A new rapid and accurate method for the determination of carbon in soils

The most reliable method for determining carbon in soils is the dry combustion method, the technique of which was established for the first time by JUSTUS von LIEBIG in 1831 and for nearly a century his combustion technique, essentially unmodified save for improvements in materials, constituted the standard method for determination of carbon and hydrogen. PREGL (1), in his publication on organic microanalyses in 1916, reported an excellent method in which a carbon determination could be carried out in an hour with a sample of only a few milligrams. After that, his method was improved in many respects by many investigators (2,3). Since these methods require, however, both complicated and expensive apparatus as well as trained personnel and are time-consuming, they are not considered to be suitable for practical use in soil research laboratories at all.