[WALKER & HUTCHINSON] HYDROLYSIS OF AMYGDALINE 119 
moid is always produced. This anomalous result corresponds in some 
respects with the observation of Walden on active chlor-succinic acid. 
He found that when he attempted to replace the chlorine atom by 
hydroxyl and reproduce the active malic acid from which the chlor- 
succinic acid had been prepared, he obtained not laevo-malic acid, 
but the dextro-variety. Later, he observed that it was possible to 
obtain either dextro, laevo, or inactive by simply varying the concen- 
tration of the alkali employed. One of us also found in acting on 
active chloropropionic acid with sodium ethylate that inactive ethoxy- 
propionic acid was produced. The inactive modification represents 
the position of equilibrium between the two active forms. But what 
are the conditions tending to this point of equilibrium which are so 
pronounced in the case just described and so feeble in the case that 
seems so similar—the production of active mandelic acid directly 
from amygdaline ? 
