The Thermal Decomposition of Acetaldehyde

IN a letter in NATURE of January 12, Mr. Hinshelwood stated that further work in his laboratory by Dr. Winckler on the thermal decomposition of acetaldehyde had refuted the criticism of his work contained in a communication to the Royal Society of May 10, and in letters in NATURE of October 13 and 27, 1934. The results of this work appear in a paper which he communicated to the Royal Society at a meeting held on March 7, at which it was read in title only. The results are held to yield no evidence that the reaction represented by the equation, CH3CHO = CO + CH4, is appreciably heterogeneous, or that it depends upon a chain mechanism.