Starting around 1870, quality control and clinical diagnostics shift to the forefront of chemical analysis. In chemical-pharmaceutical factories and the universities, diverse research is performed in new areas and new medicines and chemicals developed.

Glowing piles of coals and bellows have finally disappeared from the laboratories once and for all. The dominant modern energy source is clean, municipal gas. Eventually there is no such thing as a factory without its own company lab, not even a dairy. Quality is monitored and becomes a major determinant of price.

National and regional analysis authorities take over quality control after the 1830s, eliminating the need for market inspectors to carry suspicious samples to the next apothecary.