[125] A shred of gold cloth is preserved in the Museum of Antiquities at Leyden, which is supposed to have been discovered in one of the ancient tombs at Tarquinia in Etruria. In this tissue the gold forms a compact covering over bright yellow silk.
[126]See [Plate II.]
That the Egyptians excelled in science and art is evident from their monuments, paintings, and sculptures, whereon they are depicted. It is also proved by Scripture, which speaks of the “wisdom of Egypt” with reference to art; and from the fact that Egypt was deemed by other nations the fountain of arts and sciences, and that their philosophers were wont to resort thither to collect some of the “droppings of Egyptian wisdom.” According to Diodorus, all trades vied with each other in improving their own particular branch, no pains being spared to bring each to perfection. To promote the more effectually this object, it was enacted that no artisan should follow any trade or employment but that defined bylaw, and pursued by his ancestors. No tradesman was permitted to meddle with political affairs, or hold any civil office in the state, lest his thoughts should be distracted by the inconsistency of his pursuits, or the jealousy and displeasure of the master in whose service he was employed. They foresaw that without such a law constant interruptions would take place, in consequence of the necessity or desire of becoming conspicuous in a public station; that their proper occupations would be neglected, and many would be led by vanity and self-sufficiency to interfere in matters which were out of their sphere. They considered, moreover, that to pursue more than one avocation would be detrimental to their own interests, and those of the community at large; and that, when men, from a motive of avarice, engage in numerous branches of art, the general result is, that they are unable to excel in any. If any artisan interfered in political matters, or engaged in any employment other than the one to which he had been brought up, a severe punishment was immediately inflicted upon him.
The eminent German hierologist, Dr. Lepsius, now employed in Egypt by the Prussian government, after mentioning, in a recent letter, the many discoveries he had made of ancient ruins, tombs, &c., writes as follows:
“With the exception of about twelve, which belong to a later period, all these tombs were erected contemporaneously with, or soon after, the building of the great pyramid, and consequently their dates throw an invaluable light on the study of human civilization in the most remote period of antiquity. The sculptures in relief are surprisingly numerous, representing whole figures, some the size of life, and others of various dimensions. The paintings are on back grounds of the finest chalk. They are numerous and beautiful beyond conception—as fresh and perfect as if finished yesterday! The pictures and sculptures on the walls of the tombs, represent, for the most part, scenes in the lives of the deceased persons, whose wealth in cattle, fish-boats, servants, &c., is ostentatiously displayed before the eye of the spectator. All this gives an insight into the details of private life among the ancient Egyptians. By the help of these inscriptions I think I could, without difficulty, make a “Court Calendar” of the reign of King Cheops[127]. In some instances I have traced the graves of father, son, grandson, and even great-grandson—all that now remains of the distinguished families, which five thousand years ago, formed the nobility of the land.”
[127] We do not find in these researches, that the ancients were acquainted with the arts of spinning and weaving glass, or of giving it any required shade of color. This invention, therefore, must be considered as belonging to the nineteenth century, and the honor of the discovery is due to M. Dubus Bonnel, an ingenious Frenchman, a native of Lille, and for which he obtained patents in Great Britain, and various countries of the European continent in 1837.
“When we figure to ourselves an apartment decorated with cloth of glass, and resplendent with lights, we must be convinced that it will equal in brilliancy all that the imagination can conceive; and realise, in a word, the wonders of the enchanted palaces mentioned in the Arabian tales. The lights flashing from the polished surface of the glass, to which any color or shade may be given, will make the room have the appearance of an apartment composed of pearls, mother-of-pearl, diamonds, garnets, sapphires, topazes, rubies, emeralds, or amethysts, &c., or, in short, of all those precious stones united and combined in a thousand ways, and formed into stars, rosettes, boquets, garlands, festoons, and graceful undulations, varied almost ad infinitum.”—L’Echo du Monde Savant, &c. No. 58, Feb. 15, 1837.—Translated from the French.
The warp is composed of silk, forming the body and groundwork on which the pattern in glass appears, as effected by the weft. The requisite flexibility of glass thread for manufacturing purposes is to be ascribed to its extreme fineness; as not less than from fifty to sixty of the original threads (spun by steam engine power) are required to form one thread of the weft. The process is slow; for no more than a yard of cloth can be produced in twelve hours. The work, however, is extremely beautiful and comparatively cheap, inasmuch as no similar stuff, where bullion is really introduced, can be purchased for anything like the price for which this is sold; added to this, it is, as far as the glass is concerned, imperishable. Glass is more durable than either gold or silver, and, besides, possesses the advantage of never tarnishing.
CHAPTER VII.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM, &c.
Preliminary observations—The silk-worm—Various changes of the silk-worm—Its superiority above other worms—Beautiful verses on the May-fly, illustrative of the shortness of human life—Transformations of the silk-worm—Its small desire of locomotion—First sickness of the worm—Manner of casting its Exuviæ—Sometimes cannot be fully accomplished—Consequent death of the insect—Second, third, and fourth sickness of the worm—Its disgust for food—Material of which silk is formed—Mode of its secretion—Manner of unwinding the filaments—Floss-silk—Cocoon—Its imperviousness to moisture—Effect of the filaments breaking during the formation of the cocoon—Mr. Robinet’s curious calculation on the movements made by a silk-worm in the formation of a cocoon—Cowper’s beautiful lines on the silk-worm—Periods in which its various progressions are effected in different climates—Effects of sudden transitions from heat to cold—The worm’s appetite sharpened by increased temperature—Shortens its existence—Various experiments in artificial heating—Modes of artificial heating—Singular estimate of Count Dandolo—Astonishing increase of the worm—Its brief existence in the moth state—Formation of silk—The silken filament formed in the worm before its expulsion—Erroneous opinions entertained by writers on this subject—The silk-worm’s Will.