degrees, till you find the just proportion for them. They must not be allowed to remain long in the hot water, and there should only be a few of these cocoons put into the water at a time. If these circumstances are not attended to, the silk comes off thick, as already mentioned, which, in winding, makes the thread break at every moment, and not only greatly diminishes the quantity of your silk upon the reel, but also considerably hurts its quality, by rendering it coarser. When once the reel has the quantity of silk upon it judged to be sufficient-the produce of about three pounds of cocoons, for example-you take it off, and put another reel in its place, that the work may not be interrupted. The silk ought to remain for six or eight hours, or even more, if you can allow it with your convenience, as it ought to be perfectly dry before it is taken from the reel.

When the cocoons which were first put into the basin are nearly finished, you must cause the wheel to be stopped; at which time, with a ladle full of holes, like a drainer, you take out the cocoons which were in play, each parcel on the opposite side. They are put into plates kept at the side of the furnace for that purpose; and are taken out of the basin for the following two reasons: first, that they may not be mixed with the new cocoons, which are put into the basin to be prepared for winding, as already mentioned; secondly, because if these cocoons, which are already in part wound off, were left in the boiling water till the new ones are prepared, it would have the effect to prevent the silk from winding off from the cocoons with that dispatch and propriety which are necessary in that opera

tion.

As soon as you observe that the silk is wound off from the cocoon, you must take out the bottom of the cocoon containing the insect from the basin and throw it aside; because, if left in the basin, it will spoil the water, and consequently destroy the color of the silk.

You must be at pains to keep an equal number of cocoons working at each end of the basin, in order to keep the thread of silk of an equal size. When you have fewer on one side than the other, the silk becomes smaller at that side, of course, which also has the constant effect to break the thread. In order to keep the thread at both sides of an equal size, you must throw in the cocoons, one by one, and never more than two at a time. If you throw in many together, for example, four or five at once, it throws the weight to that side, when the thread immediately breaks, because by that means the equilibrium is lost.

In putting the silk thread round the two little pieces of wire, for conducting it to the reel, fixed to the little wooden wheel, you must turn the thread round to the right-hand for the bit of wire placed on the right; and turn it round to the left hand, for the piece of wire placed on the

left.

The quicker the motion of the wheel is, the better the silk winds off, and the better the ends join to the thread, which is, indeed, one of the great reasons that make it wind off well. One might be apt to imagine that the rapidity of the

motion might overstrain and break the thread, but from constant experience it has been found that the thread never once breaks from the rapidity of the motion; but, on the contrary, that the quicker the motion is the more advantageous it is for winding the silk.

When you have put the quantity of silk upon the reel which you think proper, you then pick and clean off all the loose silk with your fingers; after which you take a litle handful of the coarse silk, and after washing it to make it throughly clean, and squeezing it, you must dip it in some cold clean water, with which, in the flat of your hand, you rub over the silk upon the reel, a great many different times, all round the reel; stroking up also the silk with the flat or palm of your hand. After which you then pour some clear cold water also upon the silk; and you then turn round the reel with all the velocity in your power, for about eight or ten minutes, in order to shake off all the water effectually; which done, you take off the reel, and put it in some airy place to dry; but you must not expose it to the sun, which would quite eat away and spoil the color. This is done to clean the silk effectually and to give it a gloss.

In preparing the double cocoons for winding off, they put more of them into the basin at once than of the finest kind. But, before putting them into the basin, they must be well cleaned from all the floss, or waste silk, which is on the outside of them, that they may play properly in the basin. The water also must be boiling hot; and as the silk they yield is of a coarser quality than the other, and has a good deal of the floss silk or bour upon it, the girl who turns the wheel takes the opportunity, while the other woman is preparing the cocoons in the basin for winding, to clean and pick off the loose silk from that which is already on the reel. In winding off the fine silk, there are always two hanks of silk put upon the reel at the same time. But, in winding off the silk from the double cocoons, they confine themselves to one hank only at a time upon the reel.

