SILK, SERICUM, a very soft, fine, bright, delicate thread; the work of an insect, called bombyx or the silkworm. See SILK, (Encycl.)
The ancients were but little acquainted with the use and manufacture of silk; they took it for the work of a sort of spider, or beetle, who spun it out of its entrails, and wound it with its feet about the little branches of trees. This insect they called ser, from Seres, a people in Scythia, whom we now call the Chinese, who, as they thought, bred it; whence the silk itself they called sericum. But this ser of theirs has very little affinity with our silk-worm, bombyx; the former living five years; but the latter dying annually, enveloped in a yellowish bag, or ball, which, wound out into little threads, makes what we call silk.
It was in the isle of Cos that the art of manufacturing silk was first invented; and Pamphila, daughter of Platis, is honoured as the inventress. The discovery was not long unknown to the Romans. Silk was brought them from Seria, where the worm was a native. But so far were they from profiting by the discovery, that they could not be induced to believe so fine a thread should be the work of a worm, and thereupon formed a thousand chimerical conjectures of their own.
Silk was a very scarce commodity among them for many ages; it was even sold weight for weight with gold, inasmuch that Vopiscus tells us, the emperor Aurelian, who died A. D. 275, refused the empress, his wife a suit of silk, which she solicited of him with much earnestness, merely on account of its dearth.
Others, however, with greater probability, assert that it was known at Rome so early as the reign of Tiberius, about A. D. 17.
Galen, who lived about the year of our Lord 173, speaks of the rarity of silk; being nowhere but at Rome, and only among the rich.
Heliogabalus, the emperor, who died A. D. 220, is said by some to be the first person who wore a holofericum, i. e. a garment of all silk.
The Greeks of Alexander the Great's army are said to have been the first who brought wrought silk from Persia into Greece, about 323 years before Christ; but the manufacture of it was confined to Berytus and Tyre, in Phœnicia, whence it was dispersed over the West.
At length, two monks, coming from the Indies to Constantinople, in 555, under the encouragement of the emperor Justinian, brought with them great quantities of silk-worms, with instructions for the hatching of their eggs, rearing and feeding the worms, and drawing out the silk, and spinning and working it. Upon this, manufactures were set up at Athens, Thebes, and Corinth. The Venetians, soon after this time, commencing a commerce with the Greek empire, supplied all the western parts of Europe with silks for many centuries; though sundry kinds of modern silk manufactures were unknown in those times, such as damasks, velvets, sattins, &c.—About 1130, Roger II. king of Sicily established a silk-manufacture at Palermo, and another in Calabria; managed by workmen, who were a part of the plunder brought from Athens, Corinth, &c. whereof that prince made a conquest in his expedition to the Holy Land. By degrees, Mezeray adds, the rest of Italy and Spain learned, from the Sicilians and Calabrians, the management of the silk-worms, and the working of silk; and at length the French got it by right of neighbourhood, a little before the reign of Francis I. and began to imitate them. Thuanus, indeed, in contradiction to most other writers, makes this manufacture of silk to be introduced into Sicily 200 years later, by Robert the Wise, king of Sicily, and count of Provence.
It appears, by 33 Henry VI. cap. 5. that there was a company of silk-women in England so early as the year 1455. But these were probably employed in needle-works of silk and thread; and we find that various sorts of small haberdashery of silk were manufactured here in 1482: but Italy supplied England, and all other parts, with the broad manufacture, till the year 1489. In Spain, indeed, the culture and manufacture of silk seem to have been introduced in an early period by the Moors, particularly in Murcia, Cordova, and Granada. The silk manufactures of this last town were very flourishing, when it was taken by Ferdinand, &c. at the close of the 15th century.
In 1521, the French, being supplied with workmen from Milan, commenced a silk manufacture; but it was long after this time before they could obtain raw silk from the worms: and, even in the year 1547, silk was scarce and dear in France; and Henry II. is said to have been the first who wore a pair of silk knit stockings, though the first invention originally came from Spain, whence silk stockings were brought over to Henry VIII. and Edward VI. After the civil wars,
Silk. in France, the plantations of mulberry-trees were greatly encouraged by Henry IV. and his successors; and the produce of silk is at this day very considerable.
The great advantage which the new manufacture afforded, made our king James I. very earnest for its being introduced into England: accordingly, it was recommended several times from the throne, and in the most earnest terms, particularly in the year 1608, to plant mulberry-trees, &c. for the propagation of silk-worms, but unhappily without effect; though, from the various experiments we meet with in the Philosophical Transactions, and other places, it appears that the silk-worm thrives and works as well, in all respects, in England as in any other part of Europe.
