14 UTILIZATION OP MINUTE LIFE. 



country, and known by the name of Tlie Golden 

 Tree, two thousand six hundred years before the 

 Christian era. 



The insect was afterwards transported to Hin- 

 dostan, where it was reared successfully for some 

 time in the province of Seres, whence came the 

 denomination Sericum, given by the Romans to the 

 product of the silkworm. Persia and many other 

 countries of Asia began in their turns to profit by the 

 cultivation of the Bombyx mori, which industry is 

 still carried on there. The vessels and caravans of 

 the Phoenicians carried the Asiatic silk to the prin- 

 cipal markets of antiquity. 



The mode of producing and manufacturing this 

 precious material was kept secret by many means, 

 and consequently was not known in Europe till 

 long after the Christian era had commenced. It was 

 first learnt, we are told, about the year 550, by two 

 monks, who, having concealed in hollow canes some 

 eggs of the silkworm-moth procured in India, has- 

 tened to Constantinople, where the insects speedily 

 multiplied, and were subsequently introduced into 

 Italy, where silk was long a peculiar and stable 

 article of commerce. It was not cultivated in 

 France till the time of Henri IV., who, consider- 

 ing that mulberry trees grew in his kingdom as 

 well as in Italy, resolved to introduce the silkworm, 

 and appears to have succeeded perfectly. However, 



