describes as a weak but palatable spirit, as clear as water. A wine is also made from it in France ; but it 
requires to be drunk immediately, as it very soon becomes acid. The root has an acrid bitter taste, and is 
considered excellent as a vermifuge, in doses of half a drachm in powder. The tree in every part contains 
a portion of milky juice, which being coagulated, is found to form a kind of coarse Indian rubber. In some 
parts of Spain on Mount Etna, and in Persia, the leaves of this species are said to be preferred to those of 
the white mulberry for silk worms. — Loudon’s Arboretum Britannicum. 
Silk worms are hatched from eggs, laid during summer, by a kind of greyish moth ; they are about as 
large as a grain of mustard seed, at first of a yellow colour, but afterwards of a blueish hue. From each of 
these comes a small black caterpillar ; in about eight days its head grows larger, and it is seized with its 
first sickness, when its size increases ; and in the course of a month, its weight is multiplied many thousand- 
fold. It then throws off its covering, not only that of the body, but of the feet, of the entire skull, and 
even of the mandibles, or jaws ; which process may be seen by the unassisted eye, but, of course, more 
clearly through a magnifying glass. It is again attacked by sickness, after which it moults again ; and when 
this has been repeated for the fourth time, the caterpillar is about one and a half or two inches long, devours 
its food most voraciously, and during ten days, increases rapidly in size. Its whole form is now remark- 
able ; but the two very small apertures through which the worm draws its silky substance, are placed just 
beneath the jaw, and close to each other. It now ceases to feed on the mulberry leaves ; its colour is now 
light green, with a mixture of a darker hue ; and, in twenty-four hours, the material for forming its silk is 
digested, when its green colour disappears, its body acquires greater firmness and is somewhat lessened in 
size, and it finds some place for its work, and begins its cocoon. The substance of which the silk is com- 
posed is secreted in the form of a fine yellow transparent gum in two small separate vessels, which are 
wound as it were on two spindles in the stomach, and, which unfolded, are about ten inches long. 
In three or four days, the cocoon is complete ; the caterpillar then smears its surface with a gum like • 
that which forms the silk itself (no doubt to shield the chrysalis from the rain,) a portion of which accom- 
panies, the silken filament through its entire length, and so completely is this done, that when, in order to 
reel the silk more easily, the balls are thrown into hot water, they float like bladders, and, unless the ball is 
imperfectly formed, the water does not penetrate the silk until it is nearly all unwound. When the ball is 
finished, the insect rests awhile, throws off its garb, and appears, when the cocoon is opened, something 
like a kidney bean in shape, or pointed at one end ; having a smooth, brown-skin, with its former covering 
lying by its side. It then sleeps from fifteen to thirty days, according to the climate. It then throws off 
its shroud, and appears as a large moth of a greyish white colour, with four wings, two eyes, and two black 
antennae, or horns, seeks its mate, who deposits her eggs; and both in two or three days after, end their 
being. The quantity of silk in a cocoon is variously stated, and sometimes most absurdly exaggerated — thus 
Isward, an old author, says, it will measure in length six miles, or 10,560 yards; but Count Dandola tells us 
that silk-worms labours seldom exceed 625 yards; a great quantity for so short a life. Others consider the 
average length to be from 300 to 400 yards, and the weight to be about three grains. 
The credit of drawing the slender filament from the cocoon of the silk-worm is claimed by the Chinese. 
It is stated in their records, that they used the work of the silk-worm, two thousand seven hundred years 
before the Christian era ; they represent the Empresses as surrounded by their women, engaged in hatching 
and rearing the little manufacturers, and in weaving their valuable produce ; and they give the honour of 
doing this first to one who was named See-ling-she. A long time passed before it was known in England, 
and even then it was very slowly introduced. Soon after the Conquest, however, it was much used ; and in 
1251, when Alexander III. of Scotland, married Margaret, the daughter of Henry III. a thousand English 
knights appeared in garments of silk, which were thrown aside the next day for robes equally gorgeous and 
splendid. Silk was one time valued at Rome, at its weight in gold ; and the Emperor Aurelian is said to 
have refused his Empress a robe of silk because it was so costly. Even when James "VI. King of Scotland, 
came to assume the English crown, it was so scarce, that he was obliged to ask the Earl of Mar for the loan 
of a pair of silk stockings to wear before the English Ambassador, adding, “For ye would not, sure, that your 
