( 88 ) 
everything had been very carefully organised, through the mana- 
gement of the Bast-Indian committee and by the observers them- 
selves who, notwithstanding the short time at their disposal, had 
succeeded in properly mounting and adjusting all the instruments, 
while, thanks to the collaboration of some officers of the army 
and the assistance of the officers and the men of H. M. S. Sumatra 
sent for the purpose to the road of Painan, there was a sufficient 
number of observers and assistants for each instrument. 
Chemistry. — Professor A. P. N. FRANCHIMONT presents a com- 
munication on “A new class of nitramines”’. 
On January 26 1895 I had the honour of communicating to the 
Academy that, acting under my directions, Mr. VAN BREUKELEVEEN 
had prepared a representative of a then unknown class of urea 
derivatives, wreo alcohols or wreols. The object was to subject the 
compound (ureo-ethanol) to mitration and in this way to prepare 
a nitramino-alcohol; this, however, did not succeed as ureo-ethanol 
in contact with NO; H at the ordinary temperature at once evolves 
NO and CO. 
At that time only nitraminohydrocarbons, nitramides and derivatives 
of nitramino acids were known. A free nitramino acid, nitramino- 
acetic acid has been since prepared by Hanrzscu and MercaLr. As 
the study of nitramino-alcohols and nitramino-aldehydes still interests 
me very much I have now tried, jointly with Dr. LUBLIN, to prepare 
a nitramino-alcohol in a different way and this has given us the 
desired result. 
As on the previous occasion, we again started from amino-ethanol 
which was first converted by means of methyl chloro-formate into 
methyl oxethylamino-formate. This substance is, at the ordinary tempera- 
ture, a colourless liquid which cannot be submitted to distillation but is 
decomposed by the action of heat even in vacuo into methyl aleohol 
and the internal ester of oxethylaminoformie acid, which erystallises 
beautifully from benzene, although but little soluble therein. 
CH,. NH — CO CH,. NH 
| =H OH 
CH OH OCH, CH,=0 
It is a remarkable fact that the ethyl ester of oxethylamino- 
