REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDITING METHODS 

 ^ —OF ANALYSIS. 



Washington, D. C, NovemlxM- 16, 191;"). 



To The President and Members of the/ Association of Official Agricul- 

 tural Chemists. 1— 

 Gentlemen: — Your committee on editing methods of analysis begs leave to report 

 that it has completed the work assigned and herewith submits for your consideration 

 the revised methods. The committee has included all authorized changes and addi- 

 tions, has eliminated obsolete methods in so far as possible, rewritten the text where 

 parts appeared obscure, and made such consolidations of general methods and 

 rearrangements as in its opinion would promote brevity and clearness. 



In order that the members of the Association may have an opportunity to criti- 

 cize the revised methods it is suggested by your committee that this report be 

 published in the Journal of the Association with a view to final adoption of the 

 metliods in 19IG. 



Respectfully submitted, 



Committee on Editing Methods of Analysis. 

 R. E. DooLiTTLE, Chairman, A. F. Seeker, 

 W. A. Withers, G. W. Hoover, 



J. P. Street, B. L. Hartwell. 



Editorial Note: — The Board of Editors submits the following comment upon the 

 report of the Committee on Editing Methods of Analysis: 



Inasmuch as the methods of analysis as prescribed by this Association have been 

 adopted, by regulation, for the enforcement of the Federal Food and Drugs Act 

 and, by law, in many of the States for the enforcement of State laws, certain safe- 

 guards to protect their integrity are provided by the Association's Constitution 

 and By-Laws. 



The Constitution and By-Laws provide for Official and Provisional Methods 

 only. At the last meeting of the Association it was suggested that the "Provisional" 

 methods be designated as '"Tentative" and the committee was instructed at the 

 afternoon session, Wednesdaj', November 17, 1915, to make their report accordingly. 

 The phraseology of the Constitution was not changed, however, but was referred 

 to a committee to be reported upon at the 1916 meeting. Therefore, in the present 

 report the word "Tentative" has been substituted for the word "Provisional", 

 though the term "Provisional" must be formally retained until the Constitution 

 shall have been changed. 



Changes in methods cannot be made until an opportunity has been given members 

 of the Association to test them. Before a method can be adopted as O.Ticial, it 

 must have been tested through cooperative work and must have been recommended 

 by the appropriate referee for at least two years. Official Methods, therefore, 

 are those which have been thoroughly tested and which, in the opinion of the Associa- 

 tion, yield accurate results in the hands of its members. In other words, they are 

 believed to render as absolutely correct results as are possible in the existing state 

 of knowledge concerning the determination in question. Provisional Methods 

 are those which, while in the opinion of the Association yielding dependable results 

 for comparison, have not as yet been tested so thoroughly as those that have been 

 adopted officially. They are believed to be the best of the kind which have been 

 tested by the Association but which for reasons stated have not the standing of 

 Official Methods. 



The methods in the form last promulgated by the Association, either in Bulletin 

 107 (Revised) or as published in their Proceedings of the last eight years, are as 

 yet the only ones adopted by the Association. 



It should be clearly understood that the revised methods as published herewith 

 are simjjly the report of the Committee on Editing Methods of Analysis, including 

 the recommendations adopted at the 1915 meeting, and at the present time have not 

 been officially adopted. The methods are printed at this time to enable the mem- 

 bers of the Association to study and criticize them so that they may be able to vote 

 on them intelligently at the 1916 meeting at which time the matter will come up 

 for final action. 



