probably from both being imperfect conductors of heat as well as of electricity. It is not probable that this material will ever be obtained in much abundance, or that it will cease to be a rarity, except in the places of its production. It is never seen in England save in the cabinets of the curious. The appearance and general characteristics of the produce of the pinna, the spider, and the silkworm, are so similar, as to have acquired for them one generic name. If all their constituent parts be alike, it forms another among the numerous subjects for surprise and admiration, excited by contemplating the wonderful works of nature, that the same silky principle can be alike elaborated from the fish, the fly, and the mulberry leaf.* *Note E E. PART III. ON THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. CHAP. I. REELING. Arrangement of Filature.-Separation of different Kinds of Cocoons.-Description of Reel.-Manner of Reeling.-Construction and Proportions of Reel regulated by Law in Piedmont.-Precautions.-Size of Threads. -Regulation of Temperature.-Waste Silk.-Quantity reeled in a given time.--Mode of ascertaining Fineness of Thread.-Spun Silk.-Fleuret. -French inferior to Italians in the Art of Reeling.-Regulations and Restrictions in Piedmont.-Their Oppressiveness and Impolicy. IN countries where silk is produced, the winding of cocoons is generally pursued as a business distinct from that of rearing the worms; and the silken balls become an article of trade so soon as the insect within has been deprived of vitality by some one of the means already described. Sometimes, indeed, this process also is left to be performed by the purchaser. The building designed for a filature should be lofty; open on one side and accessible to the rays of the sun, while it is walled on the other side as a shelter from cold winds. A free passage should be afforded to the steam arising from the boilers, which vessels should be disposed in rows on either side of the building; by which arrangement the superintendant can readily overlook the whole number. Before the cocoons can be reeled, it is necessary to separate them from their outward floss. This is very expeditiously done by opening the floss at one end, and protruding the cocoon, or hard, compact ball, which is to be reeled. Although previously to selling his cocoons the vender is by law obliged to separate the soufflons and perforated cocoons from the others, there will yet always remain some of these, which, added to the dupions and choquettes, amount to about ten per cent. of the whole number. It is of great consequence that the cocoons should at this time be carefully classed, according to their qualities, as each separate class requires a different treatment in reeling, both as regards the heat applied and the rapidity of winding. Good cocoons, white as well as yellow, are the easiest wound. Cocalons call for the greatest care and skill: they require to be placed in cooler water than the others, and then, in the hands of an expert winder, as good silk may be produced from them as from the rest. Experienced reelers must likewise be employed for dupions and choquettes, which both require the application of hotter water than good co coons. In Piedmont, where silk of the best quality is produced, the process of reeling has long been conducted by the employment of a machine similar to the drawing here given. A is a copper boiler about 18 inches long, and six inches deep, set in brickwork, so as to admit of a charcoal fire being made beneath it: if other fuel be used, a small flue or chimney must be added to carry away the smoke. BB is a stout wooden frame whereon the several working parts of the reel are supported. D represents the reel on which the silk is to be wound; a is the layer which directs the position of the threads in their passage to the reel; bc is the wheel-work which gives motion to this layer. The reel D is merely a wooden spindle, turned by a crank handle at one end, and having four arms mortised at each end within the frame. These arms support the four battens or rails on which the silk is wound. The rails, which are parallel to the axis, are placed at such a distance from it, that they may produce a skein of proper size by the winding of the silk upon them. They are usually so disposed as to pass through the space of one yard at each revolution. One of each of the two sets of arms is made with hinges to fold in the middle of its length, in order that the rail which these two arms support may fall in or approach the centre as occasion may require: this, by diminishing the size of the reel, allows the skeins of silk to be readily slipped off when the winding is completed. At the end opposite to the handle of the wooden spindle, and within the frame B, there is placed a wheel with twenty two teeth, giving motion to another wheel c, which has about double that number of teeth, and is fixed on the end of the inclined axis c b; this, at the opposite end, has a wheel b