This publication forms the final report of the Criminology Research Council project 9/80 entitled "The Identification of Small Glass Fragments for Forensic Purposes". The project was funded over a two year period from August 1980 to August 1982 with grants. The aim of the project was to implement a rapid and sensitive nondestructivemethod, based upon a scanning electron microscope, for the identification and comparison of small glass fragments. Full details of the various facets of the research programme have been recorded in two annual reports to the Criminology Research Council (Terry, van Riessen and Lynch 1981, 1982). These topics are listed in Appendix A of this report. This final report attempts to give an overall view of glass, glass analysis and the uses to which the analyses may be put. It is hoped that this will be of interest to law enforcement personnel and others in the criminal justice area as well as forensic scientists.
