Cellulose 



special precautions were taken to eliminate nitric oxide, the 

 destructive oxidation of cellulose under the conditions of ex- 

 periment adopted affords an instructive picture of chemical 

 breakdown under a simple attack. The following results may 

 be cited as typical : 



The initial phase appears to be peroxide formation, a 

 point specially dealt with in a later investigation (C. Doree, ibid. 

 103-1347), in which the reaction is shown to be similar to that 

 with ammonium persulphate (Ditz, J. Pr. Chem. 1908 (ii.), 



78, 343)- 



Whereas the decomposition of cellulose by processes of 

 oxidation are in the main disruptive, other modes of attack 

 e.g. by hydrolytic treatments are complicated by interior 

 condensations, and this is also particularly the case with the 

 decompositions determined by 



Action of Heat. In a ' Thermal Study of the Carbonisa- 

 tion Process/ by H. Rollings and J. W. Cobb (J. Chem. Soc. 

 1915, 107, 1106), the main subject is the destructive distilla- 

 tion of coal, but the authors have included for comparative 

 study, cellulose, ' dehydrated cellulose,' and lignite. The de- 

 hydrated cellulose was the black colloidal product, 'pseudo- 

 carbon,' which we obtained by the action of H 2 SO 4 at 

 70 C. (Phil. Mag. 1882, v. 13, 327). The following are 



