SILK-WORMS. 
267 
mote from the contact of the air when the worms 
lie too thick, it is also in those parts that the 
first symptoms of the disease appear. 
Impeded respiration aggravates also the ill state 
of the silk- worm. 
When the above-mentioned substances occur in 
small proportion, and the vital strength is sus- 
tained, the worms may have time to draw their 
• 
changes of litter, to feed on withered leaves, and even to 
hunger. Then will the rouge and jaundice disappear from 
the laboratory, or at least much diminish.” 
More strongly to prove that these illnesses proceed from 
the causes to which he has attributed them, M. Dandolomade 
the following experiment: — He placed a portion of a bed of 
litter, which contained a certain number of healthy worms, on 
a dunghill which had almost ceased to ferment, and that 
was about 77° of temperature. The air on that day was 
still and calm. He examined these worms two days in pre- 
sence of several of his pupils. The worms were found 
spotted with specks of a white saline substance, resembling 
the substance of the calcined worms. And, in confirmation 
of the assertion, they were agreeably surprised to find some 
worms entirely calcined. The experiment was continued ; 
but there were only found fragments of the white substance 
here and there. The worms decaying and rotting, there were 
no more that appeared calcined. 
This phenomenon was caused, no doubt, by the concur- 
ring circumstances necessary for the calcination ; for the 
tvorms were not in existence after the first commencement of 
the experiment. But the first trial is sufficient (observes 
M. Dandolo) to confirm what 1 asserted, and reason and 
science equally demonstrate it clearly. The author earnestly 
requests the cultivators of silk-worms to make similar ex- 
periments . — The Translator. 
