10 
CULTTTRE OP SIIiKWORMS. 
•* Tho measTirea to be taken are as follows : — 
(c) . TIio dcstraotion of aU the wonna now in the State. 
(d) . The disinfection of the liouses and ap]>arat.iiu u&v.d. 
(e) . The Introduetion of fresh aeed," free fi'om disease. 
(/). The prohibition of the importatioE of other " seed." 
"It is prolmble that the easiest way of csirrTin^' tmt these 
mcafunws would be to get " seed " from the Government breeding 
estitlylislmicnt in India, bnt that wonJd entaO the aendin|^ of 
some one to bring it o^er, as the attempt already mside to send it 
by post has failed, for reasons preTiously stated. 
" A second way would l>e to get " seed *' from China^ and 
rear it under Pasteur's system. 
" And a tliird way would 1)c to select, by Pasteur^s method, 
a healthy strain from the worms now in the country. " 
The GoYemment decided to procure seed from India, but in 
consequenee of hearing that the silk-brecMUug ex|x?rimenta under* 
taken in India bad not proved a success ^ and that the cjji^s coidd 
not l>e ^i^mrauteed, this had to be abandoned, and in November 
I obtained permission to try the third course indiciat^^d above. 
Shortly stated, the Pasteur system, which has saved the silk 
industr}' of Etiropc from the utter niin wbieli threat^med it, is the 
reji.'ctiou, for breedin|^ purj>oses, of the eggs of those moths which, 
on examination, are found to l)e diseased. 
This, in the case of the Ayer Emiing worms, conld not be 
carried out, as all the moths when they came to hi iniscroscopi- 
caUy examinefl were found to be diseased. I therefore had 
to take advantage of a fact which has Iwen not^^d V)y Pasteur, 
that although pt^brine is heretlitary, still that not all tiie eggs of 
a diseased mother will be infected, Ts.> earrj out the suggestion 
contoined in tliia observation, a number of small china cujis wci-c 
obtaine<l, the leiist diseased eggs were used, and the worms on 
batehiag out, were put four in each cup, and during their whole 
livt?s rigidly isolat^Kl froin their feEows. 'tfhe cujis were fn^- 
quently disinfeet-ed, and any worms which seemed diseased 
removed as qiuckly as observed. By these me-ans a considerable • 
numlw of quite healthy moths were produced. Tlie microsej>- 
pical examination, isolation of the worms and disinfection of the 
iiouse and its contents were continued, and in the coiu*so of 
thrcii generations, the diwase entirely disapj>eared. This ex- 
jH'rimeut has now l)i*n eaiTied on for over nine montlis, and it 
goes far to prove that, given a hwilthy brw-d of Wfmus to stiirt 
with, silk cidtnr<> etndd be micces^^fully carried on in Perak, if 
proper precautions wen." tulien to disinfect the rearing houses and 
apparatus, and to maintain the breed used for seed pur]>oses in a 
