J 792. 6n 3ilh ivorms. I79 



frames reserved to be afterwards placed over the 

 other. 



By this mode of management it is probable that 

 the worms would be saved from the diseases engen- 

 dered bj the mephitic air ; and the numerous deaths 

 that are th* consequence of it avoided. 



But still farther to insure this salutary effect, ano-- 

 fher measure, recommended by some philosophers,, 

 might be conjoined with it. Every one now knows 

 that quicklime absorbs fixed air with great rapidity. 

 From this known property of quicklime Mr Blan~- 

 card, a gentleman in France, by way of experiment, 

 went even so far as to strew quicklime upon the 

 worms themselves *. This harfli procefs, he found 

 not only did not kill the worms, but they continued 

 in health, and more vigorous than before, and yield- 

 ed larger cocoons thai others which had not been so 

 treated. Instead of this mode of applying quicklime, 

 however, I fhould advise rather to strew a thin stra- 

 tum of freih slaked quicklime upon the slip board,, 

 each time it was cleaned, immediately before it was- 

 put into its place. This would absorb the mephitic 

 gas as it was generated, and descended' upon the sur- 

 face of the quicklime. Thus would the worms be 

 kept continually in an atmosphere of pure airf. 

 Were the walls of the apartment to be frequently 



• Memtins par la iOckU royaU d' agriculture, de Paris ; trimestre de triH- 

 ttms, 1789. 



f To put this question beyond a doubt, Mr BLncard made the fol- 

 lowing comparative experiments, which were several limes repeated. 



" I procured," says he, " fo«r glifs jars, aine inches high, and five in 

 diameter, cJftsing the mouth with Cork stoppirs. After which 1 placed in 

 each of them, in their second life, (so 1 translate mue, which means the 

 stage between the difiisrtnt sicknsfsts,) twelve silk worms, which v.ere 

 fed four times a-day; a«d Mihich I corfined in this kind ol prison all 



