USES AND FABRICS OF SILK. 127 



SECTION XLI. 



USES AND FABRICS OF SILK. 



VELVET. One of the richest and most beautiful 

 fabrics of silk is velvet. This, however, is compara- 

 tively of modern invention in Italy. But the most 

 beautiful are now produced in Germany, and latterly in 

 England. The plain silks are variously denominated. 



Persian Sarsnets, Gros de Naples, Ducapes, and a 

 great variety with other names, belong to the class of 

 plain silks, and differ only in the thickness of the fabric, 

 or in the quality of the materials which are used in the 

 manufacture. Persian silk is extremely flimsy in its 

 texture, and has been nearly superseded by sarsnet. 

 Sarsnet, which formerly constituted the main materials 

 for garments, is now chiefly employed for lining them. 



Gros de Naples is now used to form the substance of 

 garments, and for this purpose has taken the place of 

 the former qualities. It is stouter and harder thrown, 

 and is woven with greater care and labor, the threads 

 made more close and compact. Ducapes are also stout, 

 plain wove silk, but the texture is softer than Gros de 

 Naples. 



Gauze is a very thin, light, transparent substance, 

 much used for veils for more common use. It is sup- 

 posed to derive its name from Gaza, a city near the 

 confines of Egypt, in Palestine. 



Silk Damask is a stout, compact, twilled fabric, 

 usually of one color, but of a variety of figured pat- 

 terns. It was formerly employed for garments, but its 

 use is now principally confined to ornamental furniture 

 for the decoration of houses and of churches. The 

 manufacture is supposed to have come from Damascus. 



The French have long had an imitation of Damask 

 called Cafard, or counterfeit, which was formed, the 