of twenty-two teeth, which gives motion to a horizontal cogwheel of thirty-five teeth. This last wheel turns upon a fixed pivot in the frame, and has, near to its periphery or outer rim, a pin, to which the wooden rail or layer a is attached. The opposite end of this rail plays in a mortise or opening made in the frame B. This layer is furnished at equal distances from the frame with two wire loops or eyes, through which the silk threads are passed in being wound. Now, if motion be given to the horizontal cog-wheel by means of the other wheels and inclined axis, when the handle of the reel is turned, it is evident that this will cause the layer likewise to move to and fro, directing the threads which pass through its wire eyes alternately to the right and left, through a range equal to the diameter of the horizontal cog-wheel to which it is attached. The iron bar e, which is fixed over the centre of the boiler, is pierced with two holes, through which the threads are led in their passage from the boiler to the layer. If the thread of each cocoon were reeled separately, it would, from its extreme tenuity, be wholly unfit for the purpose of manufacture: several threads are therefore reeled together. The cocoons which are to be wound being put into the hot water contained in the boiler A, the gummy matter which they possess is softened, so that the unwinding of their threads is facilitated, and at the same time the fibres, which are brought together in the reeling, adhere, and form one strong and smooth thread. In the process of reeling, as often as the thread of any single cocoon breaks, or comes to an end, its place is supplied by another; so that the same number is continually kept up, and a thread of the same substance may be continued to any length. The single filaments which are thus from time to time added are not joined by tying, but are simply laid on the compound thread to which they will adhere by their gum, and the ends being extremely fine do not occasion any perceptible unevenness in the spot whereon they are laid. It is of considerable importance that the water wherein the cocoons are put should be either rain water, or that which is obtained from ponds or slow running streams. That denominated hard water, which is supplied by springs and from wells, usually contains a large proportion of earthy salts, and will not sufficiently soften the gum, so that the threads would be liable to continual fracture. Fire being applied in the furnace, the water in the boiler A is brought nearly to the point of boiling. The exact degrees of heat to which the water should be raised do not appear to be particularly defined, but are ascertained only by the effects produced, and are regulated according to the experience of the reeler. If the silk comes off in knobs or lumps, which are not fully extended, it shows that the water is too hot: it must be immediately cooled, and the fire abated. If, on the contrary, the silk is with difficulty drawn from the cocoons, which is known by their often bounding from the boiler, the water is then evidently not hot enough sufficiently to soften the gum, and the fire must be increased. Two or three handsful of cocoons are thrown into the boiler, wherein they are submerged during some minutes to soften their viscidity. The reeler then takes her seat at the side, and gently presses the cocoons with a brush of about six inches long, made of the finest twigs, or tops of heath bound together, and cut off evenly at their ends. By this operation the loose threads of the balls adhere to the brush, and are drawn out by its means, when the reeler disengages them, and draws their ends through her fingers to clear them from any loose flossy silk. These preliminary steps are called the battue. The ends of four or more of the threads thus cleared their number of course regulating the fineness of the silk intended to be wound-are passed through each of the holes in the iron bar e. After this, two of these compound threads, consisting of four or more threads each, are twisted twenty or more times round each other, in order that the filaments may better unite together by these mutual crossings, and likewise that the whole may assume a cylindrical form, as without this twisting the silk would be wound flat on the reel. After being thus passed through the iron bar e and twisted, the threads are led through the wire eyes of the layer, and being thence conducted to the reel are made fast to its rails. A boy or girl is now employed to turn the handle of the reel: this must be performed with a regular even motion, and somewhat slowly, until it is ascertained that all the cocoons yield their threads freely. As soon as this is ascertained to be going forward satisfactorily, a much quicker motion is given to the reel. This speed is, however, regulated by the reeler according to certain indications. If 'the cocoons should bound from the water the motion must be slackened, and if knobs or lumps appear, which show that the |