380 GIBBS AND PRATT. 
SUMMARY. 
In this paper new evidence is introduced to show that the 
benzenoid configuration represents the structure of the o- and 
p-nitrophenols and p-nitrosophenol in neutral and acid alcohol 
solutions, and the quinoid configuration that of the salts in 
solutions in alcohol. 
The addition of fractional equivalents of sodium ethoxide to the 
neutral solutions of these compounds produces a new absorption 
band in the visible region of the spectrum. This band increases 
progressively in breadth and persistence with increasing con- 
centrations of alkali and is a measure of the transformation 
of the benzenoid to the quinoid form. 
Baly, Edwards, and Stewart originally believed that these 
compounds in alkaline solution were best represented by the 
quinoid structure. Baly, Tuck, and Marsden, four years later, 
contradicted the first article and advanced a different theory 
to explain the color of the salts. We believe that the latter 
authors have evolved a false theory from their experimental data. 
