Encyclopedia Britannica (11th ed.) article on silk, covering its origin and history from ancient China to Japan, India, Europe and America, with discussion of the failed American sericulture efforts. It describes the silk moth life cycle, silkworm rearing, silkworm disease in France and Italy, and wild silks such as tussur, along with the chemical and physical properties of the fibre. The later pages cover silk manufacture (reeling, throwing, organzine and tram, yarn numbering), waste silk and spun-silk processes, and production and consumption statistics by country. Illustrations show moths, larvae, cocoons, microscopic fibres and a reeling apparatus.