The next object which occurs is the method observed by the French, in the preparation of their floss, or waste silk, which they call filoselle ; and which they do in the following manner :all the cocoons which have been pierced by the butterflies being collected together, they add to these all the light cocoons, which they judge to be improper for winding off, after the insects have been cut out, as before-mentioned; and to these they also add all the bottoms of the cocoons which had been thrown aside from the basin, after winding off their silk.

Such of the floss silk as you wish should retain the yellow color, you put into a large copper kettle, and cause a person to tramp it with her bare feet, in the same manner as the women in some parts of Scotland tramp their linens when they are washing them. From time to time they turn the cocoons upside down with their hands and so go on tramping them again with their feet. This operation is continued for nearly two hours together, turning them, and giving them a little more fresh water from time to time, till it is found that the silk of the cocoons sepa

rates properly, upon tedding it out with your fingers and as, in tramping with the feet, the edges of the heap of cocoons will very often escape the stroke of the foot, you turn the edges into the middle. When you find it properly separated, you carry it to the river; put the cocoons, into a clean cloth tied up, to prevent the silk from mixing together. You then pour fresh water upon them from time to time, till you find that the water runs off from the silk perfectly clear, without being tinged with any sort of color. When you find this to be the case, you spread out the silk to dry by the sun; and, when it is thoroughly dry, the operation is completed. For the subsequent processes in the manufacture of silk see WEAVING. SILL, n. s. Sax. rýl; Fr. sueil. The timber or stone at the foot of the door.

The farmer's goose,

Grown fat with corn, and sitting still, Can scarce get o'er the barn-door sill; And hardly waddles forth. Swift. SILLA, a town on the Niger of Park, which bounded his travels eastward. He gives no description of the place, which he had not spirits or health to survey; but fills a page of his work with the reasons which determined him to proceed no farther. ‹ When I arrived,' says he, ‘I was suffered to remain till it was quite dark, under a tree, surrounded by hundreds of people. But their language was very different from the other parts of Bambarra: and I was informed that, in my progress eastward, the Bambarra tongue was but little understood, and that when I reached Jenne I should find that the majority of the inhabitants spoke a different language, called Jenne Kummo by the negroes, and Kalam Soudan by the Moors. With a great deal of entreaty the Dooty allowed me to come into his baloon to avoid the rain: but the place was very damp, and I had a smart paroxysm of fever during the night. Worn down by sickness, exhausted with hunger and fatigue, half naked, and without any article of value by which I might procure provisions, clothes, or lodgings, I began to reflect seriously on my situation. I was now convinced, by painful experience, that the obstacles to my farther progress were insurmountable. The tropical rains were already set in with all their violence; the rice grounds and swamps were every where overflowed; and, in a few days more, travelling of every kind, unless by water, would be completely obstructed. The cowries which remained of the king of Bambarra's present were not sufficient to enable me to hire a canoe for any great distance; and I had but little hopes of subsisting by charity in a country where the Moors have such influence. But, above all, I perceived that I was advancing more and more within the power of those merciless fanatics; and, from my reception both at SEGO and SANSANDING (see these articles), I was apprehensive that, in attempting to reach even Jenne (unless under the protection of some man of consequence amongst them, which I had no means of obtaining), I should sacrifice my life to no purpose; for my discoveries would perish with me. The prospect either way was gloomy. In returning to the Gambia, a journey on foot of

VOL. XX.

many hundred miles presented itself to my contemplation, through regions and countries unknown. Nevertheless this seemed to be the only alternative; for I saw inevitable destruction in attempting to proceed to the eastward. With this conviction on my mind, I hope my readers will acknowledge that I did right in going no farther. I had made every effort to execute my mission, in its fullest extent, which prudence could justify. Had there been the most distant prospect of a successful determination, neither the unavoidable hardships of the journey, nor the dangers of a second captivity, should have forced me to desist. This, however, necessity compelled me to do; and it affords me inexpressible satisfaction that my honorable employers have been pleased, since my return, to express their full approbation of my conduct.' He must be a very unreasonable man, indeed, who could on this point think differently from Mr. Park's employers. Long. 1° 24′ W., lat. 14° 48′ N.

