ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 401 "Dr. Marriott, as Chairman of the Constitution and Rules Committee, has worked extremely hard on drawing up the new rules and, although much hard work has also been done in committee, it would not have been possible for the new constitution and rules of the Society to be placed before this meeting to-day without the time, energy and thought given to this matter in the first place by Dr. Marriott. It is with deep regret that I heard Dr. Marriott would not be standing for election to the 1956/7 Council. He has contributed so much over the past four years to the progress of this Society that his retirement from active office will be a real loss. Nevertheless, I am hopeful that he may return at a later date to again be actively engaged in the affairs of this Society and say to him now that, should that time come, he will be more than welcome. "Mr. Riley has proved an invaluable help to me over the last year and I sincerely trust that he will be able to continue as our Honorary Secretary for many years to come, as we should no doubt find it difficult to secure anyone else with such a capacity for hard work and with such a keen interest in the Society's affairs. "We shall experience a real loss when Dr. Middleton retires as Honorary Journal Editor after the July issue, and I take this opportunity of per- sonally thanking him for the excellent job of work he has carried out. At the same time, I welcome Mr. Littlejohn, who I am sure will continue to uphold the future British editions of the Journal so that we may all be proud of this publication. "Finally, not only to Dr. Marriott, Mr. Riley and Dr. Middleton, but to all other officers and members of the Council, I say, thank you indeed for the splendid support you have given me during my first year of office and, in particular, to those members of Council retiring, namely, Mr. Avis, Mr. Bather, Mr. Pepper, I would give a special word of thanks for your help and co-operation." The meeting appointed Mr. E. Polan and Mr. S. Townsend as scrutineers for the counting of the postal ballot votes for members of Council. The chair was then taken by Mr. J. Pickthall, who had pleasure in declaring that Mr. R. T. Dobson, President Mr. J. Pickthall, Vice-President Mr. F. Riley, Hon. Sec. and Mr. H. J. Lovell, Hon. Treasurer, were elected unopposed, and Drs. H. W. Hibbott, W. Mitchell, and W. W. Myddleton were elected to fill the Council vacancies. Mr. E. Polan was unable to continue to be the Society's Hon. Auditor and the meeting elected Mr. A. W. English to carry out these duties, at the same time thanking Mr. Polan for the attention that, first as Hon. Treasurer and recently as Hon. Auditor, he had given to the Society's affairs continuously'since its foundation. The meeting concluded with a discussion concerning the most popular evening of the week on which to hold scientific meetings: the outcome was that Friday was the selected evening.

402 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS After an interval for excellent refreshments, the members and visitors assembled to hear the President's Address on "The Development of a New Product." Dr. R. H. Marriott moved the vote of thanks to the President for his interesting address, which was carried with acclamation. DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW PRODUCT The Address of the President to the British Society, 1956 R. T. DOBSON* Mr. Dobson submits a general scheme for developing a formula for a new product and for testing it to make sure that it will have a satisfactory shelf lite. He then explains the use of, and gives a design for, a market research panel for the assessment of customer reaction. MANY in my audience to-night will have been concerned with the develop- ment, from time to time, of new products, and there may be in my talk to you much which appears obvious. Nevertheless, we all know that new products are introduced on to the market, and not infrequently problems concerning either the product itself, or the container in which it is packed, give cause for anxiety because some unforeseen reaction occurs which may well seriously affect sales and also cause severe disorganisation by the necessity to withdraw stock from the retailer in an effort to minimise adverse consumer reactions. I am fully aware that with all possible precautions prior to the launching of a new product an unforeseen latent defect may occur only after the product has been on the market for several months, and the only real way such an unforeseeable defect may be prevented from coming to the attention of the consumer is to give adequate length of shelf-life tests under all condi- tions of storage for as long as the product might be expected to remain in the retailer's stock. If, however, we resort to such tests, any one product could remain under conditions of test for so long a period that the conditions of the market could well be no longer favourable for its introduction. Before turning to the type of tests which should be carried out on new products to eliminate so far as is reasonably possible product trouble after marketing, let us spend a few minutes on the study of the method by which the product may be first conceived and see if we might, right from the start, arrange our programme for the introduction of a new product on the market into an order which, if followed, might well show up any inherent faults and, at the same time, allow the most rapid progress consistent with a low probability of fault development after marketing. * Chesebrough-Ponds, Ltd., Perivale, Mddx.