The experimental investigation of stresses and deflections in the neighborhood of attachments to a cylindrical shell affords an opportunity to compare measured values with theoretical calculations.The experimental report contains such a comparison together with a detailed discussion of the effect of different types of loads on several attachments.This interpretive commentary is intended to emphasize some of the major conclusions and cases where agreement or disagreement occurs between theory and experiment.An examination of the experimental report indicates that theory and experiment agree quite well and this gives confidence to the use of this theory to problems of this type.