Silk Manufacture. 279 



that this evil quality extended to the silk which it produced. 

 Mons. Bon combated this prejudice by the assertion, that he had 

 several times been bitten by spiders, when no injury had ensued ; 

 and that the silk, so far from being pernicious, had been found ef- 

 ficacious in stanching and heahng wounds, its natural gluten' acting 

 as a kind of balsam. Determined upon extracting every possible 

 good from this his favorite pursuit, he subjected the spider silk 

 to chemical analysis, and obtained from it a volatile salt, prepar- 

 ing which in the same manner used for the guttcn Anglicaiut once 

 so famous all over Europe, he produced drops which, as he be- 

 lieved, possessed greater efficacy than even these : he called this 

 preparation Montpelier drops, and recommended its application 

 in all lethargic diseases. 



'The Royal Academy of Paris having considered the subject 

 deserving of investigation, appointed M. Reaumur to inquire into 

 the merits of this new silken material. In the course of his ex- 

 amination this naturahst discovered many serious objections, the 

 narration of which will show the inexpediency of M. Bon's pro- 

 jected estabhshraents. Mons. Reaumur urged that the natural 

 fierceness of spiders rendered them wholly unfit to be bred and 

 reared together. On distributing 4000 or 5000 into cells, in com- 

 panies of from 50 to 100 or 200, it was found that the larger 

 spiders quickly killed and ate the smaller, so that in a short time 

 the cells were depopulated, scarcely more than one or two being 

 found in each cell. To this propensity for mutual destruction, 

 M. Reaumur ascribes the scarcity of spiders in comparison with 

 the vast number of eggs which they produce. But if even it 

 were possible to change their warlike nature and bring these in- 

 sects together in peaceful community, there are other objections 

 to deter from the attempt. 



' M. Reaumur affirmed, that the silk of the spider is inferior to 

 that of the silkworm, both in lustre and strength, and that it pro- 

 duced proportionally less material available to purposes of manu- 

 facture. All this was satisfactorily proved ; although in his rea- 

 soning some little exaggeration was likewise employed in opposi- 

 tion to the coloring of M. Bon. The thread of the spider's web 

 was found capable of sustaining a weight of only two grains with- 

 out breaking ; and the filament of the bag, although much strong- 

 er than this, could only sustain thirty-six grains, while that of the 

 silkworm will support a weight of two drachms and a half. " Thus 

 five " (four ?) "threads of the spider," said M. Reaumur, " must 

 be brought together to equal one thread of the silkworm." Now 

 it is impossible that these should be applied so justly over one 

 another as not to leave litlle vacant s])aces between them, whence 



