DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19575#0288
S I L 263
SILK, a very foft, hne, bright, delicate thread ; the work
of an infect, called a Silk-jwotm.
The ancients were but very little acquainted with the ufeand
manufacture of Silk. They took it for the work of a kind of
fpider, or beetle, who fpun it out of its entrails, and wound it
with its feet about the little branches of trees. This infect they
called Ser, from Seres a people in Scythia, who kept it; whence,
the Silk itfelf the Latins named Sericum. But the Ser has very
little affinity with our Silk-worm, bombyx ; the former living
five years; but the latter dying yearly, inveloped in a yellowifh
cover or ball, which, being wound out into little threads, makes
what is called Silk. The art of manufacturing Silk was firft in-
vented in the ifle, of Cos ; Silk was brought to the Romans from
Seres, where the worm was a native.
This occafione?! Silk to be a very fcarce commodity among
them for feveral ages; it was even fold weight for weight with
gold; infomuch that, as Vopifcus informs us, the emperor Au-
relian refufed the emprefs his confort a fuit of Silk, merely on
account of its dearnefs. At length two monks, coming from the
Indies to Conftantinople in the year 555, brought with them
Jarge quantities of Silk-worms, with instructions for the hatch-
ing; of their eggs; alfo rearing and feeding of the worms, draw-
ing out the Silk, and fpinning and working it. Upon which,
manufactures were fet up at Athens, Thebes, and Corinth.
About the year 1130, a Silk manufacture at Palermo was efta-
blifhed by Roger King of Sicily, as alfo another in Calabria,
managed by artificers, who were part of the plunder brought from
Athens, Corinth, &c. whereof that prince made a conqueft in
his expedition to the Holy land. And, by degrees, the reft of
Italy and Spain learned from the Calabriacs and Sicilians the
ordering of the Silk-worms, and working of the Silk : And af-
terwards the French, by right of neighbourhood, a little before
the reign of Francis I, began to imitate them. The great ad-
vantage this new manufacture turned to, induced our king
James L to be very earneft for its being introduced into Eng-
land. Accordingly it was feveral times recommended from the
throne, in the mo ft earneft terms, to plant mulberry-trees, &c.
for the propagation of Silk-worms; but, unhappily, without
effect : Though, from the various experiments found in the
Philofophical Tranfactions, and other pieces, it appears, that
the Silk-worm thrives, and works as well, in every reipcct, in
England, as in any other part of Europe.
The Silk-worm is an infect remarkable, both ror the precious
matter it furnifhes for divers {tuffs, and alfo on account of the
various forms it affumes, before as well as after its being inveloped
in the rich cod or ball it weaves itfelf. From a grain, or feed*
S 4 which
SILK, a very foft, hne, bright, delicate thread ; the work
of an infect, called a Silk-jwotm.
The ancients were but very little acquainted with the ufeand
manufacture of Silk. They took it for the work of a kind of
fpider, or beetle, who fpun it out of its entrails, and wound it
with its feet about the little branches of trees. This infect they
called Ser, from Seres a people in Scythia, who kept it; whence,
the Silk itfelf the Latins named Sericum. But the Ser has very
little affinity with our Silk-worm, bombyx ; the former living
five years; but the latter dying yearly, inveloped in a yellowifh
cover or ball, which, being wound out into little threads, makes
what is called Silk. The art of manufacturing Silk was firft in-
vented in the ifle, of Cos ; Silk was brought to the Romans from
Seres, where the worm was a native.
This occafione?! Silk to be a very fcarce commodity among
them for feveral ages; it was even fold weight for weight with
gold; infomuch that, as Vopifcus informs us, the emperor Au-
relian refufed the emprefs his confort a fuit of Silk, merely on
account of its dearnefs. At length two monks, coming from the
Indies to Conftantinople in the year 555, brought with them
Jarge quantities of Silk-worms, with instructions for the hatch-
ing; of their eggs; alfo rearing and feeding of the worms, draw-
ing out the Silk, and fpinning and working it. Upon which,
manufactures were fet up at Athens, Thebes, and Corinth.
About the year 1130, a Silk manufacture at Palermo was efta-
blifhed by Roger King of Sicily, as alfo another in Calabria,
managed by artificers, who were part of the plunder brought from
Athens, Corinth, &c. whereof that prince made a conqueft in
his expedition to the Holy land. And, by degrees, the reft of
Italy and Spain learned from the Calabriacs and Sicilians the
ordering of the Silk-worms, and working of the Silk : And af-
terwards the French, by right of neighbourhood, a little before
the reign of Francis I, began to imitate them. The great ad-
vantage this new manufacture turned to, induced our king
James L to be very earneft for its being introduced into Eng-
land. Accordingly it was feveral times recommended from the
throne, in the mo ft earneft terms, to plant mulberry-trees, &c.
for the propagation of Silk-worms; but, unhappily, without
effect : Though, from the various experiments found in the
Philofophical Tranfactions, and other pieces, it appears, that
the Silk-worm thrives, and works as well, in every reipcct, in
England, as in any other part of Europe.
The Silk-worm is an infect remarkable, both ror the precious
matter it furnifhes for divers {tuffs, and alfo on account of the
various forms it affumes, before as well as after its being inveloped
in the rich cod or ball it weaves itfelf. From a grain, or feed*
S 4 which