However, towards the latter end of this king's reign, i. e. about the year 1620, the broad-silk manufacture was introduced into this country, and prosecuted with great vigour and advantage. In 1629, the silk manufacture was become so considerable in London, that the silk-throwsters of the city and parts adjacent were incorporated under the name of master, wardens, &c. of the silk-throwsters; and in 1661, this company of silk-throwsters employed about 40,000 persons. The revocation of the edict of Nantes, in 1685, contributed in a great degree to promote the silk manufacture in this kingdom; as did also the invention of the silk-throwing machine at Derby, in 1719.—So high in reputation was the English silk manufacture, that even in Italy, as Keyser informs us, in 1730, the English silks bore a higher price than the Italian.
Silk, Raw, is that taken from the ball, without fire, and wound without any coction: such as is most, if not all, that is brought into England from the Levant; i. e. from Persia by the way of Turkey, from Bengal in India, and from China. The raw silk is commonly worked up into two sorts, called organzine and tram. The former is made by giving a throw or twist to each thread of raw silk singly, and then doubling two of these twisted threads together, and twisting them smartly together: this forms the length or warp of a piece when manufactured. The tram, or shoot, which makes the breadth of the piece, is formed by twisting two or more threads of raw silk slack. The wasted silk, or refuse in reeling, &c. is collected, carded, and spun, and called stoss silk; this is doubled and thrown, and often made into a cheap sort of silk stockings, which are very strong and durable.
In the French silk-works, the greatest part of this raw silk passes for little better than a kind of fine floretta; yet, when spun, it makes a bright thread, and serves for the manufacture of stuffs of moderate value and lustre. But the raw silks of the Levant, whence most of ours come, are exceeding fine and beautiful. The difference arises hence, that, in France, the best balls are spun and wound in boiling water, and only the refuse made into raw silk; whereas, in the Levant, there is no such thing as spinning or winding on the fire, but the silks are all sent in bales, or packs, as they are drawn from off the balls; so that they are only distinguished by their quality of fine, middling, and coarse.
Silk, Boiled, is that which has been boiled in water,
to facilitate the spinning and winding. This is the finest of all the sorts of silk manufactured in France, and is seldom used but in the richest stuffs, as velvets, tassies, damasks, brocades, &c.
There is also another kind of boiled silk, which is prepared by boiling, to be milled, and which cannot receive that preparation without being first passed through hot water. By the laws of France, it is prohibited to mix raw with boiled silk; both as such a practice spoils the dyeing, and as the raw silk corrupts and cuts the boiled.
Silks, Throwed or Twisted, are such as, beside their spinning and winding, have received their milling or throwing.
This they receive in a different degree, as they are passed oftener or seldomer over the mill; properly, however, thrown silks are those wherein the threads are pretty thick thrown, and twisted several times.
The thrown silk comes to us chiefly from Leghorn, Genoa, Naples, and Messina.
Silks, Slack, are such as are not twisted, but are prepared, and dyed, for tapestry, and other works with the needle.
Silk, Eastern or East Indian. That popularly thus called is not the work of the silk-worms, but comes from a plant that produces it, in pods, much like those of the cotton-tree. The matter this pod contains is extremely white, fine, and moderately glossy: it spins easily, and is made into a kind of silk that enters the manufacture of several Indian and Chinese stuffs.
Silks, French. It is only in the most southern provinces of France that silk is cultivated, mulberry-trees planted, and worms bred. The principal places are Languedoc, Dauphiné, Provence, Avignon, Savoy, and Lyons. This last place, indeed, furnishes very few silks of its own growth; but it is the great staple whence the merchants of Paris, and the other cities, are to fetch them. At least, they are obliged to have them pass through Lyons, if they bring them from other places, either by land or sea. There have been computed to enter Lyons, communibus annis, 6000 bales, the bale valued at 160 pounds weight; of which 6000 bales there are 1400 from the Levant, 1600 from Sicily, 1500 from Italy, 300 from Spain, and 1200 from Languedoc, Provence, and Dauphiné.
At the time when the manufactures of Lyons were in their prosperity, there were reckoned to be 18000 looms employed in the silk manufacture; but in 1698 there were not reckoned 4000. However, this manufacture has revived of late, and a great part of Europe has been supplied from thence with brocade and rich silks. The decay has not been less notable at Tours: they had formerly there 800 mills for winding and preparing the silks, 8000 looms to weave them, and 40,000 persons employed in the preparation and manufacturing thereof; but these have been reduced to 70 mills, 1200 looms, and about 4000 persons.
Silks, Sicilian. The commerce of the silks of Sicily is very considerable: and the Florentines, Genoese, and Lucchese, are the people who chiefly make it. Great quantities are yearly brought thence, especially from Messina: part whereof they use in their own manufactures, and sell the rest to their neighbours, the French, &c. with profit. The Italians have this advantage, especially the Genoese, over other people, that,
that, having larger establishments in the island, they are reputed as natives, and pay no duty for the export.
Part of the Sicilian silks are raw, the rest are spun and milled; of which last kind, those of St Lucia and Messina are the most valued. The raw unwrought silks are always sold for ready money: the others, sometimes, in exchange for other goods.