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Textile testing is carried out for one of several reasons and at several stages in the production of the goods. In general, we may say that testing is carried out in order to answer one or more questions: Are the goods satisfactory? Are the goods better or poorer than another lot? What has been the effect of a certain process on the goods? If the goods are unsatisfactory or unusual, what is the cause of the abnormality? It will be seen that to answer all of these questions except the first involves a comparison of two samples; therefore, absolute standards and tolerances are necessary only to answer the first question. The answers to the first two questions are of interest primarily to the consumer, the answers to the last two questions are of interest to the manufacturer.

Where several methods are available the one considered best will be given in detail, and the other methods will be mentioned or considered in less detail. Very often, approximate results may be obtained which are satisfactory for plant use or in a comparison and which require little or no special apparatus. These are especially valuable, since many small plants cannot afford expensive apparatus, and even larger plants occasionally wish to make a test of some sort which is not usually performed because it is unnecessary, and which does not warrant the outlay of any great sum of money.

At the end of each chapter, a bibliography of references is given for each test which is mentioned in the chapter, so that if the reader is interested, he can obtain further information.