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Recommendation presented to Society at annual meeting
Recommendation appeared in report of committee distributed
four weeks in advance of meeting

10

Approved by 2/3 vote at the meeting

Amended and approved by 2/3 vote at the meeting subject to approval by subsequent letter ballot of committee

Not approved

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Note.-Revisions of a standard follow the same procedure as a new Tentative Standard

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official methods for the enforcement of such legislation as well as for the control of feeds and fertilizers by the various States.

The membership is institutional, that is, composed of chemists connected with the United States Department of Agriculture; State, or provincial experiment stations; colleges; or bodies charged with official control of agricultural products or farm commodities.

Chemists connected with commercial firms or institutions and others interested in the objectives of the association, who are not eligible for either active or associate membership, may attend its meetings, take part in the discussions and collaborative testing, and, if permission is secured from the executive committee, may present papers.

The objectives of the association are

To secure, devise, test, and adopt uniform and accurate methods for the analysis of fertilizers, soils, foods, feeding stuffs, dairy products, insecticides and fungicides, and other materials relating to agricultural pursuits; also medical products; caustic poisons; paints, paint materials, and varnishes;

To secure uniformity in the statement of analytical results;

To conduct, promote, and encourage research in chemistry in its relation to agriculture;

To afford opportunity for the discussion of matters of interest to agricultural chemists."

The publications of the association include the "Journal of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists," 45 in which the proceedings of the association are published, and the "Official and Tentative Methods of Analysis," 46 which presents methods of analysis for the following: Soils; fertilizers; sewage; agricultural liming materials; agricultural dust; insecticides and fungicides; caustic poisons; naval stores; paints, varnishes, and constituent materials; leathers; tanning materials; plants; beverages (nonalcoholic) and concentrates; malt beverages, sirups and extracts, and brewing materials; wines; distilled liquors; baking powders and baking chemicals; coffee and tea; cacao bean and its products; cereal foods; coloring matters in foods; dairy products; eggs and egg products; fish and other marine products; flavoring extracts; fruits and fruit products; grain and stock feeds; meat and meat products; metals in foods; nuts and nut products; oils, fats, and waxes; preservatives and artificial sweeteners; spices and other condiments; sugars and sugar products; vegetables and vegetable products; vitamins; waters, brine and salt; radioactivity; drugs; bacteriological methods; microchemical methods; and also, a list of definitions of terms and interpretations of results on fertilizers and liming

materials.47

In the development and formulation of a method of analysis, the procedure of which is shown in Chart XVII, a "referee" is appointed to study any subject for which the association has not yet developed an official method, or a method that seems to require further investigation. The duties of this referee are to direct and conduct research

Constitution," Journal of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, vol. XVIII, 96 February 1935.

Journal of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, Menasha, Wis.

Official and Tentative Methods of Analysis of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists," 710 pp., Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, Washington, D. C., 1936. Ibid., pp. 683-690.

on methods and subjects assigned to him, to prepare and distribute samples and reagents to collaborators, to present at the annual meeting of the association the results of work done and recommendations of methods based thereon, and to direct and encourage general dis cussion at the meeting.

Methods to be adopted as official, or changes to be made in official methods must be recommended by the referee for such action at two annual, but no necessarily consecutive, meetings of the association. Final action on adoption does not follow first action automatically; the referee must recommend the second (final) action.

Methods to be adopted as tentative require only one recommendation on the part of the referee and publication of the methods in the proceedings of the association.

Departures from this regular method of procedure for the adoption of methods can only be made by vote of the active members of the association to suspend the bylaws involved."

A similar procedure is followed in adopting tentative and official definitions or interpretations of a fertilizer. The adoption of a fertilizer definition or interpretation as "tentative," or an amendment of a "tentative" fertilizer definition or interpretation must be recommended by a Committee on Definitions of Terms and Interpretation of Results on Fertilizers and must be published in the proceedings of the association. To be adopted as "official" or for an official fertilizer definition or interpretation to be amended, appropriate recommendation by the committee is required at two annual meetings. Other Technical and Professional Societies.

In order to suggest the diversity of the standards with which technical and professional societies are concerned, to indicate the cooperation existing among these societies and other agencies, and to give an idea of the extent of the use of the standards established by the societies, a brief account of a few typical societies follows.

The American Home Economics Association, a professional association of trained home economists, has chapters in each State, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Nova Scotia.

The association's interest in standards, grades, and informative labeling of commodities sold at retail is of long standing. In 1919, following the World War, when textile fabrics were high in price and unreliable in quality, the textile section of the American Home Economics Association started a program to promote the use of informative labels in the marketing of fabrics. The association endeavored to gain the cooperation of the textile industry, to further the research required for the establishment of minimum standards for textile fabrics, and to encourage the education of consumers in the intelligent use of these standards. Special studies were made of women's habits in buying fabrics and garments, of the wearing qualities of bed sheets, and of the wearing qualities of silk of known composition.

The American Home Economics Association, realizing the need of research on the performance characteristics of fabrics, conferred with textile specialists and members of the industry. As a result, the first abrasion machine for testing the durability of fabrics was built at the National Bureau of Standards. Under the auspices of the

48 "Report of Committee on Recommendations of Referees." Journal of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, vol. XVII, p. 43. February 1934.

Publication in Journal

of the Association

Adoption by Vote as Official (Final Action)

All Methods Compiled in

"Official and Tentative Methods of Analysis of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists'

Issued Every Five Years

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