The daily gazette., 1882-05-06
the ANrToUIrY OF SILK.
Thousands of People whose Existence
Depends Upon the SILK WOrm-SOmo
Interesting Facts.

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Depends Upon the SILK worm-sOme
Interesting Facts.
Progress
Without speaking of other countries, there
are upon the soil of France alone more than
800, 600 persons whose living depends upon
the well-being Of little worm-spinners,
Weavers, dyers, designers, ETC., q whole
army, that a sick caterpillar sufiices to put
to rout. The manufacture of silk Is to
France what that of cotton is to us; and
disease among the silk worms Is as great a
misfortune as TO us would be the failure of q
cotton crop. Silk holds among textile
fabrics as high place as gold does among
metals. One would not suppose that Its
tenaclty is equal TO that Of good iron; but 1t
Is true that thread of silk will support
nearly the same weight as one of iron of the
same size. Its richness and beauty OF
appearance, It's unehangeableness, and
various other excellent qualities, have made
It valued and sought after by all nations and
In all ages of the world. To China belongs
the honor of the discovery and the applica-
tiOn Of silk, and 1t is still the most import
ant country for its production. The
Chinese records give the Emperor Han-N
the merit Of having invented musical instru-
ments for whose strings he used silk, and
that was 3400 years before Christ.
The Empress Si-Ling-Chi was the first
who had the idea of raising silk worms and
making silk tissues of their cocoons, 1850
B. G. This invention, 30 advantageous to
her country, caused her to be placed among
the Chinese divinities under the name of
Sien Thsan. Once year the Chinese En-
peror ploughs the earth to give dignity to
agriculture and the Empress visits the silk
worm nurseries every year and works little
with her own hands to honor and encourage
this industry. 1t is certain that more than
1900 years b. g. they wore silk vestments
in China and carried on an active commerce
In silk with Persia, Greece and Italy. But
the nature of silk was unknown for a long
time. The silken stuffs were sent abroad
but the expectation of the worms was for
hidden under penalty of death. Thus the
monopoly of this manufacture was secured
to China. But after some centuries 1t spread
to Persia, India, Syria, PhRnicia, Babylon,
etc. Tyre became central depot for the
silks exported from the most distant
countries of Asia. In all these countries
which sent their precious productions to the
West, and especially to the Roman empire,
they guarded jealousy the secret of its cul-
ture, and the world was ignorant Of the
real origin of silk. The Jews, who were
great silk merchants, knew nothing of its
fabrication. At Rome, Virgil, Seneca and
Juvenal gravely repeated, on the faith of
some travellers, that this substance came
from the down of mulberry leaves which
was detached in boiling water.
This state of things continued until the
sixth century, when two Persian monks,
who had lived a long time in China as mis-
sionaries, and were acquainted with the
rearing of silk worms, succeeded In conveyss
ing large number of eggs to Constanti-
nople. Stimulated by the gifts and prom
taa S,f H.. Nt,.sn b,I
braved the death penalty, and brought home
the eggs concealed under their frocks In hol-
low'pieces of bamboo, and in Constantinople
they watched the Matching of the precious
eggs and the development of the butterflies.
This was the beginning of the naturalization
of silk In Europe, but the breeding of silk
worms spread very slowly there. About the
beginning of the eleventh century the Moors
brought them into Spain. Greece and Italy
took II in hand century later. Early in
the fourteenth century Pope Clement V. in
troduced 1t into Avignon Tin the south of
France). Louis XIV. encouraged, but
rather unsuecessfully, the production of
cOcoOns and the spinning of silk.
The weaving of silk goods with foreign
threads made great progress until the cruel
and unwise revocation of the edict of Nantes,
in 1885, after which both the spinning and
weaving of silk lost ground. 1t is said that
100000 Protestant French subjects, work
men for the greater part, left their country
when they could not have freedom of con
science there. Among them were many
skilled silk workers, and these brave-hearted
emigrants carried this beautiful industry into
Switzerland, Germany and England, thus
raising an active competition against
France. A hundred years earlier than this
in 1855, when the Duke of Parma sacked
Antwerp, its silk workers fled to England
where they were encouraged by the govern
ment, but the damp climate was not favor
able to rearing the worm and little progress
was made. At present, while only France
Italy and the Oriental nations devote them
selves largely TO the culture of the mulberry
and the raising of the worms, yet thu
spinning Of silk thread and the weaving o
tissues from cocoons and raw silk imported
is carried on in almost every country Of tn,
world.