ORDER X. LEPIDOPTERA.—THE SILK-WORM. 339 
Afterwards, the empresses, named by Chinese authors according to the 
order of their dynasties, found an agreeable occupation in superintending 
the hatching, rearing, 
ing itup when made. There was an enclosure attached to the palace for the 
cultivation of mulberry trees. 
and feeding of silk-worms, in making silk, and work- 
“The empress, accompanied by queens and the greatest ladies of the 
court, went in state into the enclosures, and gathered with her own hand the 
leaves of three branches which her ladies in waiting had lowered till they 
were within her reach; the finest pieces of silk which she made herself, or 
which were made by her orders and under her own eye, were destined for 
the ceremony of the grand sacrifice offered to Chang-si. 
“Tt is probable,” adds Duhalde, “that policy had more to do than any- 
thing else with all this trouble taken by the empresses. Their intention was to 
induce, by their example, the princesses and ladies of quality, and the whole 
people, to rear silk-worms; in the same way as the emperors, to ennoble in 
some sort agriculture, and to encourage the people to undertake laborious 
works, never failed, at the beginning of each spring, to guide the plough in 
person, and with great state to plough up a few furrows, and there sow some 
seed. 
* As far as concerns the empresses, it is a long time since they have ceased 
to apply themselves to the manufacture of silk; one sees, nevertheless, in 
the precincts of the imperial palace, a large space covered with houses, the 
read leading to which is still called the road which leads to the place des- 
tined for the rearing of silk-worms for the amusement of the empresses and 
queens. In the books of the philosopher Mencius is a wise police rule, 
made under the first reigns, which determines the space destined for the cul- 
tivation of mulberry trees, according to the extent of the land possessed by 
each private individual.” 
Silk commanded for centuries a prodigiously high price. In the time of 
Alexander its value in Greece was exactly its own weight in gold, and so it 
was very parsimoniously employed in silk tissues. These were so transparent 
that women who wore them were scarcely covered. 
Silk was unknown to the Romans before Julius Cesar. It was to him 
that Rome owed its acquaintance with this new material. He introduced it, 
moreover, in a singularly magnificent manner. One day, at a féte given in 
the Coliseum, —a combat of animals and gladiators, — the people saw the 
coarse tent of cloth, intended to keep off the rays of the sun, replaced by a 
magnificent covering of Oriental silk. They murmured at this gorgeous 
prodigality, but declared Cxsar a great man. The introduction of silk 
among the Romans was the signal for luxurious expenditure. The patri- 
cians made a great display with their silk cloaks of incalculable value ; so 
NO. XIX. 95 
