Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1890-10-25
SILK FROM THE SPIDER
DIFFICULTIES IN THE Way or PRO-
ouclNc QUANTITIES.

ouclNc QUANTITIES.
The Method of an Rngffshnamn NAMED
stiIibers Compared with ths Researches
Of Noted Frenchmen s4 essss wfth
Am.riean aud African rns4 els.
M. Emile Gantier, o French writer,
in an article the history of
piders from the consoler of the prisoner
oellison down TO the nntritd I've spider In
whom the gcometrician Laplace found
he flavor of nut.
There are also. IL appears, spinning
spiders. whose web can be used to weave
serviceable stuffs. and according to old
iocuments dealing with the subject, NJ.
Bon, president Of the court of accounts
OF Montpelier. sent, m carly as 170e.
mittens and stockings made of spiders
web TO the Academy Of Sciences.
He set to work in the following man.
ner: Having collected large number Of
spiders cocoons he beat them 30 as to
expel all dust. Then he washed them
carefully in warm water and allowed
them to boil for three hours In pot con-
tanning water, soap, saltpeter and httls
gum arabic. The cocoons. after being
washed and carefully dried, were at last
carded with extremely fine combs.
This was. of course. q very primitive
proceeding NJ. Bon obtained n gray
thread with which he was able TO make
the articles before mentioned. The
pamphlet which he published regarding
his experiment obtained considerable
success, and was translated into several
languages.
FRENCH EXPERIMENTS.
Fifty years later, in 1859, the Abbe
Raymond de Termeyer made expert
ments in America, in Spain, and In
Italy. He worked ON the living spiders,
whose web he wound on bobbin as fast
as Ii came out This abbe was remark
ably patient and tenacious, for he car
ried on this operation uninterruptedly
for thirty-four years from 1762 TO 1885,
but apparently all his labor was In vain,
for he only succeeded in obtaining e73
grammes of cobweb as q result of his
thirty -four years work.
The question, however seemed suf-
hciently interesting to the Academy Of
Sciences Of Paris to induce them to
charge the celebrated Heaumur with
the drawing up of report ON the inven-
ton Of M. Bon.
Reaumur arrived at conclusions very
unfavorable to the developmentof cob
web industry. Stuff, he said. made of 30
called spiders silk could not be employed
in the manufacture Of any useful article,
on account Of its fragileness.
The strength of the silk thread was
ninety times greater than that Of the
other, and 1t required $4,000 threads Of
spiders web to furnish sdlidity equal to
| that OF one silsen thread The learned
entomologist demonstrated further that
/ twice as many spiders as silkworms
were needed to produce the same guam
I tity of thread. so that 10 provide one
pound Of spiders silk q, 900 spiders
would have to spin. To obtain such =
number Of cocoons a much larger num-
ber of spiders would have 70 be kept, for
only the females spin web round eggs.
Then, again, the product OF the spider
had less luster than that Of the silk
worm. Reaumur added. however, that
although there was no future for the
spiders of France, except TO catch blue
bottles and flies, the exotic kinds might
repay the lab'r Of study.
AN ESoIIsHMAN's SUCCESS.
The idea has recently been taken mp
by an Englishman named Stillbers, who
has made cloth of spiders web which has
been employed for the purposes Of sur
gerry. He only uses tropical spiders.
from which. thanks TO q scientific cult
ure, he has obtained n much greater re-
turn than was foreseen by Reaumur.
The spiders which he uses are big ones
from America and Afr lea They are
placed in octagonal case. where a sufti-
cheney of insects is servei TO them every
day. In the room where the cases are
kept a constant temperature Of 90 deg.
(Fahrenheit) is maintain4d. and liquid
composed of chloroform. ether and fusel
oil is allowed slowly to ekaporate. That
is to say. spiders spin best when they
are drunk
Mr.. Stillbers keeps 5000 OF these cases
in room forty meters long by twenty
wide and five high. The spiders lay
eggs of various colorsa covered with
cocoons. These are gathered up and
prepared by the same mechanical and
chemical operations as the cocoon OF the
bombyx.
One cocoon yields 100 10 $50 meters Of
thread. The weaving process is kept
absolutely secret.
The stuff obtained Is of . texture 70
sembling ordinary silk, but thick, stid,
and of dirty gray color. II Is all tbs
more necessary to bleach IL because the
color is by no means uniform. It u
bleached by treatment with oxygenized
water. Then it is tanned and softened.
II assumes a pretty yellow tint, and be-
comes brilliant and smooth.
To make thread ., 700 kilometers in
length %. 900 eocoons are requisite. Thii
is n great advance ON fkeaumur's calcu
lnfions. But still 20 ,0dO cocoons only
supply thread Of 800 rench leagues In
length. The stuff obtained must be sold
at a very high price IN order TO Obtain
the merest compensation for all thi'
trouble and expense. Proprietors %
mulberry trees and silkworms need MOI
I've afraid of the competition OF the spidsl
Eaa.