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

54 CULTIVATION- AND MANUFACTURE OF
When St. Basil says of the new-born moth, that " it assumes
hght and expanded wings," the beauty of the com-
parison in illustrating the Christian doctrine of the resurrection
is enhanced, when we consider that in its wild state the moth
flies very well, althougli. when domesticated, its flight is weak
and its wings small and shrivelled* : but still more beautiful
does the figure become, if we suppose a reference to those
larger and more splendid Phalanaj which produce the coarser
kinds of silk in India, and probably in China also.
Basil is the Jirst writer, Avho distinctly mentions the change
of the silk-worm from a Chrysalis to a moth. In his applica-
tion of that fact he addresses himself to his countrywomen in
Asia Minor, and his language represents them sitting and
winding on bobbins the raw silk obtained from the Seres and
designed to be afterwards woven hito clotli.
Between these two authors, Aristotle and Basil, we observe
a diflference of phraseology which appears deserving of notice.
While they both describe the Avomen, not as spinning the
silk, but as winding it on bobbins, they designate the ma-
terial so wound by two different names. Basil uses the term
yfijiara, which Hiiglit bc mcaut to- imply that the silk came
from the Seres in skeins as it comes to us from China : Aris-
totle, on the contrary, uses the term dofPvKta, which can only
refer to the state of silk before it is wound into skeins.
As it might appear impossible to convey it in this state to
Cos, we shall here insert from the authorities already quoted,
the Chinese Missionaries, an account of the process by which
the cocoons are prepared for winding, and it will then be seen,
that the cocoons might have been transported to ar^y part of
the world.
" To prepare the cocoons of the wild silk-worms, the
Chinese cut the extremities of them with a pair of scissors.
They are then put into a canvass bag, and immersed for an
hour or more in a kettle of boiling lye, which dissolves the
gum. When this is effected, they are taken from the kettle
* The Phalsena Atlas, apparently a native of China, measures eight inches
across the wings from tip to tip.
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