The methods of quantitative analysis are subdivided, according to their nature, into those of !gravimetric analysis, volumetric analysis!, and !colorimetric analysis!. In !gravimetric! processes the constituent to be determined is sometimes isolated in elementary form, but more commonly in the form of some compound possessing a well-established and definite composition, which can be readily and completely separated, and weighed either directly or after ignition. From the weight of this substance and its known composition, the amount of the constituent in question is determined. In !volumetric! analysis, instead of the final weighing of a definite body, a well-defined reaction is caused to take place, wherein the reagent is added from an apparatus so designed that the volume of the solution employed to complete the reaction can be accurately measured. The strength of this solution (and hence its value for the reaction in question) is accurately known, and the volume employed serves, therefore, as a measure of the substance acted upon. An example will make clear the distinction between these two types of analysis. The percentage of chlorine in a sample of sodium chloride may be determined by dissolving a weighed amount of the chloride in water and precipitating the chloride ions as silver chloride, which is then separated by filtration, ignited, and weighed (a !gravimetric! process); or the sodium chloride may be dissolved in water, and a solution of silver nitrate containing an accurately known amount of the silver salt in each cubic centimeter may be cautiously added from a measuring device called a burette until precipitation is complete, when the amount of chlorine may be calculated from the number of cubic centimeters of the silver nitrate solution involved in the reaction. This is a !volumetric! process, and is equivalent to weighing without the use of a balance. Volumetric methods are generally more rapid, require less apparatus, and are frequently capable of greater accuracy than gravimetric methods. They are particularly useful when many determinations of the same sort are required. In !colorimetric! analyses the substance to be determined is converted into some compound which imparts to its solutions a distinct color, the intensity of which must vary in direct proportion to the amount of the compound in the solution. Such solutions are compared with respect to depth of color with standard solutions containing known amounts of the colored compound, or of other similar color-producing substance which has been found acceptable as a color standard. Colorimetric methods are, in general, restricted to the determinations of very small quantities, since only in dilute solutions are accurate comparisons of color possible. GENERAL DIRECTIONS