French moth may be reared in the open air in
France and the southern districts in England.

Mr. Murray, from whose interesting report
on the products of useful insects, shown at the
Paris Exhibition, many of the facts above stated
are gleaned, pronounces a decided opinion
against the silk of these new worms, and
doubts whether it is worth introducing for
industrial purposes. He says the quality
of the silk is coarse, ill-coloured, and not to be
compared with the most inferior of mulberry silk.
M. Guerin-Meneville now entertains what
probably is a true estimate of the value of Ailanthus
silk. "As to textile matter," he says,
"if we can get it thus at a very low price, it
will hold a middle place between silk and wool
under the name of Ailantine, and appears
destined to become in France what it has been from
all time in China—the silk of the people." It
would be pleasant to possess a clean "brilliant"
garment which would last all a lifetime, and the
introduction of such a material would be a boon
in hard times. Whether the silk can be
produced in quantities sufficient to affect the market
and manufacture, will soon be ascertained by the
results of the great Ailanthus silk farm
sanctioned by the Emperor of the French, and
watched over by M. Guerin-Meneville himself.

Mr. Murray believes that pebrine is
maintained and propagated by the efforts of silk
producers to retain their occupation. By the
introduction of new eggs into an infected
locality, pebrine is supplied with materials on
which to feed. This epidemic differs from
all others ever known. The remedy
suggested by Mr. Murray is a severe one, and not
likely to be tried except in the last resort.
He proposes that the production of silk should
be absolutely given up in every infected
district until the disease is killed by starvation.
When all its food has died out, the plague, he
thinks, will die out too.

Analogy, however, teaches that epidemics
depend very much upon carelessness respecting
sanitary rules. Disinfectants, thorough
cleanliness, and ventilation, overcome, or mitigate
epidemical diseases. Cholera disappears before
pure, wholesome water. Fever flies from a
well-drained district—the oidium has been
overcome by a liberal application of sulphur.
There is no record of any efforts being made
to purify and disinfect the great silk
menageries of France and Italy.

ENGLISH LIFE FRENCH PAINTED.

A NOVEL entitled Le Dernier Mot de
Rocambole, by M. Ponson du Terrail, was
published in Paris about two years ago, and met
with an immense circulation. The plot, which
is of a very complicated character, need not
be described here, as we have only to deal with
that part of it the scene whereof is laid in
London. It is desirable to mention that, at
the time when this novel appeared, Thugs were
the rage in Paris. There were Thugs in the
feuilletons, there were Thugs on the stage, the
exploits of Thugs were recorded in the patter
songs of the cafés-chantants. In accordance
with the prevailing fashion, the Thugs form no
inconsiderable portion of the dramatis personæ
of the Dernier Mot de Rocambole.

Now, the arch Thug of this work resided, not,
as might be supposed, in India, but in London,
which city he had chosen as a favourable locality
for his human sacrifices to the bloodthirsty
goddess Khaly or Kâly. He is described as occupying
one of those elegant chateaux whose sloping
verdant lawns (boulingrins) adorn each side of
that lovely rural thoroughfare the Haymarket;
and of so pious a nature is this aforesaid Thug,
that he has fitted up one of the rooms of his
house as a luxurious temple, wherein he
worships a gold fish, supposed, according to some
Indian doctrine of metempsychosis, to enshrine
the soul of his father.

Rocambole, the hero of the romance,
although endowed with muscularity sufficient to
qualify him for the pages of Mr, Kingsley, goes
about London in great danger from the Thugs,
and has consequently invented a collar of tough
hide, which saves him on many occasions from
the strangling handkerchiefs of those murderous
fanatics. To follow him through a tithe of his
numerous adventures and hairbreadth ’scapes
in all parts of London, from Le High Park to
the aristocratic quarter of Wythe-chapelle,
would far exceed our limits; but, as peculiarly
illustrating the present subject, we may mention
that his greatest dangers arise from his love for,
and pursuit of, a beautiful gipsy, one of a tribe
who pitched their canvas tents under the shadow
of St. Paul's Cathedral, until, warned by the
policemans, they were compelled to move to a
desert spot situated some quarter of an hour's
march from that locality—probably about the
site of the Elephant and Castle—where they
were allowed to celebrate their weird and mystic
rites by torchlight. It is to be noted that,
according to such French authorities, torchlight
scenes are very common in the ill-lighted streets
of London. This is a simple statement, without
exaggeration, of incidents which the author of
Rocambole describes as occurring in London in
the present day.

Apropos of Thugs, a more elaborate account
of the doings of those worthies, both Indian
and British, is contained in a feuilleton, called
Le Procès des Thugs, which appeared in the
year 1866, in the Petit Journal: a Paris paper.
This work of art purports to be a report of the
proceedings in the supreme courts of Calcutta
and Madras, under the presidency of Lord
Bentick (sic), against many thousands of Thugs,
native and British, of whom several hundreds
were condemned and executed. One Feringher
is the principal native Thug. Of the British
Thugs, perhaps the most remarkable are Miss
Clary Trevor, a young lady of great beauty and
questionable morals, and a certain Gilbert
Patterson. The scene in which the latter confesses
his crimes in open court, touches the climax of
absurdity, and is worth quoting.