SIL'LABUB, n. s. Minshew thinks this word is corrupted from swilling bubbles. Junius omits it. Henshaw, whom Skinner follows, deduces it from the Dutch sulle, a pipe, and buyck, a paunch; because sillabubs are commonly drunk through a spout, out of a jug with a large belly. It seems more probably derived from esil, in old English, vinegar: esil a bouc, vinegar for the mouth, vinegar made pleasant.-Johnson. Mr. Thomson says from Belg. azil bub, acid drink. Curds made by milking upon vinegar.

Joan takes her neat rubbed pail, and now
She trips to milk the sand-red cow;
Where, for some sturdy foot-ball swain,
Joan strokes a syllabub or twain.
A feast,

Wotton.

By some rich farmer's wife and sister drest,
Might be resembled to a sick man's dream,
That syllabubs come first, and soups the last. King.
Where all ideas huddling run so fast,

SILLAH-MEW, a large town in the Birman empire, situated on the east side of the Irrawaddy. Lat. 20° 50′ N., long. 94° 30′ E. This large town is remarkable for its manufactures of silk, the raw material for which is procured from the province of Yunan in China. The colors are bright and beautiful, but do not appear durable; the texture is close and strong. It is said to wear much longer than any China of Hindostany fabric; but the price is proportionally high. Sillah-mew is a handsome town, shaded by wide spreading trees, and embellished with several temples. The soil is in general poor; but some of the fields are regularly fenced, and there are numerous herds of cattle in the neighbourhood.

SILLIMANITE, in mineralogy, is a new miColor dark neral from Saybrook, Connecticut. gray, passing into olive brown. It is harder than the quartz in which it occurs, and is crystallised in rhomboidal prisms, having angles of 106.30 and 73.10; the inclination of the base to the axis of the prism being about 113°. The sides and angles of the crystals are frequently rounded. In hardness it exceeds quartz; and, in some specimens, topaz. Translucent in small fragments. Brittle. Fracture in the longer diagonal lamellar, brilliant. Cross fracture uneven and splintery. Specific gravity 3:41. Infusible at the blow

2 B

it. Its constituents are,

Do, do, look sillily, good colonel; 'tis a decent melancholy after an absolute defeat. Dryden. We are caught as sillily as the bird in the net. L'Estrange. The silliness of the person does not derogate from the dignity of his character. Id.

I have no discontent at living here; besides what arises from a silly spirit of liberty, which I resolve to throw off. Swift. Such parts of writings as are stupid or silly, false or mistaken, should become subjects of occasional Watts.

criticism.

The SILLYHOW, in midwifery, is a portion of the chorion, which sometimes comes away with the child. In Scotland it is called the hally or holy how, and, without punning on the English name, many silly stories are still told by midwives of the good fortune that is to attend such Jucky children, provided the membrane is carefully preserved by the mother, and the child never sees it!

SI-LONG, a town of China of the second rank, in the province of Quang-si, 1115 miles S. S. W. of Pekin.

