What is a standard?

THE POOR QUALITY of reagent chemicals in the United States by 1916 led to the statement by Hillebrand (1) that “the situation is particularly deplorable just now.” In 1919, to overcome the handicap of poor reagent chemicals, representatives of iiidustry, together with representatives of reagent users, undertook jointly under the sponsorship of the American Chemical Society, the task of establishing standards of quality for reagent chemicals that would be defined by unambiguous and, as far as possible, quantitative methods of examination. Specifications for reagent chemicals are now issued in the book Reagent Chemicals, ACS Specifications (2).