During the past decade we have witnessed a revolution in analytical methods. The development of vapor phase chromatography for the separation and analysis of classes of substances ranging from metals and gases to a wide variety of organic materials has been one of the most exciting of these new techniques. Gas-liquid chromatography for the measurement of steroids is particularly significant for endocrinologists and reports during the past several years have demonstrated its usefulness. Because of the growing interest in this method, a committee of the Endocrinology Study Section composed of Drs. R. M. Dodson, Seymour Lieberman, Hilton A. Salhanick, and Ralph E. Peterson, felt that the time was propitious to hold this Workshop and it is on their behalf that I welcome you. We hope to obtain enough data during these sessions so that those attending this conference and those who may read the proceedings will be able to make an informed judgement about the usefulness of gas-liquid chromatography for the analysis of steroids in biological fluids. Thus, I hope that there will be adequate documentation of the reliability of the methods as well as a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of this analytical method with other classical methods. If we can do this, this Workshop will provide a significant base of practical considerations about gas chromatographic analytic techniques. I would like to thank Drs. T. F. Gallagher, H. Wilson, H. Salhanick and L. Engel for agreeing to serve as Chairmen of the sessions.
