2020 Essays

Silkworms and the Work of Algiers

Grafit, Sasha

The author-practitioner’s detailed description of how to raise silkworms according to conventional early modern sericultural methods in “Silkworms” on fol. 53v is related by material and timing to a quite unusual entry on fol. 52r, “The work done in Algiers.” This entry involves raising a silkworm in a flask to produce a powder that transforms antimony into gold. “The work done in Algiers” also relates to another entry in BnF Ms. Fr. 640 for creating a strong poison by putrefying snails in a flask. Taken together, these recipes fall into a genre of alchemical recipes for producing strong agents by putrefying small but symbolic creatures in flasks. This annotation explores the movement of this complex of ideas and practices from China to North Africa to Toulouse. My reconstruction suggests that “Silkworms” and “The work done in Algiers” serve as examples of Ms. Fr. 640 as both a practical record and as encouraging its user to tread into realms of as yet untested knowledge.