INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY PUBLISHED BY C H E M I C A L SOCIETY W A L T E R J. M U R P H Y , EDITOR
SYMPOSIUM
Spectrochemical Methods of Analysis Introductory Remarks URlNGthe past ten to fifteen years important strides have
these problems, and many interesting instrumental developments may be expected. The importance of instrumental analysis i s attested by the number of pertinent publications which have appeared in recent years and by the frequency with which symposia on some phase of the subject have been sponsored by scientific societies. As the various methods reached higher and higher states of perfection, so also did the demands increase for more detailed information regarding the instruments, the techniques, the possible fields of application, and the potentialities of the methods. In direct answer t o such demands, the Division of Analytical and M i c r o Chemistry and the Division of Physical and Inorganic Chemistry held a joint symposium during the N e w York Meeting of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY on September 15, 1944. Since only one day could be devoted t o this symposium, it was impossible to cover many of the instrumental developments which would have been interesting. The discussions were therefore limited t o the general subject of Spectrochemical Methods of Analysis. The success of this symposium i s a matter of record, and the officers of the two divisions and the speakers are to be congratulated. Papers by Churchill (p. 66), Washburn, Wiley, Rock, and Berry (p. 74), and M e l l o n (p. 81) are printed i n this issue; other papers will appear soon. It i s hoped that their publication will prove interesting, helpful, and stimulating t o many who were unable t o attend the symposium.
been made in the application of physical instruments to analytical problems of a chemical nature. The popularity of the various techniques which make up the science of instrumental analysis has increased from year t o year and particularly during the present emergency have the many advantages of these analytical techniques become well known. Through their use a long list of analyses important to the accelerated production schedule of the industries of this country is being performed daily. M a n y of these analyses were formerly considered t o be impossible; others, which are now completed automatically or within a few minutes at most, previously required up to several hours. In developing and adapting these various instruments of physics to the problems and requirements of the chemist, the physicist and the instrument maker have rendered the subject of analysis an invaluable service. It has indeed been interesting to observe the various steps in the conversion of these research instruments ef physics laboratories into commercially available devices for routine analysis and in certain cases into instruments for industrial control purposes. Although only a beginning has so far been made in the instrumentation of the subject of analysis, the successes already achieved are of such magnitude as to indicate much further work along these lines in the future. A f t e r the close of the war, much of the information now secret w i l l undoubtedly b e directly applicable t o
R. BOWLING BARNES Stamford Research Laboratories, American Cyanamid Company, Stamford, Conn.
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