Chemistry in the Service of the State

Abstract

IT is generally known in chemical circles that Sir Edward Thorpe is relinquishing the post of principal chemist at the Government laboratory, which he has so ably held for the last fifteen years. In the closing paragraphs of the present report¹ he notes that it is the last document of the kind he will have the honour of submitting to the Treasury, and takes the opportunity of directing attention to the great increase which has occurred in the work of the laboratory during the period in question. It appears that the number of samples examined yearly is now more than double what it was fifteen years ago, the actual figures being 76,513 in the year 1894, and 176,935 in 1908–9.