Dr. A. M. Ure was until recently Head of the Department of Spectochemistry in the Macaulay Institute for Soil Research in Aberdeen, Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry in the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow and Consultant to the Bureau Communautaire de Reference (now Standard Measurements and Testing Programme) of the European Community, in the development of methods for the preparation of soil and sediment Reference Materials. Since his retirement he is a Visiting Researcher at Strathclyde Univesity. He holds the degrees of BSc (Hons) Chemistry, PhD and DSc