(p. 84) Straw cellulose is resolved by two methods of acid hydrolysis into a soluble furfural-yielding fraction, and an insoluble fraction closely resembling the normal cellulose. (a) The cellulose is dissolved in sulphuric acids of concentration, H_{2}SO_{4}.2H_{2}O, H_{2}SO_{4}.3H_{2}O. As soon as solution is complete, the acid is diluted. A precipitate of cellulose hydrate (60-70 p.ct.) is obtained, and the filtered solution contains 90-95 p.ct. of the furfuroids of the original cellulose. The process is difficult to control, however, in mass, and to obtain the latter in larger quantity the cellulose (b) is digested with six times its weight of 1 p.ct. H_{2}SO_{4} at 3 atm. pressure, the products of the action being (1) a disintegrated cellulose retaining only a small fraction (1/12) of the furfural-yielding groups, and (2) a slightly coloured solution of the hydrolised furfuroids. An investigation of the latter gave the following results: By oxidation with nitric acid no saccharic acid was obtained; showing the absence of dextrose. The numbers for cupric reduction were in excess of those obtained with the hexoses. The yield of ozazone was high, viz. 30 to 40 p.ct. of the weight of the carbohydrate in solution. On fractionating, the melting-points of the fractions were found to lie between 146 deg. and 153 deg.. Ultimate analysis gave numbers for C, H, and N identical with those of a pentosazone. The product of hydrolysis appears, therefore, to be xylose or a closely related derivative. All attempts to obtain a crystallisation of xylose from the solution neutralised (BaCO_{3}), filtered, and evaporated, failed. The reaction with phloroglucol and HCl, moreover, was not the characteristic red of the pentoses, but a deep violet. The product was then isolated as a dry residue by evaporating further and drying at 105 deg.. Elementary analysis gave the numbers C 44.2, 44.5, and H 6.7, 6.3. Determinations of furfural gave 39.5 to 42.5 p.ct. On treating the original solution with hydrogen peroxide, and warming, oxidation set in, with evolution of CO_{2}. This was estimated (by absorption), giving numbers for CO_{2}, 19.5, 20.5, 20.1 p.ct. of the substance. The sum of these quantitative data is inconsistent with a pentose or pentosane formula; it is more satisfactorily expressed by the empirical formula O / \ C_{5}H_{8}O_{3} CH_{2}, \ / O which represents a pentose monoformal. Attempts to synthesise a compound of this formula have been so far without success. UEBER EINIGE CHEMISCHE VORGAeNGE IN DER GERSTENPFLANZE. C. F. CROSS, E. J. BEVAN, and C. SMITH (Berl. Ber., 1895, 2604). ~THE CHEMICAL LIFE-HISTORY OF THE BARLEY PLANT.~