2 SCOTTISH REGION 4 0 ~ ~ AGM Proc. Analyt. Div. Chem. soc. Fortieth Annual General Meeting and Dinner of the Scottish Region The Scottish Section of the Society of Public Analysts and Other Analytical Chemists was inaugurated in 1935, the opening meeting being held in Glasgow on November 13th. Now the Scottish Region, its fortieth Annual General Meeting was held at Strathclyde University, Glasgow, on November lst, 1974, and the occasion was celebrated with a Regional Dinner in the evening.The Annual General Meeting was reported in the December issue of Proceedings (p. 309). Under “Other Business,” Mr. D. W. Wilson spoke briefly on behalf of the President on the decision made by the members of the SAC to amalgamate with the CS, taken at an Extra- ordinary General Meeting held during the previous week.Dr. D. M. W. Anderson of Edinburgh University, Chairman of the Scottish Region in 1969-70, then gave a lecture entitled “1934-1974: From Lundell to Laitinen.” Dr. Anderson began by hoping that his talk would be controversial and amusing and ap- propriate for what he regarded as a form of birthday party: he therefore invited Mr. D. W.January, 1975 SCOTTISH REGION ~ O T H AGM 3 Wilson (representing the President) and Mr.W. Dunnet (retiring Chairman of the Scottish Region) to celebrate the occasion by accepting a “wee dram.” Dr. J . M . Ottaway (new Chairman of the Scottish Regiort, CENTRE) with Dr. G. R. Jamieson (L) and Dr. D . M . W . Anderson (R). “Married men frequently make very poor husbands” and, somewhat analogously, Dr.Anderson considers that most modern chcmistry graduates make very poor analysts. Whose fault is this ? And why has there been a sad but steady devolution of Lundell’s controversial “analysts” and “determinators”-and even of Mellor and Thompson’s “testers” (1938)-into bevies of blinkered button bashers, baffled be- yond belief by beautiful big black boxes behav- ing badly? Black boxes seem determined to stay ; analysts must be prepared to master them and preferably maintain them, and it seems desirable that they should even be capable of learning how to bash the right button a t the right time.For many, the wrong button at the wrong time appears to be better than no button bashing at all. In the belief that the modern image of analysts and of analytical chemists (and Dr. Anderson asked his audience to take care to distinguish between the two) was some- what tarnished, he invited those present to answer the questions : “What is analytical chemistry ?” and “What should analytical chemists do ?” There never have been universally accepted answers, but to show that some development in thought had occurred over the past 100 years, many of the more interesting, useful or con- troversial attempts at essential definitions by celebrated chemists were considered in turn, starting with C .N. Reilley’s “the only constant feature of science is that of change” and “analytical chemistry is what analytical chem- ists do.” On the basis of Henry Freiser’s “the essence of the science of chemistry must include three main asDects-methods.measurements and models,” a remarkable statement by Maxwell (1871) “the labour of careful measure- ment has been rewarded by the discovery of new fields of research and by the development of new ideas” was taken, together with Ostwald’s “analytical chemistry is the art of recognising different substances and determining their constituents” (1894) as the basis for a discussion of the definitions and statements that have been made by I.M. Kolthoff, F. Feigl, W. H. Rein- muth, I. Shain, J. W. Robinson, D. F. Boltz, H. Liebhafsky, C. Th. J. Alkemade, J . K. Taylor, L. Meites, A. J. P. Martin, W. W. Meinke, H. A. Malissa, H. Kaiser and the Research Directorate of the U.S. National Science Foundation in 1974. More extensive discussion was given to the contribution of G.E. F. Lundell who stressed (1934) the importance of the cost factor, and of A. G. Jones, who envisaged (1973) that “em- ployers are going to want more for their money. ” The importance of Wayne Meinke’s suggestions were emphasised, e.g., his dislike of the word “characterisation” and call for greater attention to be given to the sample itself (1970); his legitimate complaint that tens of thousands of chemists do analytical work but do not appear to care to recognise the fact (1970) ; and his sugges- tion that very few people are really willing to work meaningfully at the 0.1 p.p.m.level al- though a plethora of papers in the literature seem to indicate otherwise (1973). There was also extensive reference to the exhortations and counsel exuded steadily by H.A. Laitinen in recent years. Dr. J . E. Whitley (L) z&h MY. D. W. Dunnet (retiring Chairman). Dr. Anderson associated himself closely with the general tenor of the recent remarks about teaching made by Professor P. W. West (Analyt. Chem., 1974, 46, 784) and also with those made about the employment prospects for analytically trained chemists by Mr.C. Whalley (Proc. SOC. Analvt. Chem.. 1974. 