New theory and old practice in relation to medicine and certain industries : being an analysis of current literature of these subjects / by C.A. Gordon.

  • Gordon, Charles Alexander, 1821-1899.
Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: New theory and old practice in relation to medicine and certain industries : being an analysis of current literature of these subjects / by C.A. Gordon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    J28 this subject by E^aumur in 1734 (p. 130), and more recently by Hutto at Missoure, in the Himalayas. [Further instructions with regard to t rearing and management of silk-worms occur in the succeeding pages a. the same work, the purport of which is to indicate the very seconda position, if any, held by the system of selection, solely trusted to b the followers of M. Pasteur. Among these,'it is recommended to retu to the practice (from old time adopted in China) of distributing th raising of seed in small quantities among a large number of families. Much has also been done that is injurious to this industry in France b speculators for the rise and fall of prices, (p. 133). With reference to the state of the silk industry in France in July 1883, the statement occurs that our rearers of silk are astonished, o spinners still more discouraged. We are unable (in France) to compete, as regards quality, against the Italians, (p. 145.) According to the Bulletin des Soirs et des Soieries of 1885 the production of silk in France during each of the five years from 1880 to 1885 was, in kilogrammes, as follows, namely:—in 1880, 525,700 ; 1881, 750,000 ; 1882, 772,000; 1883, 611,000; and in 1884, 483,000. In the latter year, although the checks due to muscardine and flacherie remained exceptional, yet the produce had nearly become a quantite negligeable. But not alone in France had the decrease taken place ; statistics given indicate that it has been general throughout silk yielding countries, China included. (Feb. 1 July 4, Sept. 19). M. Chavfe-Leroy writes to this effect:—Having discovered by the aid of a powerful microscope that the intestines of the diseased silk worms were not in the same state as those of healthy insects, M. Pasteur declared that, in order to ejSect the complete disappearance of the malady it w: only necessary to make a careful selection of healthy moths for the:^ purpose of reproduction. But the expectations thus raised were not long before they met with disappointment; silk-worms produced by the selected insects contracted the disease, as did the others, when fed upon deteriorated leaves of the mulberrj^-tree. The celebrated theorist had not considered that the abnormal condition of the intestines in the diseased insects was the effect of their disease, not its catise. Thus it is that, having prematurely been regarded as the saviour of sericulture in France, he has come to assist at its death. It is true that, as he has observed, treaties of commerce have also contributed to the present precarious condition of that industry. (Les Maladies do la Vigne, 1885, p. 50).