38. Reared successfully at Bauen- hoff, in Livonia; an attempt made to rear in Russia, 41. Reared in England as objects of curiosity and amusement, 45. Solely subsists on the leaves of the mulberry tree, 86. The number of broods annually rear- ed in Asia, in the Isle of France, and in Tuscany, 91. Its small desire of locomotion, 96. A de- scription of, after moulting, 98. Spinning, a description of, 99. Count Dandolo's account of the various changes of, 101. Sudden transitions from cold to heat in- jurious to; Dr. Anderson's ac- count of the evolutions of, ib. Length of, at different ages, 106. Injuriously affected by change of climate; varieties of, 107. Mode of rearing, in China; sometimes reared on trees, 108, 109. Situation of rearing rooms ; number of meals in the day ; necessity of preventing damp, 110. Cleanliness necessary in the rearing of, 111. Space al- lotted to, ib. Building employed in India for the rearing of, ib. Mode of rearing in Europe; great degree of carefulness re- quired in the rearing of, 112. Absurdities formerly believed concerning, 113. Manner of con- veying to a considerable distance, 116. Necessity of classing ac- cording to their ages, 117. Regu- lation of temperature in the apartments of, while forming their cocoons ; will not spin in a cold atmosphere, 131. Effect of noise on; electric influence of, 121, 122. Labor required in the rearing of, 131. Diseases of, 132. Light not injurious to, 135. De- scription of apartments allotted 276 INDEX. to them in cottages ; ill effects | which arise to their attendants, 136. Attempts made to substi- tute other food for mulberry- leaves, 137. I Sub-sericum, a mixture of silk | with other fibres, worn in Rome, 19. Swayne, Rev. Mr., his apparatus for, during their caterpillar state, 117. His experiment as to the relative merits of different kinds of nourishment for silkworms, 138. Sweden, an attempt made to rear silkworms in, 43. Swinburne, travels in Calabria, 87. Switzerland, rapid progress of the silk manufacture in, 53. Symmer, Mr., his experiments on the electric properties of silk, 249. T. Temple, Sir William, his account of the trade of Antwerp, 31. Theophanes, his notice of silk, 17. Thome, Mons., his observations on engrafting mulberry trees, 90. Throwing, art of, brought from Italy ; improvements since made, 165. Throwsters, silk, incorporated in London, 56. Thuanus, his account of the in- troduction of silk into France, 30. Tram, a description of thrown silk, 166. Turkey supplies England with raw silk, 53. Tuscany, two broods of worms reared in the year there, 91. U. Utrecht, the treaty of, 59. V. Vaucanson, Mons., engaged by the French government; con- trives a machine similar to that of the Venetians, for producing damasqaitte, 233. Velvet, French, superiority of; its first introduction into England ; Chinese, inferior to that manu- factured in Europe, 225. The structure of; process of weaving, 226, 227. Sometimes woven with stripes, 228. German, ib. Ven-hien-tung, Chinese historian, 19. Venice, commercial relation of, with the Greek empire ; supplies the west of Europe with silk, 24. Manufacture of silk in high esteem ; practised w ithout degra- dation by the higher classes, 28. Virginia, a considerable number of mulberry trees planted in, but little silk produced, 37. W, Warping machine, description of; manner in which it is worked, 183. Weavers, stocking, incorporated by - royal ordinance in France, 49. Weaving, plain, antiquity of, in- volved in obscurity, 178. Little improvement in the apparatus for, 179. Indian, manner of ; figure, the art of, 192. Antiquity of; practised by the Egyptians at an early period, 194. Methods of, ib. Superiority of the French patterns, 214. Power, 215. Welter discovers " the bitter prin- ciple," 245. Westrum, his investigations of the chemical properties of silk, 246. Williams, Mrs., account of various trials which she made of vege- table substances as substitutes for mulberry leaves in feeding silkworms, 140. Winding machine described, 168, Z. Zonaras, his notice of silk, 17. Zurich, extensive silk manufacture of, 54. THE END. DR. LARDNER'S CABINET CYCLOPAEDIA. TO BE PUBLISHED IN MONTHLY VOLUMES, COMMENCING IN FEBRUARY. 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