Spider silk spinning field, the spinneret apparatus of an adult "Araneus diadematus" (garden cross spider) consists of the glands shown below. Similar multiple gland architecture exists in the black widow spider. In order to artificially synthesise spider silk into fibres, there are two broad areas that must be covered. These are synthesis of the feedstock (the unspun silk dope in spiders), and synthesis of the spinning conditions (the funnel, valve, tapering duct, and spigot). There have been a number of different approaches. The molecular structure of unspun silk is both complex and extremely long. Though this endows the silk fibres with their
The Perfumed Garden and amusement. According to the introduction of Colville's English translation, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Nafzawi probably wrote "The Perfumed Garden" sometime during the twelfth century. Sheikh Nefzawi, full name Abu Abdullah Muhammad ben Umar Nafzawi, was born among the Berber Nefzawa tribe in the south of present-day Tunisia. He compiled at the request of the Hafsid ruler of Tunis, Abū Fāris ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Mutawakkil, the present work. The reputation acquired by this work in the Arab world was similar to that of the "Arabian Nights". "The Perfumed Garden" first became widely known in the English-speaking world through a translation from the