A mid-nineteenth-century survey of silk, issued as a volume of Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia (Useful Arts). Part I traces the history of silk from China and Byzantium through its spread to Europe, England and the American colonies, with trade and tariff accounts. Part II covers mulberry culture, silkworm rearing, diseases and cocoon gathering. Part III describes the manufacture: reeling, throwing, plain weaving, figure weaving with the Jacquard machine, power looms, velvet, gauze, brocade and damask. Part IV treats the chemical, medical and electrical properties of silk. Wood engravings show rearing equipment, reeling and throwing machines, looms and Jacquard mechanisms.