and

mals in general, and of infects in particular ; that he hath destined them to ferve, fome one purpose, fome another. It is not chance then that hath made infects useful, but the eternal degrees of providence; and man hath only turned to his use what was originally intended for his service.

I observe in the first place that there are many infects which are ufed as food by the human race. It is faid that there are in India people who commonly eat worms raw or prepared, and confider them as a delicacy. Some make the fame ufe of what are called Sea-ftars. Both ancient and modern history mention a fpecies of locuft, common in the eastern countries, whofe flesh is as white as that of a crab, and which as it is faid, has an exquifite tafte. The people of thefe countries prepare thefe in a particular way. Some boil them, others dry them in the Sun before they use them. Dampier in his voyages relates, that this is practifed among thofe people at this day. This navigator fays that in fome iflands of the Indian ocean, there are locufts an inch and a half long of the fize of ones little finger, blackifh, having broad and thin wings, with long and flender legs: of these the inhabitants catch great numbers. They expofe them to heat in an earthen veffel, by which means the wings and legs fall off, but the head and body become red like thofe of boiled lobsters and are excellent food. The fame author relates that in the kingdon of Tonquin there iffues annually from the earth, in the months of January and February, a fort of locufts which are there in great request as food. The inhabitants rich and poor gather as many as they can, broil them on the coals or falt them that they may keep. This food is very wholefome. In the year 1693, when an army of fuch infects overSpread Germany, fome perfons tried to eat them. The celebrated J. Ludolph, who had travelled fo

much

much in the Eaft, having found them the fame fpecies which the Orientals efteem fo much, made them be dreffed in their way. He made fome be boiled like lobsters and feafoned others with pepper and vinegar. One of his fervants having eaten of them without any harm, he ate of them himself, and one day regaled with the difh the Magiftrates of Frankfort.

Every body knows the delicious and useful fubftance furnished by bees. They collect it from various things. The dew which fails on flowers affords them honey; the flowers themselves are the principal fource from which they draw it. We fee them hovering to obtain it above all forts of flowers, in gardens, meadows, orchards, woods, &c. They even extract this juice from bitter plants, fuch as thyme, and from rofes, whence fpiders fuck poifon. It is pleasant in a fine day to fee this humming cloud of Bees come forth to repair to the fields. There they go from flower to flower, fucking from the nectaria, the dew of the morning, rafting every herb, bending down the leaves and extracting the fweets. One part ferves them for food, and the remainder is digefted into a fmall receptacle deftined for that purpose. U. pon their return their first care is to empty the receptacle and to lodge its contents in their combs.

There are two forts of bees, the wild and the domeftic. The former require no care. They fly freely every where, and depofit their honey fometimes in the cavity of a rock, fonetimes in the hollow of a tree, or in places of that nature. For this reafon the produce of their hives has been called wild honey. The latter are domefticated, and kept in hives where they remain.

The best honey of Europe is, in France, that of Provence and Languedoc, particularly in the envi

rons

rons of Narbonne: and in Switzerland, that of Appenzel. There are three forts of honey: 1. that which drops of itself from the combs; 2. that which is preffed from them; and 3. what is boiled and afterwards preffed. The antients made great ufe of honey for culinary purposes, and at table. The eafe with which fugar is now a days procured, makes' honey of lefs general ufe than it was formerly. It is ftill however an object of importance in economy.

It is with honey that the Ruffians make the drink known by the name of Hydromel. The operation is performed in this manner. A certain quantity of good white honey is taken, and eight times as much. well water. The water is gently heated in a veffel of tinned copper, and then the honey is put in, and the mixture is allowed to boil. It must be carefully fcummed and boiled into one third of the quantity. The great art confifts in its being boiled neither too much nor too little. It is known to be enough when a fresh egg will fwim in it. It must moreover be obferved that Hydromel ought to be more or lefs boiled, according to the quality of the honey employed. The best need not remain fo long on the fire as the worst kind. While it is still warm it is paffed through a fearce to purify it, and then it is put into a cafk in which there has formerly been wine. This cafk is afterwards expofed for five or fix weeks to the Sun, or behind a furnace, or on a baker's oven, that the hydromel may be well fermented. When all thefe precautions are taken it is put into the cellar. In places where there is plenty of honey, a liquor of an inferior quality is made with water, which has been used to wash the wax, and veffels where honey has been kept. It is given to fervants. The peafants fometimes mix good new wine with excellent honey which affords them

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a beverage much to their tafte. Formerly another kind of drink was made, compofed of verjuice and honey.

Some infects furnish us with ftuffs for our raiment. It is well known that the filk worm draws from its own body long and tough threads in which it wraps itself up. After having for a time been as it were buried here, it leaves its fepulchre for the ufe of man, who uses the materials to clothe and adorn himself. This infect and its web have been known in the earlieft times, among the Seres a people who inhabited the country now poffeffed by the Chinese, the Siamese, and Tartars. Even at this day there are to be found in China, in the province of Canton, filkworms in a wild ftate, which without any care being taken of them, make in the woods a kind of filk which the inhabitants afterwards gather from the trees. It is grey without luftre, and is used to make a very thick and ftrong cloth named there KienTcheon. It may be washed like linen cloth, and it does not ftain. Silk however was exceedingly rare in Europe for a long time. Many circumftances contributed to this at firft. The proper inftruments were wanting for fpinning and weaving it, and there was no intercourfe with the people of the countries where it grew. Can we then be furprifed it filk was rare and dear? It is faid that in the days of solomon, a woman of the ifle of Co, named Pamphila, was killed in weaving and making cloth of filk - which came from the country of the Seres. It is probable that this woman had not received from that country the animal, but only its thread. Had it been otherwife, how could filk ftuffs in the time of the Romans have been fo dear, and how could that high price continue till the reign of the Emperor fummian? In his time two monks brought from the Indies to Conftantinople fome eggs of the filk worm. From that place they were carried into Italy, and after

wards into Spain, and other European countries. The filk however that was gathered in Europe was not in fuch quanity as to fuperfede the importation of that from Perfia. Befides much time would necelarily be wanting to bring the manufacture of it to a proper degree of perfection. The fluffs fabricatcd were of two kinds; the firft were wholly filk: these were to precious and dear, that the Emperors al ne were in pof flion of her. Now-a-days things have totally change, and they are become fo common that every body has them. The fecond fort confifted of two different threads, the warp was fiik, the woof of fome other fubftance. Polydor Virgil gives this the name of fatin of Bruges.

Sonse inventive geniufes have endeavoured to draw from the threads of spiders, a fubftance fimilar to thofe of the filk worm. This was attempted by Mr Bon, fuft President at Montpellier. He carried the attenipt fo far, as to make a fuit which he prefented to Louis XIV. The thing well deferves to be throughly investigated. If it could fucceed, clothes might be made which would prevent the money u fually exported in the purchase of filk.

What I have juft faid fhews that infects contribute to wealth and to the advancement of commerce. The merchandize of filk-fuffs occafioned for a long time the export of vaft fums from: France, Germany, and other countries, to Italy and the Levant. Things began to wear a different face in France in 1494 under the reign of Charles VIII. The French imported white mulberies from Naples. planted many, fed filk worms, and made filk. Henry IV. encouraged thefe manufactures, and Louis XIV. brought them to the highest degree of perfection, in confequence of feveral grants. The Germans were the laft to think of the vaft profits which might accrue

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