SILPHA, carrion-beetle, in entomology, a genus of animals belonging to the class of insectæ, and to the order of coleoptera. The antennæ are clavated; the clava are perfoliated; the

the thorax marginated. There are ninety-four species, of which only seven are natives of Britain and Ireland, viz. 1. S. aquatica, the water carrion beetle, is brown, with a green bronze tinge. There are four ribs on the thorax. On each shell there are ten striæ. The length is one-fifth of an inch. 2. S. bipustulata is black; the antennæ are long and small, and there are two red The length spots on the middle of each shell. and oblong; the shells are abbreviated; the abis one-third of an inch. 3. S. pulicaria is black domen is rounded at the extremity; the thorax and shells are scarcely marginated; the length is one line. It is found frequently running on flowers. 4. S. pustulata is black and oblong; there are four brown spots on the shells; the length is one-fifth of an inch. It lives on trees. 5. S. quadripunctata. The head, antennæ, and legs black. Margin of the thorax and shells are of a pale yellow, with four black spots. The length half an inch. It is found in Caen wood, near Hampstead. 6. S. sabulosa is black; the antennæ are short and globular; there are five striæ on each shell. The shells and wings are short. There are five joints on the two first feet, four on the rest. It lives in sand. 7. S. vespillo, the margin of the thorax broad. The shells are abbreviated, black, with two yellow belts. The thighs of the hind legs large, with a spine near the origin. Length nearly one inch. It infests dead bodies.

SILPHIUM, in ancient geography, a country of Libya.

SILPHIUM, in botany, bastard chrysanthemum, a genus of the polygamia necessaria order, and syngenesia class of plants; natural order fortyninth, composite; the receptacle is paleaceous; the pappus has a two-horned margin, and the CAL. is squarrose. There are eight species. 1. S. asteriscum; 2. connatum; 3. laciniatum; 4. perfoliatum; 5. soldaginoides; 6. terebinthinum; 7. trifoliatum; 8. trilobatum. They are all natives of North America, except the soldaginoides, and the last.

SILPIA, an ancient town of Spain.-Liv. 28. SILT, n. s. Of uncertain origin. Mud; slime. Several trees of oak and fir stand in firm earth be

low the moor near Thorny, in all probability covered by inundation, and the silt and moorish earth exaggerated upon them.

Hale. SILVAN, adj. Lat. silva. Woody; full of woods.

Betwixt two rows of rocks, a sylvan scene Appears above, and groves for ever green. Dryden. SILVANUS, the companion and amanuensis of St. Paul. See SILAS."

SILVANUS, in the mythology, a rural deity, the son of Picus, king of Latium, and brother of Faunus, according to Virgil. Other mythologists make him the son of Mars; others of Valeria Tusculanaria, by her own father (Plutarch); others of an Italian shepherd by a she goat. He is indeed represented by painters as half a man, half a goat. Some say he reigned in Italy in the age of Evander. Be that as it may, this monster of a deity was worshipped in Italy as the parton of gardens, orchards, and woods, as his name im

it is disposed to obtain a thin purple or black coating from the sulphurous vapors which are emitted from animal substances, drains, or putrefying matters. This coating, after a long series of years, has been observed to scale off from images of silver exposed in churches; and was found, on examination, to consist of silver united with sulphur. There seems to be only one oxide of silver, which is formed either by intense ignition in an open vessel, when an olivecolored glass is obtained, or by adding a solution of caustic barytes to one of nitrate of silver, and heating the precipitate to dull redness. Sir H. Davy found that 100 of silver combine with 7-3 of oxygen in the above oxide; and, if we suppose it to consist of a prime equivalent of each constituent, we shall have 13.7 for the prime of silver. Silver leaf burned by a voltaic battery affords the same olive-colored oxide.

The prime equivalent of silver seems to be 13.75, or 110 on the hydrogen scale.

Silver combines with chlorine, when the metal is heated in contact with the gas. This chloride is, however, usually prepared by adding muriatic acid, or a muriate, to nitrate of silver. It has been long known by the name of luna-cornea or horn-silver, because, though a white powder, as it falls down from the nitrate solution, it fuses at a moderate heat, and forms a horny-looking substance when it cools. It consists of 13-75 silver +4.5 chlorine.

