A common test is to put the artificial silk in water, where it will
pull apart as though rotten; or to take out one strand of the silk,
hold it between the finger and thumb of each hand and wet the middle
of the strand with the tongue, when it will pull apart as though
rotten.

Artificial silk is inferior in strength and elasticity to pure silk.
Then again it is lacking in the crackling feeling noticed in handling
the genuine article.

=Test for Shoddy.= It is no easy matter to detect shoddy in woolen
fabrics; the color of the shoddy threads is the best evidence. Many
parcels of rags are of one single color, but for the most part they
are made of various colored wools; therefore, if on examination of a
fabric with a magnifying glass a yarn of any particular color is found
to contain a number of individual fibers of glaring colors, the
presence of shoddy can be assumed with certainty.

Woolen goods containing cotton are seldom made from natural wool.
Shoddy yarns, especially in winter goods, are found in the
under-filling at the reverse side of the cloth, as thick, tightly
twisted yarns, curlier than those from the pure wool.

=Determination of the Dressing.= During the various operations of
washing, bleaching, etc., the goods lose in weight, and to make up
this deficit a moderate amount of dressing or loading is employed.
Dressing is not regarded as an adulteration, but as an embellishment.

Various dressing materials are used, such as starch, flour, mineral
matters, to give the goods stiffness and feel on one hand, and on the
other to conceal defects in the cloth, and to give a solid appearance
to goods of open texture. The mineral substances used serve chiefly
for filling and weighting, and necessitate the employment of a certain
quantity of starch, etc. In order that the latter may not render the
cloth too stiff and hard, further additions of some emollient, such as
glycerine, oils, etc., are necessary.

When a fabric filled in this manner is placed in water and rubbed
between the hands, the dressing is removed, and the quantity employed
can be easily determined.

By holding fabrics before the light dressing will be recognized, and
such goods, if rubbed between the fingers, will lose their stiffness.
Loading is revealed by the production of dust on rubbing, and by the
aid of the magnifying glass it can be easily ascertained whether the
covering or dressing is merely superficial or penetrates into the
subs