11. 260). In acknow1edg.-4 SCOTTISH REGION 4 0 ~ ~ AGM Proc. Analyt. Div. C1wvz. SOC. ing the personal advice and guidance he had enjoyed since first meeting the late Professor Cecil L. Wilson in 1956, Dr. Anderson con- cluded by saying that, in retrospect, it appeared that his talk might more appropriately have been entitled “from Lundell to West, Whalley and Wilson,” and he wished the student mem- bers of his audience well, because all the easy things in analytical chemistry were done long ago ! Following the meeting, over forty members and guests gathered in the University Staff Club, where an informal reception was held be- fore the Regional Dinner.At the Dinner, the Loyal Toast was proposed by the new Chairman of the Scottish Region, Dr.J . M. Ottaway. He welcomed the repre- sentatives from the SAC in London, and also Dr. Jamieson of the RIC Local Section and Dr. Sherwood of the CS Local Section. Letters of congratulations had been received from Mr. J. Whitehead (Chairman of the North East Region), Mr. C. Whalley and Dr. T. B. Pierce. He spoke of the strong traditions that have developed in the Region, and of its vigorous out- look and cordial relations with the parent Society, and other Regions and organisations.Expressing the intention of the Scottish Region to play a full and active role in the Analytical Division of the CS following amalgamation, he stressed that it was the responsibility of all tnembers to ensure that analytical chemistry continued to flourish in the new organisation.DY. R. A , Clzalnaevs (L) and MY. D . W . Wilson. Dr. R. A. Chalmers, Chairman of the Region in 1963-65, proposed a toast to the Society for Analytical Chemistry. Referring to the well known cartoon that appeared in Punch in September, 1929, reproduced recently in the Society’s History, “The Practising Chemists, ” and depicting the scene at the Society’s Annual Dinner, he suggested that a dinner could be treated as an analytical problem.For example, apparatus-1 table for support, 1 audience, etc. ; reagent-alcohol ; results-can be seen from the tables . . . and so on. Dr. Chalmers then indi- cated that i t was perhaps appropriate that he should propose the toast to the SAC, as he was a supporter of its continuation as an inde- pendent Society.It was sometimes good to look a t the past, and he cited some interesting items that might seem hard to believe today. Volume 1 of The Analyst, for instance, refers to whisky containing 54.5 per cent. w/v of alcohol, and a comparison of prices indicated that The Analyst subscription should now be only just over i4. He also recalled the abstract in The Analyst (1944, 69, 97) which summarised a spoof paper on the toxic effects of “laevorota- tory ice.” Finally, referring to the long and honourable history of the SAC and of the CS, he indicated that the oldest chemical society is, in fact, the Student Chemical Society of Edin- burgh University, which made the CS the second and the SAC the third oldest. He then pro- posed a toast to the SAC and also to its Secre- tary, Miss P.E. Hutchinson, who had recently completed 21 years’ service with the SAC. Mr. D. W. Wilson, an Honorary Assistant Secretary of the SAC/AD, replied on behalf of the President and proposed a toast to the Scot- tish Region. The last 50 years of the SAC’S existence had been a period of rapid growth, due largely to the formation of Sections (now Regions).Much of its strength lay in its Regions and Groups, and Council would con- tinue to foster these activities. During the negotiations with the CS, each side had come to appreciate the difficulties of the other, and this was reflected in the final terms of amalgamation. A small proportion of members had serious reservations and the President and Council ap- preciated that these resulted from a genuine concern for the future. There would certainly be difficulties ahead, and Council would look to the Regions for forbearance and support.In proposing the toast to the Scottish Region, Mr. Wilson pointed out an apparent inconsist- ency in the record of its inception as a Section. The development of the Region has shown a good balance between the interests of industry, education and the various parts of Scotland. He predicted that there would be no diminution of the Regional activities in the future-not just because this was written into an agreement, but because the members and committees had the vigour alid foresight to ensure it and to develop i t in co-operation with the CS.January, 1975 REPORTS OF MEETINGS Mr. W. Dunnet, retiring Chairman of the Scottish Region, replied to the toast to the Scottish Region and thanked Mr. Wilson for the good wishes he had expressed for the Region’s future. 5