SILK GROWER'S MANUAL. 155 



CHAPTER III. 



HISTORY OF SILK ITS ANTIQUITY AND COMMERCE. 



Silk, or the splendid material produced by the silk- 

 worm, was first known in ancient times as ser or serica, 

 in China. It was there first discovered in its own 

 native forests of the mulberry trees. In that country 

 it was called s<?, and by transition, ser by the Greeks, 

 and sericum by the Romans ; and hence, by the different 

 nations of Italy, France and England, it- is variously 

 called seta, soie, and silk, at the present day. 



The silkworm, or bombyx mori, is a precious insect, 

 which* is thus denominated from morus, the plant on 

 w.hich it feeds. 



The cultivation of silk commenced in China seven 

 hundred years before Abraham, and two thousand seven 

 hundred years before Christ. The Emperor Houng Ti, 

 " The Emperor of the Earth," who reigned over China 

 more than one hundred years, taught the Chinese to 

 construct houses, ships, mills and other useful works ; 

 and the Empress Si Ling Chi, to contribute also to the 

 welfare of the Empire, aided by the women of her 

 household, gathered the silkworms from the trees, 

 took them to her apartments, fed them with leaves of 

 the mulberry, and, being sheltered, they yielded silk 

 superior in quality to that produced in the forests. She 

 also taught them its manufacture, and how to embroider. 



Raising silk, and its manufacture, and the weaving, 



