The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous ... - Cd3wd.com

SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 159
by exposure to the air, they soon acquire a blackish hue. Other
spider bags might probably be found of ditferent colors, and af-
fording silic of better quality, but their scarcity would render
any experiment with them difficult of accomplishment ; for
whicii reason M. Bon confined his attention to the bags of the
common sort of the short-legged kind.
These always form their bags in some place sheltered from
the wind and rain, such as the hollow trunks of trees, the corners
of windows or vaults, or under the caves of houses. A
quantity of the bags was collected from which a new kind of
silk was made, said to be in no respect inferior to the produce
of the silk-worm. It took readily all kinds of dyes, and might
have been ^v^ought into any description of silken fabric. Mr.
Bon had stockings and gloves made from it, some of which he
presented to the Royal Academy of Paris, and others he trans-
mitted to the Royal Society of London.
This silk was prepared in the following manner :—Twelve or
thirteen ounces of the bags were beaten with a stick, until they
became entirely freed from dust. They were next washed in
warm water, which was continually changed, until it no longer
became clouded or discolored by the bags under process. After
this they were steeped in a large quantity of water wherein
soap, saltpetre, and gum-arabic had been dissolved. The
whole was then gently boiled during three hours, after which
the bags were rinsed in clear warm water to discharge the
soap. They were finally set out to dry, previous to the opera-
tion of carding, which was then performed with cards difl'er-
ing from those usually employed with silk, being much finer.
By these means silk of a peculiar ash color was obtained,
which was spun without difficulty. Mr. Bon afiirmod that
the thread was both stronger and finer than common silk, and
that therefore fabrics similar to those made with the latter ma-
terial might be manufactured from this, there being no reason
for doubting that it would stand any trials of the loom, after
having undergone those of the stocking frame.
The only obstacle, therefore, which appeared to prevent the
establishing of any considerable manufacture from these spider
bags was the difficulty of obtaining them in sufficient abund-