THEproblem of determining sodium in aluminum is not a new one. As early as 1859, Sainte-Claire Deville (24) developed a leaching method for the determination of sodium. He converted the aluminum to nitrate, ignited at low temperature, and leached the alkalies with water. This method has been used or modified by Diehl (8), Richards (28), Hunt, Langley, and Hall (14), Moissan (18), Jean (15), Seligman and Willott (26), Kohn-Abrest (16), Belasio (8), Bhattacharyya (5), Pattison (22), Villavecchia (27), and Bertiaux (4)• Handy (18) dissolved aluminum in hydrochloric acid and nitric acid, ignited gently, and applied the J. Lawrence Smith method to the oxides formed. Allen (1) dissolved aluminum in hydrochloric acid, made an ammonium hydroxide separation, and deter-

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