116 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



chloride was the cause of his faihire to obtain trinitrophenylmalonic ester, 

 although this does not appear from the statemeut in his papers. 



Some experiments on the action of aniline on trinitrophenylbromraa- 

 louic ester yielded only viscous unmanageable products ; and boiling it 

 with water gave no more promising results. 



We have also tried several times to detect the presence of trinitro- 

 benzol in the secondary products of the action of sodium malonic ester 

 on picrylchloride, but without success. It seems, therefore, that the re- 

 placement of the chlorine of the picrylchloride by hydrogen does not take 

 place under these conditions to any great extent, if it occurs at all. 



