The dehydration process of glass surfaces was studied as a function of time. For this purpose, cleaned microscope slides were dried using phosphorus pentoxide, Contact angles between water and glass were measured over a period of about 3 weeks. It was observed that the contact angle depends strongly on the degree of hydration of the surface, Therefore, surface properties of glass are not stable in time, It has to be concluded that a single glass is not suited as a test surface in order to determine apolar and polar components of the surface tension of liquids. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.