The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-14 00:00:00

A SUBSTITUTE FOR SILK WORMS.

Happily, there would seem now to be little need of the
eria, or the Chinese silkworm, or of the cocoon of com-
merce, for the production of silk will are long in all proba-
bility be derived, not from the worm, but the leaf on which
it has hitherto existed. It is now not the breeding of the
insect, but of the mulberry tree—that species which was
its only food, and which from that circumstance gave the
savant the cue that led to his making the intimated disco-
very. His name has not yet been announced, although
we should imagine it was none other than Signor Lotteri,
who in the course of last year fully ascertained that a silky
substance could be procured from the bark of the mulberry
tree, and that by maceration good silk, and paper also,
could be easily prepared therefrom. The savant in ques-
tion, ruminating, it is said, on the circumstance of the
silkworm living on one description of food, came to the
conclusion that "the silky substance must lie not in the
animal, but the vegetable matter" which supported it.
He therefore "analysed the composition of the mulberry-
leaf, and, by boiling it to a thick paste, produced every
description of silk in immense quantities." Such a sub-
stance being obtained from that species of leaf, it is not at
all unlikely that from the Chinese oak and the castoroil
plant a somewhat similar result might be obtained. Be
that as it may, and the truth of the other being shortly,
corroborated, neither Moreton-bay need sigh for the intro-
duction of the cotton plant, nor the northern and southern
States of America shed their blood for the suppression or
in the defence of slavery, nor England much longer play
the hypocrite by condemning that accursed "institution"
with one breath and with another admitting the expedi-
ency of, at all hazards, strenously upholding it. This is
the land—every land within the temperale zone is, more or
less—favourable to the rearing of the vine, the mulberry,
and the olive. Every one, therefore, the possessor or oc-
capier of a small spot of ground therein, may rear the
great substitute for cotton, and, in so doing, weaken more
and more this lamentable and apparently indispensablet
adhesion to slavery. He may " put money in his purse ;
and, clothing his family and himself in " silk attire—such
as Imperial Caesar had not dared to wear—drawn from the
branches that give him shade and refreshing sustenance
by day and by night afford him the sleep of contentment,
he may well thank Heaven that he is permitted to reap
the fruits, though he have shared not the labours, of the
thoughtful and perhaps ill-recompensed analyser of the
enigmatical phases of nature. He may cheerfully and
confidingly believe thenceforth that in the varied produce
tions that she surrounds him with lie hid the main causes
of the world's progress, and the renewing sources of peace
and goodwill to men.— Sydney Empire.

MELANCHOLY FATALlTY.—Yesterday Mr. Wakley,
coroner for West Middlesex, held an inquest at the Mar-
quis of Hastings, Ossulton-street, Clarendon square, on
Mrs. Eliza Calkin, the wife of a dancing-master, aged
35, who died under the following dis'ressing circum-
stances :—The deceased resided with her husband in Bar-
clay-street, and with the exception of occasior•al fits she
erjoyed very good health. On Monday moreirg. that be-
ing her birth-day, she awoke her husband, complaining
that her nose was bleeding. The bleeding left eff in a
few minutes, when the husband remarked, " Ah, this
is your birthday, and many returns of the day." They
then kissed one another, but almost immediately the
hapless deceased complained of her head, and her hus-
band then got out of bed to procure some vinegar to
bathe it with, but on returning to they bed•ide be
found the deceased in. an unconscious state, and she
never spoke afterwards. Mr. Mentufore, a medical
attendar t of the family, was at once sent for and
quickly arrived, when the most prompt and ac!ive treat-
ment was at once resorted to, but unavailingly, as the
poor woman gradually sank and died the same afternoon.
Mr. Mentmore, who performed the post mortetn txami-
ration, proved that death arose from an extensive ext.' a-
vasation in and upon the brain ; and the Coroner, in
commenting upon the painful nature of the case, gave it
as his opinion that the fatal attack might have bet
broughtlabout by excessive enaction or jay. The jiffy
recorded a verdict in accordance with the medical testi-
mony, and the inquiry terminated.