SILK 
those employed to. work it up, knowing 
them to be so employed, and not having 
the consent of the employer, are liable to 
punishment by fine, imprisonment, or whip- 
ping, although no proof should be given 
upon the trial, to whom the silk actually 
i)elonged. 
In the year 1793, this manufacture was 
affected more, perhaps, than any other, by 
the general commercial distress which tlien 
prevailed. The merchants, and particularly 
the East India Company, had large quanti- 
ties of silk in their warehouses, and the ma- 
nufacturers were over-stocked with goods, 
which brought the trade into a state of al- 
most complete stagnation, by which most of 
the workmen engaged in it were thrown 
out of employ, and experienced great dis- 
tress. A public subscription was opened 
for their relief, and very liberally support- 
ed, from which the unemployed workmen 
and their families were supplied with bread, 
and when, from the approach of winter, 
their necessities increased, the relief was 
extended to other essential articles. By the 
report of the committee who superintended 
the distribution, it appeared that there were 
given away 795 chaldrons of coals, 583 pair 
of blankets, and in bread, 121,741 quartern 
loaves. It was considered as a moderate 
computation, that 5,000 persons were to- 
tally unemployed, and that 5,000 more were 
only about half employed. 
In the course of the succeeding three or 
four years, the manufacture recovered its 
usual activity, and in the year 1798, was in 
a more flonrishing situation than it had been 
in for several years previous. In the fol- 
lowing year, the revival of velvets, as an^r- 
ticle of female dress, proved very favour- 
able to the workmen, as it rendered the, em- 
ployment of a greater number of bands ne- 
cessary ; and in 1800, few persons in this 
line were out of employ, altliougli the trade 
was somewhat clrecked by a considerable 
advance in the prices of raw and thrown 
silks. 
TOTAL QUANTITY OF SILK IMPORTED INTO GREAT BRITAIN. 
In 1801 .. 
Bengal Raw. 
.. 351,82515s.... 
China Raw. 
Italian anti 
Turkey Raw. 
.. 255,95116s.... 
Thrown Silk. 
Total. 
... 1,014,260 16s. 
1802 .. 
.. 111,737 .. 
... 396,210 ... 
1803 .. 
.. 405,631 
1804 .. 
.. 624,878 .. 
... 449,182 ... 
1805 .. 
.. 844,659 
The annual quantity imported, on an 
average of the above years, is 1,251,629 
pounds, from which, deducting 79,206 
pounds, the average quantity of raw and 
tin-own silk exported during the above pe- 
riod, it leaves 1,172,423 pounds for the quan- 
tity consumed in the manufacture. Hence 
it appears, that the total annual value of 
this manufacture must be about 3,500,0001. 
of which but a small proportion is de.stined 
tor exportation, the total annual value ex- 
ported being about 700,0001. ; more than 
half of which goes to America. During tlie 
year 1808, the exportation to America was 
suspended, and at the same time, the inter- 
niption of commercial intercourse witli the 
continent of Europe stopped, for a consi- 
derable time, the usual supply of silk from 
Italy • from which circumstances, the ma- 
nufacture was brouglrt into a very miprece- 
deiited situation ; silk being sold in Lon- 
don at prices far greater than had ever been 
given before, while many of the masters 
were obliged to discharge tire principal part 
ef their workmen, from the demand for silk 
goods having, for a time, almost entirely 
ceased. Tliese temporary embarrassments 
all manufactures are liable to, particularly 
such as, like this, depend on other countries 
for thfeir materials. 
Silk, in chemistry, in its natural state, 
contains a kind of yellow, resinous matter, 
wliich gives its fine golden colour. When 
raw, silk is infused in water, a portion of 
gummy matter is dissolved, and a light am- 
ber-coloured liquor is produced. Alcohol 
extracts a much deeper yellow, and makes 
a tincture that loses none of its, colour by 
long exposure to the smi-beams, which 
bleaches the silk itself. Nitrous acid acts 
powerfully on silk ; but, when concen- 
trated nitric acid is distilled off silk, and 
the remaining liquor duly evaporated, much 
oxalic acid is obtained, and the residue, if 
evaporated still fnrtlier, yields, with tlie re- 
maining oxalic acid, a quantity of yellow, 
gramdar crystals, extremely bitter, not 
acid, and staining the saliva and liaiids of a 
deep yellow, not easily rcsmoved. If the 
liquor is previously saturated with potash, 
