Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/212

 CHAPTER X.

FIBRES OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINNA.

The Pinna—Description of—Delicacy of its threads—Reaumur's observations—Mode of forming the filament or thread—Power of continually producing new threads—Experiments to ascertain this fact—The Pinna and its Cancer Friend—Nature of their alliance—Beautiful phenomenon—Aristotle and Pliny's account—The Greek poet Oppianus's lines on the Pinna, and its Cancer friend—Manner of procuring the Pinna—Poli's description—Specimens of the Pinna in the British Museum—Pearls found in the Pinna—Pliny and Athenæus's account—Manner of preparing the fibres of the Pinna for weaving—Scarceness of this material—No proof that the ancients were acquainted with the art of knitting—Tertullian the first ancient writer who makes mention of the manufacture of cloth from the fibres of the Pinna—Procopius mentions a chlamys made of the fibres of the Pinna, and a silken tunic adorned with sprigs or feathers of gold—Boots of red leather worn only by Emperors—Golden fleece of the Pinna—St. Basil's account—Fibres of the Pinna not manufactured into cloth at Tarentum in ancient times, but in India—Diving for the Pinna at Colchi—Arrian's account.

In the preceding chapter we have confined our remarks, principally, to the various attempts made to obtain a silken or filamentous material from the spider, and although those efforts have not been crowned with that degree of success which would render a speculation of the kind worthy of our attention in a pecuniary point of view, yet, it must be conceded, that the subject is scarcely the less interesting; and Mr. Bon, the gentleman who first undertook the training of spiders, has at least given us matter for further interesting speculation. It is now about 104 years since Mr. Bon commenced his experiments.

In this chapter, we shall proceed to describe the Pinna of the ancients, and upon which human ingenuity has been more successfully exercised in seeking, many feet below the surface of the Ocean, for the slender filaments, the produce of an animal in almost a vegetative state of existence.