The Government Laboratory

Abstract

SEVENTEEN THOUSAND samples in excess of the number submitted in the previous year are recorded in the report of the Government Chemist as having been examined in the year ended March 31, 1938. The total number was substantially larger than half a million. The work of the Laboratory, however, is not to be measured by numbers alone, for it involves much research into the reliability of existing methods of analysis, and many investigations into new methods of detection and determination of substances. Further, the staff is constantly being consulted on technical matters, while, in addition, its members contribute notably to the advance of pure and applied chemistry both by publication and by personal service on numerous committees. In its analysis of the results of the examination of 848 samples of imported butter, the report shows that the water content of considerably more than half of the samples was between 15 and 16 percent ; the Reichert value of the fat varied from 24.0 to 34.0 (in 555 cases from 28 to 32), while the Polenske value varied from 1.0 to 3.35. Of 87 samples of tinned cream, 81 contained between 20 and 29 per cent of fat ; of 127 samples of cheese, 17 percent had been prepared from milk containing less than one half of its fat. In neither case is it at present possible to take exception to such importations. The examination of water included sea water studies for the use of hydrographers and biologists, on rivers in connexion with fish and fish food, and on water-cress beds in relation to the use of the national mark. Of 2,270 samples of brewing materials, 18 contained arsenic in slight excess of the accepted limit. It is satisfactory to learn that owing to the stringency of the tobacco laws and the high standard of the tobacco industry in Great Britain, adulteration is almost non-existent. The Laboratory has also been concerned with such widely different matters as the pollution of foreshores, the manipulation of radioactive materials, the carriage of dangerous cargo, and the work of the Bed-bug Infestation Committee.