| Show MAY YET DYE SILK IN LEAF LEA F experiment experiments have almost convince scientists that such a thing Is I 1 within range flange of possibility silk Is the secretion of two glands of the silkworm ellk wona lying alongside the digestive canal these gland glands which consist of numerous colled coiled tubes tar tero minate in a spinning ingwart wart from a common orifice la in the spinning wart the secretion of the corsi consistency stancy of honey issues forth promptly hardening into a thread on exposure to the air usually the silk Is colorless co lorle on leaving the body of the silkworm but sometimes it Is straw yellow or greenish why the answer has been a matter of long dispute some claim that tho the larva itself produces the color others ascribe it to impurities acquired upon secretion still others are of the opinion that the green color of the leaves of the mulberry tree ie IS he cause two french scientists lev ler rat and conto conte determined to settle the dispute they fed silkworms on mul berry arry leaves which had been saturated with nonpoisonous aniline red and ani ant line blue with what result hotl not were the silkworms turned red or blue but their secreted silk assumed ho he respective colors who knows but iome joine day we may be dyeing silk in the leaf instead of in the vat |
