THE FINGER TEST
One of the most satisfactory methods of determining jelly-strength—and the one perhaps in most general use, is the finger test.
In this test the various glue-jellies are arranged before the tester, who presses each with the tip of the finger, comparing it with the standard as to resistance power. While this may seem to expose the final decision too greatly to the personal equation, as represented by the personality of the glue-tester, it is nevertheless true that an expert develops the most extraordinary precision, arriving at conclusions that are corroborated by the results of other tests and by the results in actual practice. The work of the glue-tester is analogous to that of the coffee-taster and the tea-taster, or experts in other lines, who through a highly developed and keenly discriminating sense of taste, or touch, or smell, determine with extreme nicety the physical characteristics of the substances that they are accustomed to test.