[3] With these products it is easy to observe that they have a definite fusion point 5 deg.-10 deg. below the temperature of explosion. SECTION III. DECOMPOSITIONS OF CELLULOSE SUCH AS THROW LIGHT ON THE PROBLEM OF ITS CONSTITUTION UEBER CELLULOSE. G. BUMCKE und R. WOLFFENSTEIN (Berl. Ber., 1899, 2493). (p. 54) _Theoretical Preface._--The purpose of these investigations is the closer characterisation of the products known as 'oxycellulose' and 'hydracellulose,' which are empirical aggregates obtained by various processes of oxidation and hydrolysis; these processes act concurrently in the production of the oxycelluloses. The action of hydrogen peroxide was specially investigated. An oxycellulose resulted possessing strongly marked aldehydic characteristics. The authors commit themselves to an explanation of this paradoxical result, i.e. the production of a body of strongly 'reducing' properties by the action of an oxidising agent upon the inert cellulose molecule (? aggregate) as due to the _hydrolytic_ action of the peroxide: following Wurster (Ber. 22, 145), who similarly explained the production of reducing sugars from cane sugar by the action of the peroxide. The product in question is accordingly termed _hydralcellulose_. By the action of alkalis this is resolved into two bodies of alcoholic (cellulose) and acid ('acid cellulose') characteristics respectively. The latter in drying passes into a lactone. The acid product is also obtained from cellulose by the action of alkaline lye (boiling 30 p.ct. NaOH) and by solution in Schweizer's reagent. It is considered probable that the cellulose nitrates are hydrocellulose derivatives, and experimental evidence in favour of this conclusion is supplied by the results of 'nitrating' the celluloses and their oxy- and hydro- derivatives. Identical products were obtained. _Experimental investigations._--The filter paper employed as 'original cellulose,' giving the following numbers on analysis: C 44.56 44.29 44.53 44.56 H 6.39 6.31 6.46 6.42 was exposed to the action of pure distilled H_{2}O_{2} at 4-60 p.ct. strength, at ordinary temperatures until disintegrated: a result requiring from nineteen to thirty days. The series of products gave the following analytical results: C 43.61 43.61 43.46 43.89 44.0 43.87 43.92 43.81 H 6.00 6.29 6.28 6.26 6.13 6.27 6.24 6.27 results lying between the requirements of the formulae: 5 C_{6}H_{10}O_{5}.H_{2}O and 8 C_{6}H_{10}O_{5}.H_{2}O. Hydrazones were obtained with 1.7-1.8 p.ct. N. Treated with caustic soda solution the hydrazones were dissolved in part: on reprecipitation a hydrazone of unaltered composition was obtained. The original product shows therefore a uniform distribution of the reactive CO- groups. The hydralcellulose boiled with Fehling's solution reduced 1/12 of the amount required for an equal weight of glucose.