Purpurogallin is pruposed for culurimetric determination of gcrmauium. A stable red color is formed when germanium solution is treated with purpurogallin solution in the presence of 2.8-3.0N sulfuric acid and gum arahic. Beer's law holds for the range 10-150 γ Ge/25ml. The ratio of germanium to reagent in the colored complex is 1:2. This method has been applied to the determination of germanium in some flue dusts with satisfactory results.