The sulphuret of silver is a brittle substance, of a black color and metallic lustre. It is formed by heating to redness thin plates of silver stratified with sulphur. It consists of 13.75 silver + 2 sulphur. Fulminating silver is formed by pouring lime water into the pure nitrate, and filtering, washing the precipitate, and then digesting on it liquid ammonia in a little open capsule. In twelve hours the ammonia must be cautiously decanted from the black powder, which is to be dried in minute portions, and with extreme circumspection, on bits of filtering paper or card. If struck, in even its moist state, with a hard body, it explodes; and if in any quantity, when dry, the fulmination is tremendous. The decanted ammonia, on being gently heated, effervesces, from disengagement of azote, and small crystals appear in it when it cools. These possess a still more formidable power of detonation, and can scarcely bear touching even under the liquid. It seems to be a compound either of oxide of silver and ammonia, or of the oxide and azote. The latter is probably its true constitution, like the explosive iodide and chloride. The sudden extrication of the condensed gas is the cause of the detonation.

Silver is soluble in the sulphuric acid when concentrated and boiling, and the metal in a state of division. The muriatic acid does not act upon it; but the nitric acid, if somewhat diluted, dissolves it with great rapidity, and with a plentiful disengagement of nitrous gas; which, during its extrication, gives a blue or green color to the acid, that entirely disappears if the silver made use of be pure; if it contain copper, the solution remains greenish; and, if the acid contain either sulphuric or muriatic

acid, these combine with a portion of the silver, and form scarcely soluble compounds, which fall to the bottom. If the silver contain gold, this metal separates in blackish-colored flocks. The nitric acid dissolves more than half its weight of silver; and the solution is very caustic, that is to say, it destroys and corrodes animal substances very powerfully.

The solution of silver, when fully saturated, deposits thin crystals as it cools, and also by evaporation. These are called lunar nitre, or nitrate of silver. A gentle heat is sufficient to fuse them, and drive off their water of crystallisation. In this situation the nitrate, or rather subnitrate (for the heat drives off part of the acid) is of a black color, may be cast into small sticks in a mould, and then forms the lapis infernalis, or lunar caustic used in surgery. A stronger heat decomposes nitrate of silver, the acid flying off, and the silver remaining pure. It is obvious that, for the purpose of forming the lunar caustic, it is not necessary to suffer the salt to crystallise, but that it may be made by evaporating the solution of silver at once to dryness; and as soon as the salt is fused, and ceases to boil, it may be poured out. The nitric acid driven off from nitrate of silver is decomposed, the products being oxygen and nitrogen.

The sulphate of silver, which is formed by pouring sulphuric acid into the nitric solution of silver, is sparingly soluble in water; and on this account forms crystals, which are so small that they compose a white powder. The muriatic acid precipitates from nitric acid the saline compound called lunar cornea, or horn-silver; which has been so distinguished, because, when melted and cooled, it forms a semitransparent and partly flexible mass, resembling horn. It is supposed that a preparation of this kind has given rise to the accounts of malleable glass. This effect takes place with aqua regia, which acts strongly on silver, but precipitates it in the form of muriate as fast as it is dissolved. If any salt with base of alkali, containing the muriatic acid, be added to the nitric solution of silver, the same effect takes place by double affinity; the alkaline base uniting with the nitric acid, and the silver falling down in combination with the muriatic acid.

Since the muriatic acid throws down only silver, lead, and mercury, and the latter of these two is not present in silver that has passed cupellation, though a small quantity of copper may elude the scorification in that process, the silver which may be revived from its muriate is purer than can readily be obtained by any other means. When this salt is exposed to a low red heat, its chlorine is not expelled; and a greater heat causes the whole concrete either to rise in fumes, or to pass through the pores of the vessel. To reduce it, therefore, it is necessary that it should be triturated with its own weight of fixed alkali and a little water, and the whole afterwards exposed to heat in a crucible, the bottom of which is covered with soda; the mass of muriate of silver being likewise covered with the same substance. In this way the acid will be separated from the silver, which is reduced to its metallic state.