284 
THE ART OF REARING 
functions of nature. Iu whatever degree it is affected, in 
so much will it differ from the healthy silk-worms. At what- 
ever period the disease attacks them, they shew it by un- 
easiness, they dislike society, some lose their appetite, others 
eat plentifully, live long, and then go and die off the tray, 
or on the edge of it, or even die in the midst of the litter, 
without strength to retreat. 
M. Dandolo is of opinion that there are three principal 
causes to which this disease may be traced. 
] . The alteration of the seed, when it has been ill pre- 
served and moved any distance carelessly. 2. If the process 
of hatching the eggs in the stove-room was irregularly and 
ill managed. 3. If the worms have been neglected after 
hatching by being left too long exposed to a cold temperature, 
or if they have not been carefully attended to while moulting. 
“ There cannot exist diseases,” adds M. Dandolo, “ when 
the egg is well impregnated, well preserved, and the silk- 
worm well attended to. Thousands of experiments have 
demonstrated this fact.” 
Chapter XIII. 
OF THE LOCALITIES AND UTENSILS REQUISITE 
IN THE ART OF REARING SILK-WORMS SUCCES- 
FULLY. 
It is difficult to imagine how, in the lapse of 
some centuries, the practice of the useful and 
precious art of rearing silk-worms should have 
remained in the hands of the ignorant and the il- 
literate . 
