MULBERRY. 239 



a Necydalus : of which, in six months after, come the silk- 

 worms, Bombyces. These worms spin the silk of which 

 our expensive ladies form their costly garments and super- 

 fluous apparel, which we call Bombycina. The first that 

 devised the means to unwind these webs of the silkworm, 

 and to weave the same again, was a woman in Coos, named 

 Pamphila, daughter of Latous ; and we must not," says 

 this author, " defraud her of due honour and praise for 

 the invention of those fine transparent silk fabricks, 

 which, instead of apparel to cover and hide, shew the 

 person through them." 



In the following chapter he describes the silkworms of 

 Coos in a manner that convinces us that their introduction 

 to Europe was earlier than has been generally supposed. 

 After describing the worm, he says, " they enwrap and 

 enfold themselves in a round ball of the thread ; they are 

 then taken and put into earthen pots, and covered with 

 bran to keep them warm. He tells us farther, that these 

 balls are put into some moisture before they are unwound 

 by a spindle made of some light reed, and from this (says 

 he, satirically,) is made that fine silk cloth which even 

 men are not now ashamed to put on and use in the sum- 

 mer, that they may go thinly clad. How could they carry 

 armour on their backs, their common clothing being now 

 too heavy ?" 



The mulberry was much used in medicine by the 

 Romans, particularly for the diseases of the mouth, the 

 windpipe, the uvula, and the stomach. The leaves and 

 the roots were also used medicinally by them. (Pliny, 

 b. xxiii. c. 17.) 



The mulberry-tree is stated to have been introduced into 

 this country in the year 1548, and it is said that it was 

 first planted at Sion House, where the original trees still 

 thrive, and which we have seen since the first part of this 

 *vork has been put to press. The interior of these trees 



