This is the first biennial review to be prepared by the present authors, the previous three having been written by Professors James D. Winefordner of the University of Florida and Thomas J. Vickers of Florida State University. We all owe a deep debt of gratitude to both these men for their efforts on behalf of the analytical community.The title of this review section has been changed from "Flame Spectrometry" to the present one. This change re-