JUNE, 1961 THE ANALYST Vol. 86, No. 1023 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY XORTH OF ENGL-4ND AND SCOTTISH SECTIONS X JOIST Meeting of the Sorth of England and Scottish Sections was held at 7.30 p.m. on Friday, April 28th, 1961, in the Central Hotel, l’ictoria Viaduct, Carlisle. The Chair was taken by the Chairnian of the North of England Section, Mr. J. hlarkland, B.Sc., F.R.I.C. The following papers were presented and discussed : “The Determination of Nitrates and the Application of ‘Dead-stop’ Titrimetry,” by A. F. Williams, B.Sc., F.R.I.C. ; “Ion- exchange Resins as Analytical Tools,” by T. R. E. Kressman, HSc., Ph.D., F.R.I.C. The meeting was preceded in the afternoon by a visit to the U.K.A.E.A. Power Station at Chapelcross. WESTERN SECTI( A JOIXT Meeting of the Western Section with the Car( id District Section of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, the South Wales Section and the Food Group of the Society of Chemical Industry was held at 7 p.m.on Friday, April 28th, 1961, at University College, Cardiff, A lecture on “Modern Legislation in Relation to Food Additives” was given by C . A. .$dams, C.B.E., B.Sc., F.R.I.C., Barrister-at-Law. The meeting was preceded in the afternoon by a visit, by courtesy of Rlessrs. P. Leiner (Wales) Ltd., to their Treforest works. The Chair was taken by Mr. S. Dixon, M.Sc., F.R.I.C. MIDLLINDS SECTIOX AKD PHYSICAL METHODS GROUP X JOIST Meeting of the Midlands Section and the Physical Methods Group was held a t 7 p.m. on Wednesday, -April 26th, 1961, in the Main Chemistry Lecture Theatre, The Uni- versity, Edgbaston, Birmingham, 15.The Chair was taken by the Chairman of the Midlands Section, Dr. H. C. Smith, M.Sc., F.R.I.C., Dip.Ed. The following papers were presented and discussed : “Spectrofluorimetry,” by C. A. Parker, B.Sc., Ph.D., F.R.I.C. ; “Tesla-luminescence Spectra,” by R. J. Magee, M.Sc., Ph.D., -4.R.I.C., M.R.S.H. (see summaries below). The meeting was preceded at 3 p.m. by a visit to the Mond Nickel Co. Ltd., Wiggin Street, Birmingham, 16. SPECTROFLUORIMETRY DR. C. A. PARKER recalled that the visible fluorescence of solutions of certain compounds when exposed to ultra-violet light had been used for many years for the determination of such organic materials as vitamins and condensed-ring aromatic hydro- carbons. It had also been used to detect traces of metals‘that could be made to react with a reagent to give a fluorescent compound.The technique could be made much more specific and sensitive by using a modern photomultiplier tube and a spectrometer to analyse the spectrum of the fluorescent light or to isolate specific frequencies of light for excitation of fluorescence. If an ultra-violet detector was used, the method was applicable to a wide range of substances, because many aromatic compounds fluoresced in the ultra-violet region of the spectrum. The range of frequencies at which the band of fluorescent light appeared was directly related to the energy differences between the ground state and the first excited state of the molecule and provided one criterion for identification.The shape of the fluores- cence band was generally independent of the frequency of the exciting light, but asecond 365366 PROCEEDINGS [Vol. 86 criterion for identification could be obtained by plotting its intensity as a function of the frequency of the exciting light (the excitation spectrum). Spectrofluorimetry thus had two advantages over absorption spectrophotometry. First, it provided two charac- teristic spectra instead of one, and second, it was capable of measuring much lower concentrations. It was somewhat less widely applicable than absorption spectrophoto- metry, because not every absorbing substance fluoresced-at least at room temperature. The ideal general-purpose spectrofluoriineter required the use of two wide-aperture spectrometers and was expensive.However, very useful work could be done with a simpler arrangement in which only one spectrometer was used (e.g., the monochromator from a cominercial absorption spectrophotometer) . The technique had been much employed in recent years, particularly in the United States of America, for the determination of low concentrations of compounds of bio- chemical significance. It could also be used in inorganic