Volume 8 in the series Progress in AnaZyticaZ Chemistry presents a selection of the papers given at the 1975 Eastern Analytical Symposium. The analytical chemist is under constant pressure not only from the research chemist whose sampIes he must characterize and control, but also from an ever-increasing group of governmental agencies stimulated by public concern over health and environmental problems, to determine the most sophisticated kinds of compounds as lower and lower levels. The subjects covered in these papers are wide-ranging, from the analysis of incinerator effluents to the determination of drugs in blood, but through them runs a common theme, the appli­ cation of the latest instrumental techniques to the problems of analysis. The authors show how successful they have been in rising to the analytical challenges presented by an increasingly complex world. The editors take this opportunity to thank them for their efforts in producing such excellent papers for publication in so short a time. Dur special appreciation goes to Dr. M. W. Miller, who acted as program chairman, and his team of session chairmen: P. R. Brown, L. J. Cline Love, C. Horvath, J. R. Lindsay, and T. C. Rains.