vi as did non-appreciation that % values for bought-in solutions
(notably ammonia) may be on a weight basis, not made evident by the
manufacturer. Notwithstanding the shortcomings or lateness of some
texts, authors are thanked for compiling them amidst other pressures.
Elsevier and the American Chemical Society are also thanked, for Figures
now reproduced with source acknowledgement. This Editor has generally
respected authors' phrasing, whilst shuddering when the term 'incubate'
is encountered in a 0° context. He remains a 'diehard' in certain
respects, notably in favouring 'M' rather than 'mol/I', and a wt./ml
basis for drug concentrations in test samples; he regards 'mmol/l' as a
fatuous fashion. Concerning infelicitous abbreviations, a distinction is
made between electron- capture (detector context; 'ECD') and
electrochemical ('EC', never 'ECD'); the hallowed GC term 'FID' means
free induction decay to NMR practi tione: ts, who may pardon the term
'Fid' as introduced editorially. The convention for,0C' throughout the
book is '0'. Undefined but well-known abbreviations include GC, HPLC and
TLC. MS (mass spectrometry), NPD (nitrogen-phosphorus detector), tr
(retention time) and RIA (radioimmunoassay) are usually defined in the
article concerned, as are the HPLC modes NP (normal-/straight- phase)
and RP (reversed-phase; C-lS and ODS are synonymous), and i.s.