S h d h e d C p r~o n arom hypot.hrJtr G) &yp*thtru (a) c v t p w f. 0. .

By RICHARD MOORE BEESLEY. ALTHOUGH much work has previously been undertaken on the subject of nitrification, i t has, ils a rule, been either of a morphological nature or concerned more especially with the conditions of nitrification of amrnoniuin salts. Munro (T., 1886, 49, 632) showed that solutions of various nitrogen-containing organic substances easily underwent nitrification when inoculated with garden soil, but considering the small number of his isolated analyses and the varying conditions under which his experiments were conducted it is impossible t o obtain from his work any accurate idea of the rate of the nitrification of the substancea he employed. The present work was undertaken with the object of determining the rates of nitrification, and any differences that might exist in these ratea, of dilute solutions of a number of amino-compounds, that is, whether the rate of nitrification was a t all dependent on the complexity of the molecule. I n order to attain this object i t was necessary t o conduct the nitrification of each substance under identically the same conditions, the only variable factor throughout the series being the nitrogenous substance in solution. Dilute solutions of the following compounds were employed : Carbamide, thiocarbamide, uric acid, asparagine, glycine, acetamide, aniline sulphate, methylamine sulphate, ammonium oxalate, and ammonium sulphate. A modified form of the so-called flask method of cultivation was employed, the solutions being made up on the basis of those

If thought desirable, the spiro-compounds can be included in the new system proposed. For example, compound (V) would be 3-ketobutane-In fact, the spiro-structure would always be indicated by the repetition of the same index figure on the ring side of the Roman numeral. :4T11 :]-cycZohexane.