Silk Manufacture. ^ 211 



' In the southern departments of France, it is very common to 

 see silkworms attacked by a disease, which, in consequence of the 

 color assumed by them, is called the jaundice. Very careful ex- 

 amination is continually made for the discovery and removal of 

 worms which may be thus attacked, lest the disease, which is 

 contagious, should spread to others. It is stated in the Bulletin 

 Universel, that the abbe Eperic of Carpentras had recourse in 

 this case to a remedy, or rather a preventive, which, though ap- 

 parently dangerous, has been justified by the uniform success of 

 twenty years. By means of a fine silk sieve he powdered his 

 worms with quicklime, and after this gave them mulberry leaves 

 moistened with a few drops of wine; these, the insects instantly 

 commenced devouring with an eagerness greater than that which 

 they usually exhibited, and not one of the hurdles, upon which the 

 worms were thus treated, ever appeared infected with jaundice. 

 It was at first supposed, that the cocoons might be injured by this 

 process; but this is not the case, and the method is now very fre- 

 quently adopted in the department of Vaucluse. 



' It is well known, that decayed leaves emit mephitic air abun- 

 dantly, and the hme may have been efficacious in absorbing and 

 fixing this as it was generated, leaving the atmosphere inhaled by 

 the insects in a desirable state of purity. 



' Mons. Blanchard records the following experiment, which sat- 

 isfactorily proves the efficacy of the use of lime: — " I procured," 

 he said, " four glass jars, nine inches deep, and five in diameter, 

 and provided them with cork stoppers. In each of these glasses 

 I placed twelve silkworms at their second age; these were fed 

 four times a day, and I confined them in this kind of prison all 

 their lives, without taking away either their dead companions or 

 their fitter. I sprinkled with hme the worms of only two of 

 these jars, and kept the two others to compare with them. In 

 those without lime, I never obtained more, or less than three, 

 small and imperfect cocoons, and in the two that were sprinkled 

 with hme I had very often twelve, and never less than nine fine 

 full-sized firm cocoons." Mons. Blanchard ascertained, by many 

 trials, that the worms were not incommoded when covered with a 

 large portion of lime. 



' Count Dandolo advises fumigation with chlorine gas; but the 

 mode of producing this from black oxide of manganese, common 

 salt, and sulphuric acid, might be attended with unpleasant conse- 

 quences, if intrusted to ignorant or careless hands, and to inhale 

 the vapor, as generated, is not only unpleasant but dangerous. 

 Chloride of lime, the use of which, is attended with highly benefi- 

 cial results, as a disinfectant, and in neutralising the pernicious ef- 



