DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1311#0296
256 THE GREAT EXHIBITION
proceed to notice one derived from a seemingly insignificant insect; yet it is the most
costly of all raw materials for textile purposes,—I allude to silk. The most valuable
kind of silk, and that which is the subject of the most extensive and pains-taking culture,
is the secretion of the larva of a species of moth, indigenous to China, called,par excellence,
the (silk-moth,' and by entomologists Bombyx mori, from its native and favourite food,
the leaves of the mulberry-tree. Raw silk was imported into Europe long before the
insect which produces it; hut the antiquity of this raw material for the richest of our
textile fabrics, by no means goes so far back as that of wool. There is no certain
reference to silk in any part of the Old Testament; the Hebrew word so rendered by
King James's translators (Ezekiel, xvi., 10, 13) may signify "fine flax;" and the learned
Braunius concludes that silk was unknown to the Hebrews. The first definite mention
of silk, with a notice of the creature producing it, is in the fifth book of the Historia
Animalktm of Aristotle. He indicates the island of Cos as the place where silk was woven
into cloth: and he mentions (cap. xix., p. 850, Duval) four states of the insect which
produces silk, under the terras skolex, kampe, bombulios, and nekudalos; and these terms
were understood by ancient writers after Aristotle, and no doubt correctly, to signify the
states which modern entomologists would call the ' young larva/ the mature or ' spinning
larva/ the c pupa/ with its cocoon, and the ' imago/ or perfect insect. In the New
Testament, the use of silk is mentioned once unmistakeably (Revelation, xviii. 12). The
beautiful illustration of the Christian doctrine of the resurrection, which Basil, in the '
year of our Lord 370, drew from insect-metamorphoses, shows plainly that he had
obtained his facts by a perusal of the famous zoological treatise of Aristotle :—' "What have
you to say, who disbelieve the assertion of the Apostle Paul concerning the change at
the resurrection, when you see many of the inhabitants of the air changing their forms ?
Consider, for example, the account of the horned worm of India, which, having first
changed into a caterpillar (eruca or veruca), then in process of time becomes a cocoon
(bombylius or bombulio), and does not continue even in this form, but assumes light and
expanding wings. Ye women, who sit winding upon bobbins the produce of these animals
—namely, the threads which these Seres send to you for the manufacture of fine garments
—bear in mind the change of form in this creature, derive from it a clear conception of
the resurrection, and discredit not that transformation which Paul announces to us all/
Galen judiciously recommends silk threads for tying blood-vessels in surgical operations.
The Roman poets and satirists made frequent mention of the luxurious silken clothes and
attire, which were introduced at an enormous expense during the period of the empire.
The silk so obtained was exported from Persia and India; but whether the Bombyx mori
had been introduced into those countries at that period, or whether the raw material was
obtained from China, is uncertain. That silk was most abundant in China we learn
from the oldest records of the singular people inhabiting that country, where, from an
early period, not only the mandarins, but all persons in easy circumstances, as well
male as female, have worn silk, satin, or damask clothes. Even the uniforms of the
soldiers were made then, as now, of this elsewhere considered so valuable material. Of
the wild original of the Bombyx mori there is the same incertitude as with regard to most
domesticated animals. The description which is given by M. Bertin in his work entitled
China, its Costumes, Arts, and Manufactures, seems to refer, as M. Latreille remarks, to
the large Phaltena atlas. The wild silk-worm is there said to curve a leaf into a kind of
cup, and then to form a cocoon as large and nearly as hard as a hen's egg. These wild
cocoons are so strong and so compact, that the insects have great difficulty in extricating
themselves, and therefore remain enclosed from the end of the summer to the spring of
the following year. These moths fly well. The domestic silk-moth, on the contrary,
soon extricates itself, and has very feeble powers of flight. "The wild silk-moth feeds
proceed to notice one derived from a seemingly insignificant insect; yet it is the most
costly of all raw materials for textile purposes,—I allude to silk. The most valuable
kind of silk, and that which is the subject of the most extensive and pains-taking culture,
is the secretion of the larva of a species of moth, indigenous to China, called,par excellence,
the (silk-moth,' and by entomologists Bombyx mori, from its native and favourite food,
the leaves of the mulberry-tree. Raw silk was imported into Europe long before the
insect which produces it; hut the antiquity of this raw material for the richest of our
textile fabrics, by no means goes so far back as that of wool. There is no certain
reference to silk in any part of the Old Testament; the Hebrew word so rendered by
King James's translators (Ezekiel, xvi., 10, 13) may signify "fine flax;" and the learned
Braunius concludes that silk was unknown to the Hebrews. The first definite mention
of silk, with a notice of the creature producing it, is in the fifth book of the Historia
Animalktm of Aristotle. He indicates the island of Cos as the place where silk was woven
into cloth: and he mentions (cap. xix., p. 850, Duval) four states of the insect which
produces silk, under the terras skolex, kampe, bombulios, and nekudalos; and these terms
were understood by ancient writers after Aristotle, and no doubt correctly, to signify the
states which modern entomologists would call the ' young larva/ the mature or ' spinning
larva/ the c pupa/ with its cocoon, and the ' imago/ or perfect insect. In the New
Testament, the use of silk is mentioned once unmistakeably (Revelation, xviii. 12). The
beautiful illustration of the Christian doctrine of the resurrection, which Basil, in the '
year of our Lord 370, drew from insect-metamorphoses, shows plainly that he had
obtained his facts by a perusal of the famous zoological treatise of Aristotle :—' "What have
you to say, who disbelieve the assertion of the Apostle Paul concerning the change at
the resurrection, when you see many of the inhabitants of the air changing their forms ?
Consider, for example, the account of the horned worm of India, which, having first
changed into a caterpillar (eruca or veruca), then in process of time becomes a cocoon
(bombylius or bombulio), and does not continue even in this form, but assumes light and
expanding wings. Ye women, who sit winding upon bobbins the produce of these animals
—namely, the threads which these Seres send to you for the manufacture of fine garments
—bear in mind the change of form in this creature, derive from it a clear conception of
the resurrection, and discredit not that transformation which Paul announces to us all/
Galen judiciously recommends silk threads for tying blood-vessels in surgical operations.
The Roman poets and satirists made frequent mention of the luxurious silken clothes and
attire, which were introduced at an enormous expense during the period of the empire.
The silk so obtained was exported from Persia and India; but whether the Bombyx mori
had been introduced into those countries at that period, or whether the raw material was
obtained from China, is uncertain. That silk was most abundant in China we learn
from the oldest records of the singular people inhabiting that country, where, from an
early period, not only the mandarins, but all persons in easy circumstances, as well
male as female, have worn silk, satin, or damask clothes. Even the uniforms of the
soldiers were made then, as now, of this elsewhere considered so valuable material. Of
the wild original of the Bombyx mori there is the same incertitude as with regard to most
domesticated animals. The description which is given by M. Bertin in his work entitled
China, its Costumes, Arts, and Manufactures, seems to refer, as M. Latreille remarks, to
the large Phaltena atlas. The wild silk-worm is there said to curve a leaf into a kind of
cup, and then to form a cocoon as large and nearly as hard as a hen's egg. These wild
cocoons are so strong and so compact, that the insects have great difficulty in extricating
themselves, and therefore remain enclosed from the end of the summer to the spring of
the following year. These moths fly well. The domestic silk-moth, on the contrary,
soon extricates itself, and has very feeble powers of flight. "The wild silk-moth feeds