Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1896-09-27
THE SILK WORM.
Tho Old Spinner and tho New Ma
chine Arrayed One Against the
Other.
There are no little things.

There are no little things.
wasp is but q small affair.
But patience. how he stlngs.
sings the poet. And II is true of even so
small an affair as a worm. 1t seems 4 very
insignificant thing when we crush the I'M
wary earth worm on the wet sidewalk.
but when he co-operates with his fellows
the worm becomes an important factor IN
natures economy.
The silk worm is the prince Of tho worm
kingdom. No other has been the object Of
so much consideration as he: none has cut
such a tremendous figure i'm commercial
and Industrial affairs. No o,hor worm
has tempted fair princesses and sodate
clergymen TO be disloyal TO their country's
laws.
The silk worm has n fascinating history
that dates away back beyond the days Of
Cleopatra and the Queen of Shoba. II Ga
particularly interesting just now because
the silk worm has reached q critical period
in its history. II threatens to go the way
OF many another me-honored thing.
The old and the new. the worm and tho
machine. have met. and the chances arc
that i'm this instance. as In ~ many others,
the machine will conquer, the new will SUI
percede the old. A machine has been in
vented which threatens fo drive the worm
out of business. The silks of the future
will probably be made OF sprucewood saw
dust and a few chemicals.
silk culture was once one Of the cher
ished secrets of China, and very slow in
deed was it's progress 10 Italy and France.
where it has grown 20 such tremendous
proportions. There IS an interesting little
tale to account for the escape Of the secret
from China. A Chinese princess. they
say. was married to an Indian prince. Be
fore she went away TO her new home sho
>grew very homcsick and when she heard
that no mulberry trees grew about her new
palace and that no silk gowns were to DO
had unless they were imported from chi
ma. she straightway bid a few mulberry
seeds and silk worms eggs I'm her hair and
carried them away 10 her new home.
Anyone who has observed the Chinese
woman's couture viii have no difficulty IN
believing that tale. From India the SILK
worm and mulberry Travelled somehow 70
Persia. Each nation in its turn seems TO
have been anxious mat the secret should
go no further, and to have stringent laws
against taking worms eggs or mulberry
seeds out of the country.
Another piece of faithlessncss was tho
means Of introducing the silk industry 10
the western world. About the year oOb so
runs the story, two Persian priests Wer'
exiled from their native land. and proDa-
blv as n means Of revenge. as well as TO IN
sure their favorable reception TN n str'ng'
country. they carried seeds and eggs VIVA
them in hollow canes i'm due time iAh
precious secret was impaired to the E'H-
peror of Constantinoplo Looms won"
I'D i'm the imperial palace and ladies o.l
the weaving. According To- tradiH'n' -
the silk worms of the western ""'Ii AFRO
descended from those brought .n tae
TO Constantinople in the year .'. '"'y
once since has there been AN impoi '''-
importation of eggs from Asia IN'' WIS
about 1860 when the late Or. Iast.Ir "'"-
10 the silk-growing regions of Fr'n'. It'd
etudv n germ sease which threat. It'd
destroy the Industry. Pastcur solved l"'
nroblem very simply by adv ine ' return
to nature. Worms were rear.l 200 lhr OFF. Pr.
air and only healthy moths were a"'"-1
TO breed.
And now. after all these centuries '-
trouble. comes a Swiss inventor VINO c.i'''.i
70 be able 10 make silk. which looh- every
hit as good as the worms product. from ~
infusion Of sawdust and alcohol