THE MODERN HISTORY OF SILK. 189 



intention of nature. The eggs of Silk Worms have, 

 in this country, been generally consigned to the care 

 of young people, and chiefly those of the female sex. 

 They have been preserved in bureaus, and chests of 

 drawers, in rooms where fires have been constantly 

 kept during the winter season. In the spring, as 

 soon as the influence of the sun began to be powerful, 

 the eagerness of youthful curiosity had caused them 

 to be removed to windows, where the sun exerted its 

 full power, or even increased in warmth by passing 

 through the glass ; and, in this situation, they have 

 been generally forced into existence within a few 

 hours, in a season when the temperature of the air 

 was unfit for them, and their proper food could not be 

 procured. 



Mrs Williams has proved, that the hatching of the 

 eggs of Silk Worm Moths may be accelerated, and 

 has averred, that it is even possible to hatch them in 

 the middle of winter ; and Miss Rhodes proved that 

 they may be retarded beyond the usual time. For 

 she found that, in 1783, her Silk Worm eggs were 

 not hatched until the 2d of June, and not even then 

 without being placed in the sunshine, and Mr Swain 

 retarded them till the middle of June, when they were 

 vivified by exposure to the influence of the sun's rays, 

 the great source of life and light ; and I have kept 

 them over a whole season in a cold damp cellar, 

 without their being evolved : from all which, it seems 

 pretty evident that the eggs of Silk Worms may be 

 hatched at almost any time. But certainly the most 

 proper season is at the time the mulberry is in leaf, 



