The Chinese were doubtless among the first who used the thread spun by the silkworm for the purposes of clothing.

The manufacture went westward from China to India and Persia, and from thence to Europe.

Alexander the Great brought home with him a store of rich silks from Persia Aristotle and Pliny give descriptions of the industrious little worm and its productions.

Virgil is the first of the Roman writers who alludes to the production of silk in China; and the terms he employs show how little was then known about the article.

It was introduced at Rome about the time of Julius Caesar, who displayed a profusion of silks in some of his magnificent theatrical spectacles.