low price of cocoons this waste is not as important as it was some
time ago, when cocoons were much dearer; but even at present it
amounts to between fifteen and twenty millions of francs per annum in
the silk districts of France and Italy alone. In France the cooking
and brushing are usually done by the same women who reel, and in the
same basins. In Italy the brushing is usually done by girls, and often
with the aid of mechanically rotated brushes, an apparatus which is of
doubtful utility, as, in imitating the movement of hand brushing, the
same waste is occasioned.

After the cocoons are brushed they are, in the ordinary process,
cleaned by hand, which is another tedious and wasteful operation
performed by the reeler, and concerning which we shall have more to
say further on. Whatever may be the preparatory operations, they
result in furnishing the reeler with a quantity of cocoons, each
having its floss removed, and the end of the filament ready to be
unwound. Each reeler is provided with a basin containing water, which
may be heated either by a furnace or by steam, and a reel, upon which
the silk is wound when put in motion by hand or by power. In civilized
countries heating by steam and the use of motive power is nearly
universal. The reeler is ordinarily seated before the reel and the
basin. The reeler begins operations by assembling the cocoons in the
basin, and attaching all the ends to a peg at its side. She then
introduces the ends of the filaments from several cocoons into small
dies of agate or porcelain, which are held over the basin by a
support.

The ends so brought in contact stick together, owing to the adhesive
substance they naturally contain, and form a thread. To wring out the
water which is brought up with the ends, and further consolidate the