This communication is taken in part from the Ph.D. dissertation of M. Lj. Mihailovid. 1190 1. An extensive study on the behavior of acid amides towards lithium aluminum hydride has been carried out and a general preparative procedure has been evolved for the preparation of amines from the corresponding amides. According to this method several mono-and di-substituted amides have been reduced to amines in excellent yields (84-93%).2. Conditions have been studied under which aldehydes and alcohols are obtained by the reduction of amides with lithium aluminum hydride. It was found that N-acylated heterocyclic compounds with aromatic character, namely pyrroles, indoles, and carbazoles, are reduced under normal conditions to alcohols with decomposition of the molecule. By applying special conditions, these compounds gave, by reductive decomposition, aldehydes in good yields. 3. A mechanism has been proposed to explain the course of these reductions.