devoted to the purposes of luxury in dress and decoration. In thickness they vary from the finest gauze to velvet, the pile of which renders it as close and warm as a fur. Some of the most beautiful of the silk manufactures are the glossy satin, the elegant damask, of which the flowers are of the same hue with the piece, and only show themselves from the difference of shade; the rich brocade in which flowers of natural colours, or of gold and silver thread are interwoven; and the infinitely varied ribbons. It is also a common material for stockings, gloves, buttons, strings, &c., in which its durability almost compensates for its dearness. Much is used for the purpose of sewing, no other thread approaching it in strength. Silk, in short, bears the same superiority among clothing materials, that gold does among metals: it gives an appearance of richness wherever it is employed, and confers a real value. Even the refuse of silk is carefully collected, and serves for useful purposes. The down about the cocoons and the waste separated in the operations raw silk undergoes, are spun into a coarser thread, of which very serviceable

stockings have been made. The interior part of the cocoon, which is a kind of thin but tough membranous film, is reckoned to be the best material for making artificial flowers.

As I have mentioned that the greatest part of the caterpillar tribe spin themselves similar webs, you will perhaps wonder that none of these have been employed like that of the silkworm. Some trials have, in fact, been made; but these other insect-webs have all either proved inferior in quality to the true silk, or cannot be procured in quantity sufficient to render them an object of attention. But you will be surprised to be told that the product of a shell fish residing at the bottom of the sea is actually employed for the same purposes. This is a species of large muscle, called pinna marina, found on the coasts of Naples, Sicily, Minorca, and other islands of those seas, which, by means of some wonderful contrivance of nature, has the faculty of spinning from its body certain fine brown threads, by which it fastens its shell firmly to the rocks. These threads collected form a remarkably fine kind of silk, of which

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stockings, gloves, and other articles, in small quantities, are manufactured by the people on those shores.

But this is a proper place for a pause; so farewell!

175

LETTER XVI.

THE MANUFACTURE OF LEATHER.

You remember that, on first mentioning the hide of animals as a material of clothing, I distinguished between the covering of the skin, and the skin itself. Having now gone through the principal uses made of the former, I proceed to give you some acquaintance with the methods employed to render the latter useful. The nature of this integument, or covering, of the body, I have already described to you; and it is not to be wondered at that men should soon have sought an additional garment, in that substance by which they found their own bodies naturally protected. The tough hide of the wild beast, which it had cost the ancient hero so much pains to pierce, would readily suggest itself to him as an excellent defence

from the blows of other warriors, or from the injuries he might sustain in passing through tangled forests or amid rugged rocks. The resistance made by the skin to hurts and wounds is, indeed, in some animals very surprising. Thus, the badger, whose skin adheres very loosely to the flesh, can scarcely be destroyed by the teeth of the dogs set to worry it; but will retain life after undergoing for hours the severest baiting.

The difficulty would, however, immediately occur of preserving the skin stript from the animal in a state fit for use. If nothing were done to it, like all the other soft parts, it would soon grow putrid; and if this were prevented by drying, it would become hard. and shrivelled. What art, therefore, has attempted in its preparation, has been to impregnate it with a matter capable of preserving it from putrefaction; and at the same time to keep it in a state of flexibility and suppleness, When this is effected, skin becomes leather, so called from the adjective lithe, that is, flexible, a substance of the highest utility, as well in clothing, as for