The Dyer's Guide / Being a compendium of the art of dyeing linen, cotton, silk, wool, muslin, dresses, furniture, &c. &c.; with the method of scouring wool, bleaching cotton, &c., and directions for ungumming silk, and for whitening and sulphuring silk and wool; and also an introductory epitome of the leading facts in chemistry, as connected with the art of dyeing

by Thomas Packer

Observations on SILK.

Silk, as it is obtained from the cocoons of the worm, is generally of an orange or yellow colour, more or less dark; in the South of France it is generally very dark: its natural shade is unfavourable to almost all other colours. It is also imbued with a kind of varnish or gum, which makes it stiff and hard; this stiffness is improper in the fabrication of most silk stuff, it is therefore ungummed, as it is called, by the following processes.