trace analysis, and the author described some applications from his own experience. TESLA-LUMINESCENCE SPECTRA DR. R. J. MAGEE said that the phenomenon of tesla-luminescence had first been investigated some thirty years ago by workers in the Chemistry Department of The Queen’s University, Belfast. After a few years, however, for reasons unknown, interest in the subject had died out.Recently, with modern methods and a new approach, the field had been re-investigated. This paper gave a report on the progress of these re-investigations. The new developments included a simplified tesla-generator, sample tubes and improved methods for the detection of the spectra obtained. The author gave details of the equipment used and presented the results obtained with a number of organic and inorganic compounds. He discussed the range and possibilities of the technique. MIDLANDS SECTION AND MICROCHEMISTRY GROUP A JOINT Meeting of the Midlands Section and the Microchemistry Group was held a t 7.15 p.m. on Friday, May 12th, 1961, in the Nottingham and District Technical College, Burton Street, Nottingham. The Chair was taken by the Chairman of the Microchemistry Group, Mr.C. Whalley, B.Sc., F.R.I.C. The subject of the meeting was “Automation in the Analytical Laboratory” and the following papers were presented and discussed : “The Scope of Automation in the Laboratory,” by G. Mattock, B.Sc., Ph.D., A.R.I.C. (see summary below) ; “A Colorimeter-type Instrument for the Continuous and Automatic Analysis of Gases in the Parts per Million Range” and “An Automatic Titrimeter,” by M. Akhtar, Ph.D., M.Sc., D.I.C. The meeting was preceded at 2.30 p.m. by a visit to the production factory of Boots Pure Drug Co. Ltd. THE SCOPE OF AUTOMATION IN THE LABORATORY DR. G. MATTOCK stated that the application of automation in the analytical laboratory was primarily intended to reduce the man-hours required for analyses and so to make operations more efficient.In this sense it was not necessarily a requirement that the automatic technique be faster, but it must reduce the time demanded of an operator. In this sense it was justifiable to include newer instrumental methods of analysis, which themselves reduced the time required of the analyst, whether or not the instrument was fully automatic. In the design of automatic instruments, it was neither adequate nor desirable merely to automate traditional methods: the technique used by the instrument must evolve from the requirement that a particular result was to be sought by automatic means, controlled by the acceptable accuracy (not the maximum possible accuracy) and ease of calibration. Further, it was important to emphasise that automation might be only partial to a complete analysis and was only valuable where it could eliminate one of the more time-consuming aspects.Two different groups of automatic apparatus could therefore be identified- (;) those performing a sequence of operations covering the entire analysis of one or several components, starting with the introduction of the untreated sample and ending with a record of the analysis, preferably on a repetitive basis, andJune, 19611 PROCEEDINGS 367 (ii) those performing only a part of the analysis and thus requiring manual Apparatus of type (i) was only economically useful when routine operations were carried out; type (ii) apparatus, while valuable for routine analysis, was also applicable to occasional analyses and was therefore probably of more general value. Continuous analysers performing repetitive determinations on samples auto- matically fed into the apparatus were representative of class (i), and Dr. Mattock discussed them to illustrate how novel analytical principles could be introduced into automatic apparatus. Certain automatic titrators, while performing more orthodox operations, also illustrated class (i). There was a wide variety of apparatus in class (ii). Examples included automatic sampling devices and automatic titrators of set-end-point and curve-recording types. Also to be included were newer instrumental-measurement methods, which by their nature effected a reduction in the time necessary for a complete analysis, e.g., techniques of X-ray fluorescence, photometry and direct electrometric measurement. intervention in intermediate stages.